Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington cropped.jpg
Washington at press conference of The Hurricane, 2000 Berlinale.
Born Denzel Hayes Washington Jr.
December 28, 1954 (1954-12-28) (age 54)
Mt. Vernon, New York, USA
Occupation Actor, director, producer
Years active 1977-present
Spouse(s) Pauletta Pearson (1983-)

Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. (born December 28 1954) is an American actor and director. 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, Malcolm X, Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Melvin B. Tolson, Frank Lucas and Herman Boone.

Washington has been awarded three Golden Globe awards and two Academy Awards for his work. He is notable as the second Black 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.[1]

Contents

Early life

Denzel Washington was born in Mt. Vernon, New York. His mother, Lennis "Lynne", was a beauty parlor-owner and operator born in Georgia and raised in Harlem.[2] His father, Reverend Denzel Washington, Sr., was an ordained Pentecostal minister and also worked for the Water Department and at a local department store, "S. Klein".[2][3] When Washington was fourteen his parents' marriage took a turn for the worse and he and his older sister were sent away to boarding school so that they would not be exposed to their parents' eventual divorce.

Washington was interested in attending Texas Tech University: "I grew up in the Boys Club in Mount Vernon, and we were the Red Raiders. So when I was in high school, I wanted to go to Texas Tech in Lubbock just because they were called the Red Raiders and their uniforms looked like ours."[4] Nevertheless, Washington earned a B.A. in Drama and Journalism from Fordham University in 1977. At Fordham, he played collegiate basketball as a Freshman guard[5] under coach P. J. Carlesimo.[6] After a period of bouncing from major to major and briefly dropping out of school for a semester, Washington worked as a counselor at an overnight summer camp called Camp Sloan YMCA in Lakeville CT. After participating in a staff talent show for the campers, a colleague suggested he try acting. Returning to Fordham that fall with a renewed purpose and focus, he enrolled at the Lincoln Center campus to study acting, snagging the title character in both Eugene O'Neill's The Emperor Jones, and William Shakespeare's Othello, where he earned rave reviews. Upon graduation, he was given a scholarship to attend graduate school at the prestigious American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, where he stayed for one year before deciding to return to New York to begin a professional acting career.[7]

Career

Early career

Washington's signature in front of Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Shortly after graduating from Fordham, Washington made his professional acting debut in the 1977 made-for-television movie Wilma. He made his film debut in the 1981 film Carbon Copy. His big break came when he starred in the popular television hospital drama, St. Elsewhere from 1982 to 1988. He was one of a few actors to appear on the series for its entire six-year run. In 1987, after appearing in several minor television, film and stage roles, Washington starred as South African Anti-Apartheid political activist Steve Biko in Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom, a role for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In 1989, Washington won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for playing a defiant, self-possessed ex-slave in the film Glory. Also that same year, he gave a powerful performance as the conflicted and disillusioned Reuben James, a Caribbean-born British soldier who, despite a distinguished military career abroad, turns to a life of vigilantism and violence upon his return to civilian life in For Queen and Country.

1990s

In the Summer of 1990 he starred in a movie called Mississippi Masala where he played the character Demetrius Williams. Washington played one of his most critically acclaimed roles in 1992's Malcolm X, directed by Spike Lee. 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 an offer to play Martin Luther King, Jr., because he wanted to avoid being typecast. The next year, in 1993, he took another risk in his career by playing Joe Miller, the homophobic lawyer of a homosexual man with AIDS in the movie Philadelphia starring Tom Hanks. During the early and mid 1990s, Washington became a renowned Hollywood leading man, starring in several successful thrillers, including The Pelican Brief and Crimson Tide, as well as comedies (Much Ado About Nothing) and romantic dramas (The Preacher's Wife).

While filming the 1995 film Virtuosity, Washington refused to kiss his white female co-star, Kelly Lynch, during a romantic scene between their characters. During an interview, Lynch stated that while she wanted to, "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."[8] A similar situation also occurred during the filming of The Pelican Brief when Julia Roberts expressed in an interview her desire to have her character in the film engaged in a romantic relationship with Washington's character. And an additional occurrence was in the 1989 film The Mighty Quinn where Washington's Quinn character did not kiss Mimi Rogers' alluring Hadley character. However, in 1998, Washington starred in a scene of a sexual nature with actress 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 an Oscar for which he was nominated. Washington did receive a Golden Globe Award in 2000 and a 'Silberner Bär' (Silver Berlin Bear) at the Berlin International Film Festival for the role.

He also presented the Arthur Ashe ESPY Award to Loretta Claiborne for her courage. He appeared as himself in the end of The Loretta Claiborne Story movie. Washington is often cited as an example of human physical attractiveness due to the symmetry of his facial features.[9][10]

2000s

In 2000, Washington appeared in the crowd-pleasing Disney film, Remember the Titans, which grossed over $100 million at the United States box office. He was nominated and won an Oscar for Best Actor for his next film, the 2001 cop thriller, Training Day, as Det. Alonzo Harris, a rogue LAPD cop with questionable law-enforcement tactics. The role was a much-acclaimed change-of-pace for the actor, who was known for playing many heroic leads. Washington was the second African-American performer ever to win an Academy Award in the category of Best Actor (for Training Day), the first being Sidney Poitier, who happened to receive an Honorary Academy Award the same night that Washington won for Best Actor. Washington holds the record for most Oscar nominations by an actor of African descent; so far he has earned five.

After appearing in 2002's box office success, the health care-themed John Q., Washington directed his first film, a well-reviewed drama called Antwone Fisher, in which he also co-starred.

Between 2003 and 2004, Washington appeared in a series of thrillers that performed generally well at the box office, including Out of Time, Man on Fire, and The Manchurian Candidate.[11] In 2006 he starred in Inside Man, a Spike Lee-directed bank heist thriller co-starring Jodie Foster and Clive Owen, and Déjà Vu released in November 2006. Next, he co-starred with Russell Crowe in American Gangster and directed and starred in The Great Debaters with Forest Whitaker.

Return to theater

In 2005, after a 15-year hiatus (he was last seen in the summer of 1990 in the title role of the Public Theater's production of Shakespeare's Richard III) , Washington appeared onstage again in another Shakespeare play as Marcus Brutus in Julius Caesar on Broadway. The production's limited run was a consistent sell-out, averaging over 100% attendance capacity nightly despite receiving universally terrible reviews.[12]

Personal life

In 1983, Washington married actress Pauletta Pearson (now Pauletta Washington), whom he met on the set of his first screen role, Wilma. The couple have four children: John David (b. July 28, 1984), who signed a football contract with the St. Louis Rams in May 2006 after playing college football at Morehouse;[13] Katia (b. November 1987), who is attending Yale University, and twins Olivia and Malcolm (named in honor of Malcolm X)[14](b. April 10, 1991). In 1995, the couple renewed their wedding vows in. South Africa with Archbishop Desmond Tutu officiating.

Washington and his family visited soldiers at the Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. He later made a sizable donation to the Fisher Houses, small hotels that provide rooms for soldiers' families while the soldiers are hospitalized. In October 2006, he published a bestseller entitled Hand to Guide Me, featuring actors, politicians, athletes, and other public figures recalling their childhood mentors. The book was published in commemoration of the Boys and Girls Club of America's centennial anniversary, because Washington had participated in the club as a child.

Washington is a devout Christian.[15]

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia named Washington as one of three people (the others being directors Oliver Stone and Michael Moore) with whom they were willing to negotiate for the release of three defense contractors that the group had held captive from 2003 to 2008.[16]

On May 18, 1991, Washington was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Fordham University, for "impressively succeeded in exploring the edge of his multifaceted talent". He also was awarded an honorary doctorate of humanities from Morehouse College on May 20, 2007.

Upcoming projects

Washington will next star as New York subway security chief Zach "Z" Garber in The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3, a remake of the 70's thriller, The Taking of Pelham One, Two Three, opposite John Travolta and directed by Tony Scott, opening in July 2009. He is also attached to star as CIA intelligence officer Brandon Scofield in the film adaptation of Robert Ludlum's Cold War spy thriller The Matarese Circle, and in January 2009, he will begin filming The Book of Eli, a post-Apocalyptic drama set in the near future. Josh Washington is the nephew of Denzel Washington

Filmography

Year Film Role Other notes
1981 Carbon Copy Roger Porter
1984 License To Kill Martin Sawyer Lifetime Movie
1984 A Soldier's Story Pfc. Melvin Peterson
1986 Hard Lessons aka The George McKenna Story George McKenna
Power Arnold Billings Image Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture
1987 Cry Freedom Steve Biko Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor nomination
1989 The Mighty Quinn Xavier Quinn
For Queen and Country Reuben James
Glory Pvt. Trip Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1990 Heart Condition Napoleon Stone
Mo' Better Blues Bleek Gilliam
1991 Ricochet Nick Styles
1992 Mississippi Masala Demetrius Williams
Malcolm X Malcolm X Academy Award for Best Actor nomination
1993 Much Ado About Nothing Don Pedro of Aragon
The Pelican Brief Gray Grantham
Philadelphia Joe Miller
1995 Crimson Tide Lt. Commander Ron Hunter
Virtuosity Lt. Parker Barnes
Devil in a Blue Dress Easy Rawlins
1996 Courage Under Fire Lt. Colonel Nathaniel Serling
The Preacher's Wife Dudley
1998 Fallen Detective John Hobbes
He Got Game Jake Shuttlesworth
The Siege Special Agent Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard
1999 The Bone Collector Lincoln Rhyme
The Hurricane Rubin "Hurricane" Carter Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Academy Award for Best Actor nomination
2000 Remember the Titans Coach Herman Boone
The Loretta Claiborne Story Himself
2001 Training Day Detective Alonzo Harris Academy Award for Best Actor
2002 John Q John Quincy Archibald
Antwone Fisher Dr. Jerome Davenport also as director
2003 Out of Time Police Chief Matthias Lee Whitlock
2004 Man on Fire John Creasy
The Manchurian Candidate Major Ben Marco
2006 Inside Man Detective Keith Frazier
Déjà Vu Special Agent Doug Carlin
2007 American Gangster Frank Lucas Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama nomination
The Great Debaters Melvin B. Tolson also as director
2009 The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 Zachary "Z" Garber

Awards and nominations

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Kevin Kline
for A Fish Called Wanda		 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
1989
for Glory		 Succeeded by
Joe Pesci
for Goodfellas
Preceded by
Martin Landau
for Tucker: The Man and His Dream		 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
1990
for Glory		 Succeeded by
Bruce Davison
for Longtime Companion
Preceded by
Jim Carrey
for The Truman Show		 Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
2000
for The Hurricane		 Succeeded by
Tom Hanks
for Cast Away
Preceded by
Russell Crowe
for Gladiator		 Academy Award for Best Actor
2001
for Training Day		 Succeeded by
Adrien Brody
for The Pianist
Preceded by
Brad Pitt		 People's Sexiest Man Alive
1996		 Succeeded by
George Clooney

References

  1. ↑ (April 4, 2002). "Halle Berry, Denzel Washington get historic wins at Oscars. Jet. Digital version retrieved March 17, 2008.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Nickson, Chris (1996). Denzel Washington. St. Martin's Paperbacks. pp. 9-11. ISBN-100312960433. 
  3. ↑ Denzel Washington Biography (1954-)
  4. ↑ "Leach OK with star power". Florida Times-Union. Retrieved on 2007-12-31.
  5. ↑ SPURS COACH STICKS NECK OUT FOR CARLESIMO
  6. ↑ PRO BASKETBALL: NOTEBOOK; Chicago's Jordan-Jackson-Pippen Triangle, page 2
  7. ↑ "Biography" (html). allmovie.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-13.
  8. ↑ Quotes from Jet magazine, 1995
  9. ↑ Cowley, Geoffrey (1996-06-03). "The biology of beauty", Newsweek v127 n23, Newsweek, p. 60(7).  Excerpted by "Balancing Act". Symonics Inc. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
  10. ↑ Rodgers, Joann Ellison (Jan/February 1999). "Flirting Fascination", Psychology Today, Sussex Publishers. Retrieved on 2007-03-20. 
  11. ↑ "Denzel Washington Movie Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved on 2007-03-20.
  12. ↑ "A Big-Name Brutus in a Caldron of Chaos", by Ben Brantley, The New York Times, April 4, 2005.
  13. ↑ "Denzel Washington's son among Rams signees", ESPN (2006-05-01). Retrieved on 2007-03-20. 
  14. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000243/bio
  15. ↑ Ojumu, Akin (2002-03-24). "The Observer Profile: Denzel Washington", The Observer. Retrieved on 2008-02-11. 
  16. ↑ "Colombian rebels ask Denzel Washington to help broker hostage exchange", CBC Arts (2006-11-10). Retrieved on Proxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 07-03-20. 

External links

Academy Award for Best Actor

Denzel Washington (2001) · Adrien Brody (2002) · Sean Penn (2003) · Jamie Foxx (2004) · Philip Seymour Hoffman (2005) · Forest Whitaker (2006) · Daniel Day-Lewis (2007)

 · (1928–1940) · (1941–1960) · (1961–1980) · (1981–2000) · (2001-present)
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor

John Gielgud (1981) · Louis Gossett, Jr. (1982) · Jack Nicholson (1983) · Haing S. Ngor (1984) · Don Ameche (1985) · Michael Caine (1986) · Sean Connery (1987) · Kevin Kline (1988) · Denzel Washington (1989) Joe Pesci (1990) · Jack Palance (1991) · Gene Hackman (1992) · Tommy Lee Jones (1993) · Martin Landau (1994) · Kevin Spacey (1995) · Cuba Gooding, Jr. (1996) · Robin Williams (1997) · James Coburn (1998) · Michael Caine (1999) · Benicio del Toro (2000)

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Films directed by Denzel Washington
2000s
Antwone Fisher · The Great Debaters