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Denzel Washington on screen and stage

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A photograph of Washington at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2000
Washington attending the Berlin International Film Festival in 2000

Denzel Washington is an American actor known for his performance on stage and screen. Washington made his feature film debut in Carbon Copy (1981).[1] In 1982, Washington made his first appearance in the medical drama St. Elsewhere as Dr. Philip Chandler. The role proved to be the breakthrough in his career.[2][3] He starred as Private First Class Melvin Peterson in the drama A Soldier's Story (1984). The film was an adaptation of the Off-Broadway play A Soldier's Play (1981–1983) in which Washington had earlier portrayed the same character.[4]

He has since gained recognition as one of the greatest actors in the 21st century.[5] Washington went on to win two Academy Awards, his first for Best Supporting Actor as a former slave-turned-soldier in Civil War film Glory (1989)[6][7] and his second for Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as a corrupt cop in the crime thriller Training Day (2001).[8][9] By virtue of his win, he became the first African American actor to win two competitive Academy Awards, and the first since Sidney Poitier in 1964 to win the leading actor award.[10][11] His other Oscar-nominated roles were in Cry Freedom (1987),[12] Malcolm X (1992),[13] The Hurricane (1999),[14] Flight (2012),[15] Fences (2016),[16] Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017),[17] and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021).[18]

Washington also established himself as a leading man in Hollywood acting in films such as Spike Lee's Mo' Better Blues (1990), the romantic drama Mississippi Masala (1991), Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (1993), the thriller The Pelican Brief (1993), the AIDS drama Philadelphia (1993), the action thriller Crimson Tide (1995), the war drama Courage Under Fire (1996), the sports drama Remember the Titans (2000), the action thriller Man on Fire (2004), the political thriller The Manchurian Candidate (2004), the crime thrillers Inside Man (2006), and American Gangster (2007). He has starred in the action thriller The Equalizer franchise (2014–2023) and has directed films such as Antwone Fisher (2002), The Great Debaters (2007), and Fences (2016).

He has also asserted himself onstage acting in The Public Theatre productions of William Shakespeare's tragedies Coriolanus (1979), and The Tragedy of Richard III (1990). He made his Broadway debut in Checkmates (1988). He went on to win the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for playing Troy Maxson in the August Wilson play Fences (2010). His other Broadway roles include Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (2005), Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (2014), and Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh (2018), the later of which earned him another Tony Award nomination.[19] He is set to return to Broadway in the 2025 revival of Shakepeare's Othello playing the title role.[20]

Film

[edit]
Year Title Role Notes Ref(s)
1981 Carbon Copy Roger Porter [21]
1984 A Soldier's Story Private First Class Melvin Peterson [22]
1986 Power Arnold Billings [23]
1987 Cry Freedom Steve Biko [24]
1988 For Queen and Country Reuben James [25]
1989 The Mighty Quinn Xavier Quinn [26]
Glory Private Silas Trip [23]
1990 Heart Condition Napoleon Stone [27]
Mo' Better Blues Bleek Gilliam [28]
1991 Mississippi Masala Demetrius Williams [29]
Ricochet Nick Styles [30]
1992 Malcolm X Malcolm X [23]
1993 Much Ado About Nothing Don Pedro of Aragon [31]
The Pelican Brief Gray Grantham [32]
Philadelphia Joe Miller [33]
1995 Crimson Tide Lt. Commander Ron Hunter [34]
Virtuosity Lt. Parker Barnes [23]
Devil in a Blue Dress Easy Rawlins [23]
1996 Courage Under Fire Lt. Colonel Nathaniel Serling [23]
The Preacher's Wife Dudley [35]
1998 Fallen Detective John Hobbes [36]
He Got Game Jake Shuttlesworth [23]
The Siege Anthony Hubbard [23]
1999 The Bone Collector Lincoln Rhyme [23]
The Hurricane Rubin Carter [14]
2000 Remember the Titans Herman Boone [37]
2001 Training Day Alonzo Harris [23]
2002 John Q. John Quincy Archibald [38]
Antwone Fisher Dr. Jerome Davenport Also director and producer [39]
2003 Out of Time Matt Lee Whitlock [40]
2004 Man on Fire John W. Creasy [41]
The Manchurian Candidate Maj. Ben Marco [42]
2006 Inside Man Keith Frazier [43]
Déjà Vu Doug Carlin [44]
2007 American Gangster Frank Lucas [23]
The Great Debaters Melvin B. Tolson Also director [23]
2009 The Taking of Pelham 123 Walter Garber [23]
2010 The Book of Eli Eli Also producer [45]
Unstoppable Frank Barnes [46]
2012 Safe House Tobin Frost [47]
Flight William "Whip" Whitaker Sr. [48]
2013 2 Guns Robert "Bobby" Trench [23]
2014 The Equalizer Robert McCall Also producer [49]
2016 The Magnificent Seven Sam Chisolm [50]
Fences Troy Maxson Also director and producer [51]
2017 Roman J. Israel, Esq. Roman J. Israel Also producer [52][53]
2018 The Equalizer 2 Robert McCall Also producer [54]
2020 Ma Rainey's Black Bottom — Producer only [55]
2021 The Little Things Deputy Sheriff Joe "Deke" Deacon [56]
The Tragedy of Macbeth Lord Macbeth [57]
A Journal for Jordan — Director and producer only [58]
2023 The Equalizer 3 Robert McCall Also producer [59]
2024 The Piano Lesson — Producer only [60]
Gladiator II † Macrinus Post-production [61]
TBA High and Low † TBA Post-production [62]
Key
† Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television

[edit]
Year(s) Title Role(s) Notes Ref(s)
1977 Wilma: The Wilma Rudolph Story Robert Eldridge – age 18 Television film [63]
[64]
1979 Flesh & Blood Kirk Television film [65]
[66]
1982–1988 St. Elsewhere Dr. Philip Chandler 118 episodes [67]
1984 License to Kill Martin Sawyer Television film [68]
1986 The George McKenna Story George McKenna Also known as Hard Lessons; Television film [69]
1992 Great Performances Narrator Episode: "Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway" [70]
Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II Narrator Documentary [71]
1995, 1997 Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child King Omar / Humpty Dumpty / Crooked Man Voice, 2 episodes [72]
[73]
2013 The March Narrator Documentary [74]
2016 Grey's Anatomy — Director of episode: "The Sound of Silence" [75]

Theatre

[edit]
Year(s) Production Role(s) Theater Notes Ref.
1979 Coriolanus Aediles / Roman Citizen / Voscian Citizen
Roman Soldier / Voscian Soldier 		Joseph Papp Public Theater June 22 − July 22 [76]
1981 When the Chickens Came Home to Roost Malcolm X New Federal Theatre [77]
1981–1983 A Soldier's Play Private First Class Melvin Peterson Theatre Four Nov. 20, 1981 − Jan. 2, 1983 [78]
1988 Checkmates Sylvester Williams 46th Street Theatre August 4 − December 31 [79]
1990 The Tragedy of Richard III Richard III of England Joseph Papp Public Theater August 3 − September 2 [80]
2005 Julius Caesar Marcus Brutus Belasco Theatre April 3 − June 12 [81]
2010 Fences Troy Maxson Cort Theatre April 26 − July 11 [82]
2014 A Raisin in the Sun Walter Lee Younger Ethel Barrymore Theatre April 3 − June 15 [83]
2018 The Iceman Cometh Theodore "Hickey" Hickman Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre April 26 − July 1 [84]
2025 Othello † Othello Ethel Barrymore Theatre February 24 - June 6 [85]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
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  3. ^ "Denzel Washington: His Life and Career in Pictures". The Hollywood Reporter. October 31, 2012. Archived from the original on May 29, 2015. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
  4. ^ Van Gelder, Laawrence (September 14, 1984). "A Soldier s Story (1984) Film: 'Soldier's Story'". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 29, 2015. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
  5. ^ Dargis, Manohla; Scott, A. O. (November 25, 2020). "The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century". The New York Times. Archived from the original on December 1, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
  6. ^ Collins, Glenn (December 28, 1989). "Denzel Washington Takes a Defiant Break From Clean-Cut Roles". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 21, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
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  18. ^ Complex, Valerie (February 8, 2022). "Denzel Washington's Best Actor Nomination For The Tragedy of Macbeth Is His Tenth Making Him The Most Nominated Black Actor In Oscar History". Deadline.com. Archived from the original on November 6, 2022. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  19. ^ "2018 Tony Award Nominations: SpongeBob SquarePants and Mean Girls Lead the Pack". Playbill. Archived from the original on February 21, 2024. Retrieved March 6, 2024.
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  21. ^ Donalson, Melvin (January 1, 2010). Black Directors in Hollywood. University of Texas Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-292-78224-2. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
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