Denzel Washington Biography

Denzel Washington (born December 28, 1954) is an African American, Oscar-winning actor.

He was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of a Pentecostal minister and a beauty-parlour owner. In his youth, Washington was banned by his parents from watching movies. When his parents separated, Washington went through a rebellious stage, at the end of which several of his friends were sentenced to prison. His mother's reaction to his behavioral problems was to send him to preparatory school, and, later, on to Fordham University, where he discovered acting and earned a degree in journalism.

He landed his first film role in the 1975 TV movie Wilma. While filming this movie he met actress Pauletta Pearson, whom he later married. His big break came when he starred in the popular TV hospital drama St. Elsewhere.

Washington turned down roles in several action movies, in hopes for a more challenging role. In 1987 he starred as South African anti-apartheid campaigner Steve Biko in Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom. In 1989 Washington won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, after playing a defiant self-possessed slave in the film Glory.

Washington played one of his most critically acclaimed roles in 1992's Malcolm X, directed by Spike Lee, where his performance as the Black Nationalist leader earned him an Oscar nomination. Both the influential film critic Roger Ebert and the highly-acclaimed film director Martin Scorsese called the movie one of the ten best films made during the 1990s.

Malcolm X transformed Washington's career, turning him, practically overnight, into one of Hollywood's most respected actors. He turned down several similar roles, such as the chance to play Martin Luther King, Jr., because he wanted to avoid being typecast by subject matter.

According to Jet magazine, for the 1995 film, Virtuosity, Denzel Washington refused to kiss his white female co-star, Kelly Lynch. During an interview, she said that she wanted to, but "[Denzel] felt very strongly about it. I felt there is no problem with interracial romance. But Denzel felt strongly that the white males, who were the target audience of this movie, would not want to see him kiss a white woman." Lynch further stated, "That's a shame. I feel badly about it. I keep thinking that the world's changed, but it hasn't changed quick enough." However, in 1998 Denzel had a hot sex scene with Milla Jovovich in Spike Lee's He Got Game.

In 1999, Washington starred in The Hurricane, a movie about boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, whose conviction for triple murder was overturned after he had spent almost 20 years in prison. Various newspaper articles have suggested that the controversy over the film’s accuracy may have cost Washington the Oscar. Nevertheless, he received a 'Golden Globe Award' in 2000 and a 'Silberner Bär' (Silver Berlin Bear) from the Berlin International Film Festival.

After being nominated several times before, in 2002 Washington finally won an Oscar for Best Actor and another Golden Globe for his performance in the film Training Day in which he played a corrupt street-smart cop.

Washington made his debut as a director with Antwone Fisher (2002), a film about a man who confronts his traumatic past with the support of a naval psychiatrist. Washington also co-starred in the film.

In 2004, Washington announced that he would only be willing to play villains in films. The following year, he played Marcus Brutus in the Broadway revival of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

Washington earned a reputation for philanthropy when he donated money for building a 'Fisher House' at Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC)

Denzel Washington: Salaries