Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an Oscar and Tony award-winning actor and filmmaker. He has appeared in over four dozen feature films since he first appeared on the silver screen over 40 years ago. He is 69 years old and born in Mount Vernon, New York, just outside of New York City.
Washington’s parents divorced when he was a young teen. He attended the Oakland Military Academy in Orange County, New York. He earned degrees in drama and journalism from Fordham University where he played college basketball. He attended the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.
Washington first appeared on television in 1977 in a made-for-tv movie The Wilma Rudolph Story. He first appeared on the silver screen in Carbon Copy in 1981. He rose to fame in 1982 when he was cast as Dr. Phillip Chandler in NBC hit drama St. Elsewhere. He appeared in 118 episodes over its six seasons. He has appeared on television since but only rarely.
Washington would make his mark in the industry in feature films. He earned his first Oscar nomination in 1987 for Cry Freedom. In 1990 he won his first Oscar for his work in the film Glory, a historical war drama. He received much acclaim in the early 90s for roles in The Pelican Brief, Philadelphia, and Crimson Tide. He won the Best Actor Academy Award in 2002 for Training Day. He has been nominated for Oscars in films Malcomb X, The Hurricane, Flight, Fences (also directed), Roman J. Israel, Esq, and The Tragedy of Macbeth.
Other popular movies Washington has appeared in include Much Ado About Nothing, Courage Under Fire, The Preacher’s Wife, Remember the Titans, Antwone Fisher, The Manchurian Candidate, Inside Man, American Gangster, The Good Debaters (also directed), Unstoppable, and 2 Guns. He has appeared in films such as The Equalizer (and its sequels) and The Magnificent Seven in the last decade. He is expected to appear in Gladiator 2 to be released in the fall of this year.
In 2020, the New York Times voted Washington the best actor of the 21st century. In 2016, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded him the Cecil B. Demille Lifetime Achievement Award. He won a Tony Award as Best Leading Actor in a Play in 2010 for Fences. He is expected to appear on Broadway in Othello next year.
Washington has served as the national spokesman for the Boys & Girls Club of America for decades. He supports causes such as the Fisher House Foundation whose mission is to give the families of active military and veterans a free place to stay while their loved ones are in the hospital. He supports many other causes like the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
Washington has four children with Pauletta Pearson (pictured). They met on the set of his first television job. They have been married for 40 years. They live in the Beverly Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, just north of Beverly Hills.
