Denzel Washington Biography: Key Facts and Career Highlights
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, director, and producer whose career spans television, theater, and film. Born on December 28, 1954, in Mount Vernon, New York, he became known for portraying real-life figures such as Steve Biko, Malcolm X, Rubin Hurricane Carter, Melvin B. Tolson, Frank Lucas, and Herman Boone. His work has earned critical acclaim, three Golden Globe Awards, and two Academy Awards, including Best Actor for Training Day.
Key Facts at a Glance
- Full name: Denzel Hayes Washington Jr.
- Birth: December 28, 1954, Mount Vernon, New York
- Profession: Actor, director, producer
- Education: Fordham University; American Conservatory Theatre
- Breakthrough: St. Elsewhere, 1982 to 1988
- Academy Awards: Glory and Training Day
- Spouse: Pauletta Pearson Washington
- Children: John David, Katia, Olivia, and Malcolm
Early Life and Education
Washington was born in Mount Vernon, near New York City. His mother, Lennis Lynne, owned and operated a beauty parlor; she was born in Georgia and partly raised in Harlem. His father, Reverend Denzel Washington Sr., was an ordained Pentecostal minister who also worked for the Water Department and at a local department store. Washington attended Pennington-Grimes Elementary School in Mount Vernon. At 14, he was sent to Oakland Military Academy in New Windsor, New York, and later attended Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida, from 1970 to 1971. He was interested in Texas Tech University because he grew up in the Boys Club in Mount Vernon and the teams were called the Red Raiders, but he ultimately earned a B.A. in Drama and Journalism from Fordham University in 1977.
At Fordham, Washington played collegiate basketball as a freshman guard under coach P. J. Carlesimo. After changing majors and briefly dropping out for a semester, he worked as a counselor at Camp Sloane YMCA in Lakeville, Connecticut. A colleague suggested acting after he participated in a staff talent show. He returned to Fordham with a renewed focus, enrolled at the Lincoln Center campus to study acting, and took the title roles in Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones and William Shakespeare's Othello. After graduation, he received a scholarship to the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, where he stayed for one year before returning to New York to pursue a professional acting career.
Early Career and Breakthrough
In the summer of 1976, Washington acted in summer stock theater in St. Mary's City, Maryland, in Wings of the Morning, the Maryland State play. After graduating from Fordham, he made his professional acting debut in the 1977 made-for-television movie Wilma. His film debut came in 1981 with Carbon Copy. His big break arrived when he starred in the hospital drama St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988. He was one of the few actors to appear for the series' entire six-year run.
In 1987, after minor television, film, and stage roles, Washington played South African anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko in Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom. The role earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1989, he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing a defiant, self-possessed former slave in Glory. That same year, he played Reuben James, a Caribbean-born British soldier who turns to vigilantism and violence after returning to civilian life, in For Queen and Country.
The 1990s and Malcolm X
In March 1990, Washington starred in Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues as Bleek Gilliam. In the summer of 1992, he appeared in Mississippi Masala as Demetrius Williams. His performance as Malcolm X in Spike Lee's 1992 film Malcolm X earned him an Oscar nomination and became one of his most acclaimed roles. Roger Ebert and Martin Scorsese both named the film one of the ten best films of the 1990s. The role transformed Washington's career and made him one of Hollywood's most respected actors. He turned down several similar roles, including an offer to play Martin Luther King Jr., to avoid being typecast.
In 1993, Washington took another risk by playing Joe Miller, a homophobic lawyer representing a gay man with AIDS, in Philadelphia, which starred Tom Hanks. During the early and mid-1990s, he became a leading man in thrillers such as The Pelican Brief and Crimson Tide, the comedy Much Ado About Nothing, and the romantic drama The Preacher's Wife with Whitney Houston. While filming Virtuosity in 1995, Washington refused to kiss white co-star Kelly Lynch in a romantic scene. Lynch said Washington felt strongly that the film's target audience of white males would not want to see him kiss a white woman. Similar situations were discussed around The Pelican Brief and The Mighty Quinn. In 1998, Washington appeared in a sexual scene with Milla Jovovich in Spike Lee's He Got Game.
In 1999, Washington starred in The Hurricane as boxer Rubin Hurricane Carter, whose triple-murder conviction was overturned after almost 20 years in prison. Newspaper articles suggested controversy over the film's accuracy may have cost him an Oscar, though he received a Golden Globe Award in 2000 and the Silver Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. He also presented the Arthur Ashe ESPY Award to Loretta Claiborne and appeared as himself at the end of The Loretta Claiborne Story.
The 2000s, Directing, and Major Films
In 2000, Washington appeared in Remember the Titans, which grossed more than $100 million at the United States box office. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the 2001 cop thriller Training Day, playing Detective Alonzo Harris, a rogue Los Angeles police officer with questionable law-enforcement tactics. The role was a change of pace for an actor known for heroic leads. Washington was the second African American performer to win Best Actor, after Sidney Poitier, who received an Honorary Academy Award the same night. Washington holds the record for most Oscar nominations by an actor of African descent, with five at the time described.
After the 2002 box-office success John Q., Washington directed his first film, Antwone Fisher, a well-reviewed drama in which he also co-starred. Between 2003 and 2004, he appeared in Out of Time, Man on Fire, and The Manchurian Candidate. In 2006, he starred in Spike Lee's bank-heist thriller Inside Man with Jodie Foster and Clive Owen, and in Déjà Vu. In 2007, he co-starred with Russell Crowe in American Gangster and directed and starred in The Great Debaters with Forest Whitaker.
Return to Theater
In 2005, after a 15-year hiatus from the stage, Washington appeared on Broadway as Marcus Brutus in Julius Caesar. His last stage appearance had been in 1990 in the title role of a Public Theater production of Richard III. The Julius Caesar production had a limited run, sold out consistently, averaged over 100 percent attendance capacity nightly, and received universally terrible reviews.
Personal Life and Philanthropy
In 1983, Washington married actress Pauletta Pearson, whom he met on the set of Wilma. They have four children: John David, born July 28, 1984, who signed a football contract with the St. Louis Rams in May 2006 after playing college football at Morehouse; Katia, born November 1987, who attended Yale University; and twins Olivia and Malcolm, born April 10, 1991, with Malcolm named in honor of Malcolm X. In 1995, the couple renewed their wedding vows in South Africa with Archbishop Desmond Tutu officiating.
Washington and his family visited soldiers at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and he later donated to Fisher Houses, which provide rooms for soldiers' families while soldiers are hospitalized. In October 2006, he published the bestseller A Hand to Guide Me, featuring actors, politicians, athletes, and other public figures recalling childhood mentors. The book commemorated the centennial anniversary of the Boys and Girls Club of America, which Washington had participated in as a child. He is a devout Christian and attends church in Los Angeles with actress Angela Bassett at West Angeles Church of God in Christ. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia named Washington as one of three people, along with directors Oliver Stone and Michael Moore, with whom they were willing to negotiate for the release of three defense contractors held captive from 2003 to 2008.
Honors and Recognition
On May 18, 1991, Washington received an honorary doctorate from Fordham University, his alma mater, for having impressively succeeded in exploring the edge of his multifaceted talent. He also received an honorary doctorate of humanities from Morehouse College on May 20, 2007.
Source:Filmibeat News