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The son of a Pentecostal minister and a hairdresser, Washington was born in Mount Vernon, New York on December 28, 1954. His parents' professions shaped Washington's early ambition to go into show business: from his minister father he learned the power of performance, while hours spent in his mother's salon listening to stories gave him a love of storytelling.
Unfortunately, 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 went on to college, attaining a B.A. in Journalism from Fordham University in 1977. He still found time to pursue his interest in acting, and after graduation he went to San Francisco, where he won a scholarship to the American Conservatory Theatre. Washington stayed with the ACT for a year, and, after his time there, he began acting in various television movies and made his film debut in the 1981 "Carbon Copy".
Likened to Sidney Poitier for his ability to appeal to a multiracial audience, Denzel Washington parlayed his matinee idol looks and finely honed acting skills into becoming the first of his generation's African-American movie star on Hollywood's A-list. The self-proclaimed underachiever at Fordham University debuted in a college production of "The Emperor Jones" and soon after appeared as the school's "Othello", causing his professor Robinson Stone to remark to The Boston Globe (August, 5, 1990): "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." By the time he graduated in 1977, Washington had landed a part in "Wilma" (CBS, 1977), a biopic of black track star Wilma Rudolph, which introduced him to his future wife Pauletta Pearson. He also enjoyed incredible success on the New York stage, particularly as a member of the OBIE-winning ensemble of Charles Fuller's "A Soldier's Play" and as Malcolm Shabazz (a.k.a. Malcolm X) in "When the Chicken Comes Home to Roost" (both 1981).
While touring in "A Soldier's Play", Washington landed the part of Dr. Phillip Chandler, an insecure young resident, on the well-regarded medical drama "St. Elsewhere" (NBC, 1982-88). Although one of the lesser-sung players in an ensemble featuring Ed Flanders, Ed Begley Jr. and Howie Mandel, he embarked on a critically-acclaimed film career during its run, putting his inauspicious debut as George Segal's illegitimate son in the inane comedy
"Carbon Copy" (1981) behind him. He reprised his stage role in Norman Jewison's film "A Soldier's Story" (1984), receiving high praise for his riveting performance as the 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 what the actor has called his historical-political roles. Washington debuted as a feature lead the following year in the striking British thriller "For Queen and Country", speaking (or, according to some, struggling) with a Caribbean accent to play a Falklands war hero down on his luck in Thatcherite London.
He then delivered an Oscar-winning supporting portrayal of a proudly defiant slave-turned-soldier in "Glory" (1989), his first collaboration with director Edward Zwick who told People (July, 29, 1996), "My editor didn't want to cut away from him because there was always something happening." As the emotionally-distant, womanizing trumpeter Bleek Gilliam in Spike Lee's overly long and uneven "Mo' Better Blues" (1990), Washington played one of his few roles calling for love scenes. The family man in him clashed with the director over how far he would go, on how much skin he would show, though their differences would not keep them from working together again. He also managed to remain true to his stage roots by taking the title role in a New York Shakespeare Festival production of "Richard III" (1991). After a disappointing turn as 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).
Re-teaming with Lee at his best on "Malcolm X" (also 1992), he slipped again inside the skin of the controversial black leader, putting his noble bearing to arguably its best use to date in a super Oscar-nominated lead performance. The montage of stills and newsreel of the real Malcolm at movie's end pointed up the brilliant alchemy enabling Washington to capture the essence of this great man. Demonstrating his ease with Shakespearean screen dialogue as the dashing Don Pedro in Kenneth Branagh's bouncy adaptation of "Much Ado About Nothing", he also showed he could help sell mainstream Hollywood pictures, acting alongside superstar Julia Roberts in "The Pelican Brief", an adaptation of a best-selling John Grisham legal thriller, and Tom Hanks in "Philadelphia" (all 1993), a prestige project that also became a box-office smash.
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. Washington starred opposite film veteran Gene Hackman in "Crimson Tide" (1995), a nuclear brinkmanship thriller set on a submarine and one of the first big hits of the summer season. It was his only box-office success that year as the violent sci-fi actioner "Virtuosity" tanked despite its foundation of genuinely interesting ideas, and the thoughtful, period detective film "Devil in a Blue Dress", a generally well-reviewed, meticulously observed slice of black Americana set in post-World War II Los Angeles, also failed to find an audience, putting a kibosh on a proposed franchise for its star and ascendant writer-director Carl Franklin.
Washington went on to earn strong critical praise in Zwick's "Rashomon"-like "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. Assigned to investigate a female candidate (Meg Ryan) being considered posthumously for the Medal of Honor, he learns from the testimony of the three surviving soldiers that what happened out there was far from clear-cut. His pursuit of the truth shuts out wife and family in favor of booze, and the actor's sensitive and understated etching of his moody character was the stand-out performance in the film. Washington co-starred with singer-turned-actress Whitney Houston in "The Preacher's Wife" (also 1996), the Penny Marshall-directed remake of 1947's "The Bishop's Wife".
Not exactly cutting edge for the 90s, 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. None of his features opening in 1998 took off, though his work in all was exemplary. A convincing, demon-busting policeman in "Fallen", a hybrid of supernatural and cop-thriller genres that couldn't overcome the limitations of its script, Washington did the best he could in Zwick's "The Siege", which deteriorated in a tide of action movie cliches after its promising beginning, not to mention the insidious, prejudicial attitudes naively displayed. He also reteamed that year with Lee for the ambitious, flawed "He Got Game", playing the convict father temporarily released to try and convince his top 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 that was the film's strong suit.
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 Angelina Jolie served as his legs in the street. He reteamed with Jewison to close out the millennium in "The Hurricane", losing 40 pounds to play the unjustly imprisoned Ruben 'Hurricane' Carter, a former middleweight boxing contender. Shot as an independent because financing proved problematic, the film received a six-minut 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 plusses. Despite engendering controversy, mostly in the way some of the "facts" were omitted or rearranged, no one could fault the actor's work and Washington picked up his second Best Actor Academy Award nomination for his heartfelt portrayal of Carter.
The next year, "Remember the Titans" cast him as a high school football coach who, in assuming the reins of an integrated team, must employ his former white rival as an assistant en route to a state championship. In 2001's "Training Day", the actor
undertook the role of streetwise, abrasive and corrupt L.A. narcotics officer Alonzo Harris who simultaneously breaks in a new, idealistic partner (Ethan Hawke) while dispensing his own brand of street justice. Washington tore into the juicy role and earned some of the best reviews of his career. Despite having the misfortune of being released in the aftermath of September 11, 2001 when public sentiment towards policemen and firefighters was at its highest, "Training Day" became something of a cult hit.
By year's end, Washington had earned a few critical awards and received his second Academy Award as Best Actor, the first black man to achieve that distinction since Poitier. By the time he picked up that statue, his 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). Washington had moved into producing with "Devil in a Blue Dress", the first feature from his Mundy Lane production company, and later served as executive producer of the TV documentary "Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream" (TBS, 1995). He broke into directing with the Winans' "In Harm's Way" music video and segued to features with "The Antwone Fisher Story" (2002), the true tale of a
Sony security guard who found success as a screenwriter and producer after a volatile career in the US Navy. Before long, Washington was being praised for both his directorial and acting work in "Antwoine Fisher", in which he played a concerned naval psychiatrist, and even more so for director Carl Franklin's 2003 crime thriller "Out of Time".
Somewhat reminiscent of his role in 1991's crime drama "Ricochet", "Out of Time" finds Denzel playing an upstanding police officer who is framed for the murder of a prominent citizen. In 2004, Washington will team up with Johnathan Demme for the first time since 1993's "Philadelphia" for the hotly acclaimed remake of 1962's "The Manchurian Candidate". Washington will star as soldier Bennett Marco, who, along with his platoon, is kidnapped during the first Gulf War. In April 2004, Washington will work alongside Christopher Walken in director Tony Scott's upcoming thriller "Man On Fire". Washington and his wife, singer-actress Pauletta Pearson who met while filming the 1977 TV movie Wilmahave been married since 1983. They have five children and live in Los Angeles. Washington serves as a spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.
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