Actor and director Denzel Washington burst onto the big screen with an Oscar and Golden Globe-winning role in the Civil War epic “Glory” (1989). But over the following decade, the matinee-idol handsome actor became the first of his generation's African-American movie stars to land squarely on Hollywood's A-list – as likely to be tapped to play a heroic lead as any white actor would have been a shoe-in for only a decade prior. Likened to Sidney Poitier for his ability to appeal to a multiracial audience, Washington’s grounding force was a critical and audience favorite in historical dramas like “Cry Freedom” (1987), “Malcolm X” (1992) and “American Gangster” (2007), as well in more action-driven dramas such as “The Pelican Brief” (1993), “Remember the Titans” (2000) and “Training Day” (2001).

Rising above the “black actor” moniker, Washington not only held a firm position as one of Hollywood’s top dramatic leads well into the new millennium, he also earned industry respect for his filmmaking efforts – directing and producing both “Antwone Fisher” (2002) and “The Great Debaters” (2007). Denzel Washington was born on Dec. 28, 1954, in Mt. Vernon, NY, a predominantly African-American suburb just north of Manhattan. His father was a preacher at the Pentecostal Church of God in Christ and also worked for the NY’s Water Department, while his mother – a Harlem-bred former Gospel singer – owned and operated a local beauty parlor. Washington began working odd jobs from the time he was a student at Grimes Elementary School; also becoming active in the Boys & Girls Club, which he credited for keeping him out of trouble. The club’s mentors were especially helpful after his parents’ divorce, when Washington lost contact with his father and the restless teen increasingly found himself hanging out on the streets with kids who would ultimately end up dead or doing time. His mother eventually opted to send Washington and his older sister to Oakland Academy boarding school. After graduation, Washington began college at Fordham University in the Bronx – safely on the right path. At Fordham, Washington played on the college basketball team and was earning a degree in journalism until a summer job in 1975 forever changed his course. It was while working as a counselor at a Boys Club camp that Washington first took the stage to participate in a camp variety show, which is when he fell in love with acting. Returning to college that fall, he immediately added drama classes to his schedule and made an impressive debut in a Fordham production of Eugene O’Neill’s “The Emperor Jones” in the role made famous by Paul Robeson. The following year, he appeared in “Othello,” causing his professor Robinson Stone to remark to The Boston Globe, "He was easily the best Othello I had ever seen, and I had seen Paul Robeson play it. Jose Ferrer came to look at it. He and I agreed that Denzel had a brilliant career ahead of him." Washington graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 1977 and promptly headed to San Francisco, CA, where he had landed a scholarship to further study acting at the American Conservatory Theater. In the Bay Area, he was cast in a TV biopic of Olympic athlete Wilma Rudolph, "Wilma" (CBS, 1977), which also introduced him to his future wife Pauletta Pearson. After a year at the Conservatory, Washington continued to earn a solid reputation on the New York stage, appearing in “Coriolanus” with the New York Shakespeare Company; "A Soldier's Play," which earned the ensemble cast an Obie Award and the playwright a Pulitzer; and "When the Chicken Comes Home to Roost," portraying Malcolm Shabazz (a.k.a. Malcolm X). While touring in "A Soldier's Play,” Washington landed the part of insecure young medical resident Dr. Phillip Chandler on the well-regarded drama, "St. Elsewhere" (NBC, 1982-88). Although one of the lesser players in the ensemble, Washington embarked on his film career during the show’s run, making his debut in the inane comedy "Carbon Copy" (1981). In 1984, he reprised his stage role in “A Soldier’s Play,” entitled "A Soldier's Story" (1984), and received high praise for his riveting lead performance as an outspoken recruit who kills his master sergeant (Adolph Caesar). He acted in Sidney Lumet's "Power" (1986), playing a part originally written for a white man, and then garnered his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor as South African activist Steven Biko in "Cry Freedom" (1987). Having considered dozens of African actors for Biko, director Richard Attenborough finally found the right mixture of charm, erudition and intellect in Washington, casting him in the first of the actor’s historical-political roles. Washington followed up with a second career high in 1988 when he debuted on Broadway in a production of Ron Milner’s comedy, “Checkmates.” Washington was tapped to play a Falklands war hero down on his luck in Thatcherite London in the thriller "For Queen and Country” (1988) before delivering an Oscar-winning portrayal of a defiant slave-turned-soldier in "Glory" (1989). As the emotionally-distant, womanizing trumpeter Bleek Gilliam in Spike Lee's stylish but uneven "Mo' Better Blues" (1990), Washington played one of his few roles calling for love scenes. The family man and father of four clashed with the director over the scene, ultimately insisting he keep his shirt on, though their differences would not keep them from working together again. The emerging star returned to the New York Shakespeare Festival that year in the title role of "Richard III" (1991). After a disappointing turn playing an embattled cop on the edge in the crime thriller "Ricochet" (1991), Washington fared better falling for Sarita Choudhury in Mira Nair's engaging art-house romance "Mississippi Masala" (1992). Reuniting with Spike Lee at his best on "Malcolm X" (1992), Washington again slipped inside the skin of the controversial black leader in a superb Oscar-nominated lead performance. The montage of stills and footage of the real X at movie's end pointed up the brilliant alchemy enabling Washington to capture the essence of the influential minister and activist. Washington’s universal audience appeal and the depth of his dramatic chops again enabled him to effortlessly transition from historical and political chronicles of African-American culture to art house and mainstream fare of all genres. In 1993 alone, he demonstrated his ease with Shakespearean dialogue as the dashing Don Pedro in Kenneth Branagh's bouncy adaptation of "Much Ado About Nothing," showed he could sell mainstream Hollywood pictures, alongside superstar Julia Roberts in the John Grisham legal thriller "The Pelican Brief," and tackle timely issues, such as the tragedy of AIDS opposite Tom Hanks in "Philadelphia." Some reviewers deemed his role as a homophobic attorney who takes on the case of a HIV-positive lawyer unfairly fired by his law firm as more challenging than the sympathetic central character winningly played by Hanks. In any case, the film was a success and earned Hanks a Best Actor Oscar. In 1995, Washington starred opposite film veteran Gene Hackman in "Crimson Tide,” a nuclear brinkmanship thriller set on a submarine and one of the big hits of the summer season. It was his only box-office success that year, as the violent sci-fi thriller "Virtuosity" tanked despite its foundation of genuinely interesting ideas and the casting of a then unknown Aussie actor, Russell Crowe, as Washington’s crazy nemesis. Crowe would in fact, never forget how collaborative and kind the A-list star was to him as a Hollywood newcomer. In addition to the two films, Washington’s production company, Mundy Lane Entertainment, launched that year with the thoughtful, period detective film, "Devil in a Blue Dress." The meticulously observed slice of post-World War II Los Angeles black Americana was generally well-reviewed, but failed to find an audience, putting the kibosh on a proposed franchise for its star and ascendant writer-director Carl Franklin. Later that year – as if his year was not already chocked full – Washington served as executive producer of the TV documentary "Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream" (TBS, 1995). On a seemingly unending upswing of great parts and phenomenal performances, Washington went on to earn strong critical praise in Ed Zwick's "Courage Under Fire" (1996), revealing a darker aspect in his turn as an armored tank commander troubled over his involvement in an incident of friendly fire during the Persian Gulf War. The actor's sensitive and understated etching of his moody character was the stand-out performance in the film. He next co-starred with singer-turned-actress Whitney Houston in a film that might have seemed appropriate given his childhood, "The Preacher's Wife" (1996) — a Penny Marshall-directed remake of 1947's "The Bishop's Wife." Not exactly cutting edge for the 1990s, this warm-hearted holiday movie provided a handsome showcase for its black stars and did the lion's share of its business long after Christmas stockings had come down. However, none of his features opening in 1998 took off – though his work in all was exemplary. Washington did the best he could in Zwick's "The Siege," which deteriorated in a tide of action movie clichés after a promising beginning – not to mention the insidious, prejudicial attitudes naively displayed. He also reunited that year with Lee for the ambitious, yet flawed "He Got Game," playing a convict father temporarily released to try and convince his basketball prospect son to commit to the governor's favorite college. Washington gave a stand-out performance as the sorrowful Everyman wronged by passion and a blink of faith, but the director's heavy hand – despite his on-target look at basketball recruiting – mitigated the power of the father-son relationship. As the paralyzed protagonist of the serial killer thriller "The Bone Collector" (1999), Washington managed to compellingly anchor the film from his high-tech bed while glamorous newcomer Angelina Jolie served as his legs in the street. In 1999, Washington lost 40 pounds to play Ruben “Hurricane” Carter, the unjustly imprisoned former middleweight boxing contender, in "The Hurricane.” The film received a six-minute standing ovation when a work-in-progress print debuted at the 1999 Toronto Film Festival, causing the director to cite Washington's dedication and the painstaking recreation of different decades as the movie's two biggest pluses. Despite engendering controversy, mostly in the way some "facts" were omitted or rearranged, no one could fault the actor's work. Washington picked up his second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Audiences had become accustomed to rooting for Washington as a moral, noble lead, but with "Training Day" (2001), the actor showed them something new when he undertook the role of streetwise, abrasive and corrupt L.A. narcotics officer Alonzo Harris, who breaks in a new, idealistic partner (Ethan Hawke) while dispensing his own brand of street justice. Washington tore into the juicy role and earned his second Academy Award – this time, for Best Actor — the first black man to achieve that distinction since Poitier. By the time he picked up that statue, he had delivered another quality turn as the father of a critically ill son driven by circumstances to take desperate measures in the action drama "John Q" (2002). The film faired only marginally well at the box office. Now unquestionably the most popular black actor of his generation and a genuine A-lister with the paychecks to prove it, Washington’s search for life’s next challenge led him to directing. His first effort was the crowd-pleaser "Antwone Fisher" (2002), the true tale of a security guard who found success as a screenwriter and producer after a volatile career in the U.S. Navy. Washington returned to the role of leading man in the thriller "Out of Time" (2003), reuniting with director Carl Franklin to play chief of police of Banyan Key, FL, who ends up as the prime suspect in a small town double homicide. Both "Antwone Fisher" and "Out of Time" underperformed at the box office, but Washington's ability to draw an audience with the right material was reaffirmed with "Man on Fire" (2004), an action-packed revenge drama which cast the actor as a taciturn bodyguard who befriends his 10-year-old client (Dakota Fanning), before going on a bloody trail of retribution when she is kidnapped. In director Jonathan Demme's remake of the classic conspiracy thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" (2004), Washington equated himself well in a challenging role, taking the Frank Sinatra part as a confused military officer attempting to unravel the secrets behind his frightening dreams of a mission gone awry. Washington made the character his own, investing him with both quiet nobility and crazed desperation. He followed up with a return to the stage for two months of performances as Brutus in Shakespeare's “Julius Caesar” on Broadway. Washington’s presence packed the show night after night; however the actor received some of the worst stage reviews of his career. Returning to the big screen, he starred in Spike Lee’s first stab at the heist genre, “Inside Man” (2006), playing a smooth, even-keeled hostage negotiator who is dispatched to the scene of a bank robbery to diffuse a crisis situation, but finds himself one step behind the job’s cool and collected mastermind (Clive Owen). Washington once again put his good-guy image aside and earned rave reviews for 2007’s “American Gangster,” co-starring alongside former co-star and now fellow A-lister Russell Crowe in the fact-based chronicle of New York’s drug underworld of the 1970s. In the Ridley Scott-directed picture which many likened to the gangster epics of Martin Scorsese, Washington played a savvy, business-minded employee of Harlem’s top drug dealer who steps in to build his own empire following the death of his boss. The film earned over $46 million dollars on opening weekend and instantly generated Oscar buzz for both lead actors and director Scott. Washington would return to his respectable persona later in the year with the Christmas release of “The Great Debaters” (2007), playing an inspirational teacher who founds a powerhouse debate team at an all black college during the 1930s. The film marked Washington’s sophomore directing effort.

Also Credited As: Denzel Hayes Washington JrBorn: Denzel Hayes Washington Jr on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New YorkJob Titles: Actor, Director, Producer, Drama instructor, Camp counselor, Postal worker, Sanitation workerFamily
Daughter: Katia Washington. Born c. 1987; mother, Pauletta Pearson
Daughter: Olivia Washington. Born April 10, 1991; twin of Malcolm; mother, Pauletta Pearson
Father: Denzel Washington. Divorced Washington s mother when he was 14; originally from Dillwyn, Virginia; died in 1991 at age 81
Mother: Lennis Washington. Divorced Washington s father when he was 14; born in Georgia and raised in Harlem
Sister: Lorice Washington. Older
Son: John David Washington. Born c. 1984; played a student in Harlem classroom in Malcolm X (1992); mother, Pauletta Pearson; was drafted by the NFL s St. Louis Rams in May 2006
Son: Malcolm Washington. Born April 10, 1991; twin of Olivia; named after Malcolm X; mother, Pauletta Pearson
Education
Fordham University, Bronx, NY, journalism, BA, 1977
Oakwood Academy, New Windsor, NY
American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco, CA
Milestones
1977 TV-movie debut in Wilma (CBS), biography of Olympic runner Wilma Rudolph; future wife Pauletta Pearson also acted in telefilm
1979 Acted in CBS miniseries Flesh and Blood
1979 Appeared in New York Shakespeare Festival (NYSF) production of Coriolanus
1981 Feature film debut in Carbon Copy
1981 First time playing Malcolm Shabazz (aka Malcolm X) in New Federal Theater stage production of When the Chicken Comes Home to Roost
1981 Originated role of PFC Melvin Peterson in Charles Fuller s Pulitzer-winning A Soldier s Play at the Negro Ensemble Theater
1982 TV series debut as regular playing Dr Phillip Chandler on the NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere
1984 Earned critical praise for reprising Peterson in Norman Jewison s film A Soldier s Story ; adapted from Fuller s play
1986 Selected by director Sidney Lumet for the role of a public relations executive in Power ; part was originally written for a white man
1987 Made Broadway debut in disastrous run of Ron Milner s Checkmates
1987 Portrayed martyred South African leader Steven Biko in Richard Attenborogh s Cry Freedom ; earning first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor
1988 First time headlining a feature, the British film For Queen and Country
1989 Earned Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work as the defiant slave-turned-soldier in Glory ; first film with director Edward Zwick
1989 US debut as feature lead, The Mighty Quinn
1990 Initial collaboration with director Spike Lee, Mo Better Blues playing jazz musician Bleek Gilliam
1991 Essayed title role in NYSF production of Richard III
1992 Excelled as a carpet salesman in the small art film Mississippi Masala
1992 Played the Black Nationalist leader, Malcolm X ; second film with Lee; garnered Best Actor Academy Award nomination
1993 Acted opposite Julia Roberts in The Pelican Brief
1993 Displayed his Shakespearean chops as Don Pedro in Kenneth Brannagh s film adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing
1993 Portrayed ambulance-chasing lawyer who, inspite of his own homophobia, agrees to represent an AIDS-stricken lawyer (Tom Hanks) who claims discrimination in his dismissal from a law firm in Jonathan Demme s Philadelphia
1995 Executive produced TV documentary, Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (TBS)
1995 Headlined the adventure-thriller Crimson Tide ; teamed him with Gene Hackman
1995 Starred in Carl Franklin s film noir, The Devil in a Blue Dress ; first feature produced under the auspices of his production company Mundy Lane
1996 Acted opposite Whitney Houston in Penny Marshall s The Preacher s Wife
1996 Reteamed with Zwick for Courage Under Fire
1997 Made directing debut with In Harm s Way, a music video for the Winans
1998 Reteamed with Lee for He Got Game
1998 Third film with Edward Zwick, The Siege
1999 Delivered a convincing turn as a paralyzed NYC criminologist who helps solve the identity of a serial killer in The Bone Collector
1999 Played former middleweight boxer Ruben Hurricane Carter in Norman Jewison s Hurricane ; received Best Actor Oscar nomination
2000 Starred in Boaz Yakin s Remember the Titans ; film was based on the true story of a newly-integrated high school football team in the South going on to a state championship
2000 Was one of the producers of the documentary Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks
2001 Undertook villainous role as a cop on the take paired with a rookie (Ethan Hawke) in Training Day ; received Oscar as Best Actor
2002 Feature directorial debut, The Antwone Fisher Story ; also co-starred
2002 Starred in John Q as a man who confronts an HMO that withholds treatment from his ill child
2003 Portrayed Chief Detective Matt Whitlock in the thriller Out of Time
2004 Cast in the role of Bennet Marco, originally played by Frank Sinatra, in remake of The Manchurian Candidate
2004 Starred opposite Dakota Fanning in Tony Scott s Man on Fire
2005 Starred as Brutus in the Broadway production of Julius Caesar
2006 Reteamed with director Spike Lee for the fourth time to star in the hostage drama Inside Man
2006 Reteamed with director Tony Scott for the thriller, DéjÀ Vu
2007 Cast as Frank Lucas, a real-life 70 s heroin kingpin in the Ridley Scott directed American Gangster ; earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama
2007 Directed (also acted) The Great Debaters ; a true story based on the Wiley College debate team in the 1930s
Founded Mundy Lane Entertainment, named for the street on which he grew up
Opened Georgia, a restaurant in Los Angeles
Theatrical debut in Fordham University production of Eugene O Neill s The Emperor Jones
While a camp counselor in Lakeville, CT, took his first turn onstage during a talent show
Worked in New York with New Federal Theater and Negro Ensemble Company