Denzel Washington (born 1954) is an American actor, screenwriter, director and film producer. Although his first major role was in the classic
Ensemble Cast Medical Drama,
St. Elsewhere, he has garnered much critical acclaim for his work in film since the 1990s, including for his portrayals of real-life figures, such as Steve Biko (
Cry Freedom),
Malcolm X, Rubin Carter (
The Hurricane), Melvin B. Tolson (
The Great Debaters), Frank Lucas (
American Gangster) and Herman Boone (
Remember The Titans). In case you're wondering, he's been approached to play
Martin Luther King Jr., but he's declined for fear of the
Typecasting that kind of role would create.
Washington has been awarded three Golden Globe awards and two
Academy Awards for his work. He is notable as the second African American man (after Sidney Poitier) to win the
Academy Award for Best Actor, which he received for his role in the 2001 film
Training Day. He starred as John Creasy in
Man on Fire. Recently starred in the 2006 thriller
Déjà Vu the 2009 remake of
The Taking of Pelham 123, and the 2010 post-apocalyptic action film
The Book of Eli. He also played Joe Miller in
Philadelphia, which was the second big-budget Hollywood film to present AIDS, homophobia, and gays in a realistic and thoughtful light.
For his 2012 film
Safe House, he allowed himself to be
water-boarded for real to
make the performance more realistic. His next film was
Flight, which came out in November 2012, and for which he was nominated for another Oscar.
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