Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles on stage and screen, he is widely regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, with The New York Times declaring him the greatest actor of the 21st century in 2020. Over his career, he has received several accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award. Washington has been honoured with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2016, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022.
After training at the American Conservatory Theatre, Washington began his career in theatre, acting in performances off-Broadway. He first came to prominence in the NBC medical drama series St. Elsewhere (1982–1988) and in the war film A Soldier's Story (1984). He won two Academy Awards, his first for Best Supporting Actor for playing an American Civil War soldier in the war drama Glory (1989) and his second for Best Actor for playing a corrupt police officer in the crime thriller Training Day (2001). He was Oscar-nominated for his performances in Cry Freedom (1987), Malcolm X (1992), The Hurricane (1999), Flight (2012), Fences (2016), Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017), and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021).
A prominent leading man, Washington also acted in Mo' Better Blues (1990), Mississippi Masala (1991), Philadelphia (1993), Courage Under Fire (1996), Remember the Titans (2000), Man on Fire (2004), Inside Man (2006), American Gangster (2007), and The Equalizer trilogy (2014–2023). Washington directed and starred in the films Antwone Fisher (2002), The Great Debaters (2007), and Fences (2016).
On stage, he has acted in productions of both Coriolanus (1979) and The Tragedy of Richard III (1990) at the Public Theater. He made his Broadway debut in the Ron Milner play Checkmates (1988). He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as a disillusioned working-class father in the Broadway revival of August Wilson's play Fences (2010). He has also acted in the Broadway revivals of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (2005), Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (2014), and Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh (2018).
Known for
Gladiator II
Macrinus
Great Performances
Self
Tony Awards
Self - Nominee
Tony Awards
Self - Presenter
Tony Awards
Self - Winner/Presenter
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Presenter
Golden Globe Awards
Self - Nominee
The Equalizer
Robert McCall
American Experience
Self - Narrator
Man on Fire
John W. Creasy
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
Walter Garber
The Equalizer 2
Robert McCall
The Equalizer 3
Robert McCall
St. Elsewhere
Philip Chandler
Highest 2 Lowest
David King
The Bone Collector
Lincoln Rhyme
The Manchurian Candidate
Major Bennett Ezekiel Marco
American Gangster
Frank Lucas
John Q
John Quincy Archibald
The Oscars
Self
The Book of Eli
Eli
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Macbeth
Training Day
Alonzo
Chasing Trane
John Coltrane (voice)
The Great Debaters
Melvin B. Tolson
The Magnificent Seven
Sam Chisolm
Glory
Pvt. Trip
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
King Omar (voice)
Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
Humpty Dumpty / Crooked Man (voice)
The Hurricane
Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
The Pelican Brief
Gray Grantham
License to Kill
Martin Sawyer
Unstoppable
Frank Barnes
Safe House
Tobin Frost
The Siege
Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard
Much Ado About Nothing
Don Pedro of Aragon
The Making of 'Crimson Tide'
Self
Giving Voice
Self
The Little Things
Joe 'Deke' Deacon
Courage Under Fire
Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling
2 Guns
Robert 'Bobby' Trench
Inside Man
Keith Frazier
The Mighty Quinn
Xavier Quinn
Quentin Tarantino: From a Movie Buff to a Hollywood Legend
Self (archive footage)
Déjà Vu
Doug Carlin
Fallen
John Hobbes
Crimson Tide
Lt. Commander Ronald "Ron" Hunter
Philadelphia
Joe Miller
TRL
Self
Remember the Titans
Coach Herman Boone
Denzel Washington: American Icon
Self
Devil in a Blue Dress
Easy Rawlins
Flight
Whip Whitaker
The Piano Lesson: Legacy and a Vision
Self
Carbon Copy
Roger Porter
He Got Game
Jake Shuttlesworth
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial
Self
Out of Time
Matt Lee Whitlock
Malcolm X
Malcolm X
Black Panther 3
The Preacher's Wife
Dudley
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Self
The American Film Institute Salute to ...
Self - Honoree
Fences
Troy Maxson
Ricochet
Nick Styles
Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway
Narrator
Virtuosity
Parker Barnes
Number One on the Call Sheet
Self
Mo' Better Blues
Bleek Gilliam
Mississippi Masala
Demetrius Williams
Roman J. Israel, Esq.
Roman J. Israel
Power
Arnold Billings
For Queen & Country
Reuben
A Soldier's Story
Private First Class Peterson
Antwone Fisher
Dr. Jerome Davenport
Cry Freedom
Steve Biko
The George McKenna Story
George McKenna
By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'
Self
Denzel Washington: Falling Forward
Straight from the Streets
Self
Flesh & Blood
Kirk
Heart Condition
Napoleon Stone
Rabbit Ears - Anansi
Narrator (voice)
Sidney
Self
Here Comes the Flood
The Equalizer 4
Robert McCall
Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II
Narrator
Coriolanus
Roman Soldier / Volscian Soldier
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker
Self
Wilma
Robert Eldridge, age 18
Rabbit Ears - John Henry
Narrator (voice)
NBA at 50
Self - Host
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King
Self (archive footage)
Fallen Empire: Making 'American Gangster'
Self
The Making of Gladiator II
Self
Whoopi Goldberg: The Winning Act
Self (archive footage)
Untitled Hannibal Project
Hannibal Barca
Untitled Black Panther Sequel
American Gangster Special
Self
The Equalizer 5
Robert McCall
Denzel Washington: Reel Life
Self
Mother Goose: A Rappin' and Rhymin' Special
Humpty Dumpty / The Crooked Man (voice)
Number 4
Self
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Self
The Graham Norton Show
Self
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Self
The View
Self
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
Self
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
Self - Guest
CBS News Sunday Morning
Self
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Self- Guest
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Self
Wetten, dass..?
Self
Wogan
Self
Close Up with The Hollywood Reporter
Self
ZDF-Mittagsmagazin
Self
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Goldene Kamera
Self
The Reichen Show
Self - Guest
On Air with Ryan Seacrest
Self
Circus Halligalli
Self
Today
Self
The Early Show
Self - Guest
Live from Studio Five
Self