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 who 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] In 1987, he played Steve Biko, an anti-apartheid activist in the Richard Attenborough-directed drama Cry Freedom, for which he received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.[5][6] Two years later, Washington won the award for playing Trip, a former slave-turned-soldier in Civil War film Glory (1989).[5][7] In 1990, he played the title character in the play The Tragedy of Richard III, and starred in Spike Lee's comedy-drama Mo' Better Blues. Washington received the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin International Film Festival, for playing the eponymous civil rights activist in Lee's Malcolm X (1992).[8]

In 1993, Washington starred in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of the Shakespearean comedy Much Ado About Nothing, legal thriller The Pelican Brief with Julia Roberts, and AIDS drama Philadelphia with Tom Hanks. He appeared in Tony Scott's Crimson Tide in 1995. Washington won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama,[9] and his second Silver Bear for Best Actor for playing wrongly-convicted boxer Rubin Carter in the biographical film The Hurricane (1999).[8][10] He followed this with another biographical role as American football coach Herman Boone in the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans.[11] For his next role as corrupt cop Alonzo Harris in the crime thriller Training Day (2001),[12] Washington received the Academy Award for Best Actor.[13] 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.[14][15]

Washington reteamed with Scott on the thriller Man on Fire, and starred with Meryl Streep in The Manchurian Candidate (both in 2004). In 2005, he returned to the stage in the Shakespearean play Julius Caesar. Washington played drug kingpin Frank Lucas in American Gangster,[16] and poet and educator Melvin B. Tolson in The Great Debaters[17] (both in 2007). In 2010, Washington received the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for playing Troy Maxson in Fences (six years later, he starred in the film adaptation of the play for which he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role).[18][19] For his portrayal of an alcoholic airline pilot in Flight (2012),[20] he garnered an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.[21] In 2014, Washington appeared in the action thriller The Equalizer, and the play A Raisin in the Sun.

Film[]

Year Title Role Notes Ref(s)
1981 Carbon Copy Roger Porter [22]
1984 A Soldier's Story Private First Class Melvin Peterson [23]
1986 Power Arnold Billings [24]
1986 The George McKenna Story George McKenna [24]
1987 Cry Freedom Steve Biko [25]
1988 For Queen and Country Reuben James [26]
1989 The Mighty Quinn Xavier Quinn [27]
1989 Glory Private Silas Trip [24]
1990 Heart Condition Napoleon Stone [28]
1990 Mo' Better Blues Bleek Gilliam [29]
1991 Mississippi Masala Demetrius Williams [30]
1991 Ricochet Nick Styles [31]
1992 Malcolm X Malcolm X [24]
1993 Much Ado About Nothing Don Pedro of Aragon [32]
1993 The Pelican Brief Gray Grantham [33]
1993 Philadelphia Joe Miller [34]
1995 Crimson Tide Lt. Commander Ron Hunter [35]
1995 Virtuosity Lt. Parker Barnes [24]
1995 Devil in a Blue Dress Easy Rawlins [24]
1996 Courage Under Fire Lt. Colonel Nathaniel Serling [24]
1996 The Preacher's Wife Dudley [36]
1998 Fallen Detective John Hobbes [37]
1998 He Got Game Jake Shuttlesworth [24]
1998 The Siege Anthony Hubbard [24]
1999 The Bone Collector Lincoln Rhyme [24]
1999 The Hurricane Rubin Carter [10]
2000 Remember the Titans Herman Boone [11]
2001 Training Day Alonzo Harris [24]
2002 John Q. John Q. Archibald [38]
2002 Antwone Fisher Dr. Jerome Davenport Also director, producer [39]
2003 Out of Time Matt Lee Whitlock [40]
2004 Man on Fire John W. Creasy [41]
2004 The Manchurian Candidate Maj. Ben Marco [42]
2006 Inside Man Keith Frazier [43]
2006 Déjà Vu Doug Carlin [44]
2007 American Gangster Frank Lucas [24]
2007 The Great Debaters Melvin B. Tolson Also director [24]
2009 The Taking of Pelham 123 Walter Garber [24]
2010 The Book of Eli Eli Also producer [45]
2010 Unstoppable Frank Barnes [46]
2012 Safe House Tobin Frost [47]
2012 Flight William "Whip" Whitaker Sr. [48]
2013 2 Guns Robert "Bobby" Trench [24]
2014 The Equalizer Robert McCall Also producer [49]
2016 The Magnificent Seven Sam Chisolm [50]
2016 Fences Troy Maxson Also director, 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 [55]
2021 The Little Things Deputy Sheriff Joe "Deke" Deacon [56]
2021 The Tragedy of Macbeth Lord Macbeth [57]
2021 A Journal for Jordan — Director, producer [58]
Key
Films that have not yet been released Denotes films that have not yet been released

Television[]

Year(s) Title Role(s) Notes Ref(s)
1977 The Wilma Rudolph Story Robert Eldridge – age 18 Television film [59]
[60]
1979 Flesh & Blood Kirk Television film [61]
[62]
1982–1988 St. Elsewhere Dr. Philip Chandler 118 episodes [63]
1984 License to Kill Martin Sawyer Television film [64]
1986 The George McKenna Story George McKenna Also known as Hard Lessons; Television film [65]
1992 Great Performances Narrator Episode: "Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway" [66]
1992 Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II Narrator Documentary film [67]
1995
1997 		Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child King Omar
Humpty Dumpty
Crooked Man 		Episode: "Rumpelstiltskin"
Episode: "Mother Goose: A Rappin' and Rhymin' Special"
Voice only 		[68]
[69]
2013 The March Narrator Documentary film [70]
2016 Grey's Anatomy — Episode: "The Sound of Silence" (director) [71]

Theatre[]

Year(s) Production Theater Role(s) Notes Ref.
1979 Coriolanus Joseph Papp Public Theater Aediles / Roman Citizen / Voscian Citizen
Roman Soldier / Voscian Soldier 		June 22 − July 22 [72]
1981 When the Chickens Came Home to Roost New Federal Theatre Malcolm X [73]
1981–83 A Soldier's Play Theatre Four Private First Class Melvin Peterson Nov. 20, 1981 − Jan. 2, 1983 [74]
1988 Checkmates 46th Street Theatre Sylvester Williams August 4 − December 31 [75]
1990 The Tragedy of Richard III Joseph Papp Public Theater Richard III of England August 3 − September 2 [76]
2005 Julius Caesar Belasco Theatre Marcus Brutus April 3 − June 12 [77]
2010 Fences Cort Theatre Troy Maxson April 26 − July 11 [78]
2014 A Raisin in the Sun Ethel Barrymore Theatre Walter Lee Younger April 3 − June 15 [79]
2018 The Iceman Cometh Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre Theodore "Hickey" Hickman April 26 − July 1 [80]

See also[]

References[]

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  4. ^ Van Gelder, Laawrence (September 14, 1984). "A Soldier s Story (1984) Film: 'Soldier's Story'". The New York Times. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
  5. ^ a b Collins, Glenn (December 28, 1989). "Denzel Washington Takes a Defiant Break From Clean-Cut Roles". The New York Times. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  6. ^ "The 60th Academy Awards". Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). Retrieved May 17, 2015.
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  8. ^ a b Hopewell, John (July 23, 2014). "Denzel Washington To Receive San Sebastian Donostia Award". Variety. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
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  15. ^ Susman, Gary (March 27, 2002). "Did you notice all of Oscar night's firsts?". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 17, 2015.
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  55. ^ McNary, Dave (June 19, 2019). "Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman Starring in 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom' for Netflix". Variety. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  56. ^ Kroll, Justin (October 31, 2019). "Denzel Washington's 'Little Things' Casts John Harlan Kim (Exclusive)". Variety. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
  57. ^ Bradshaw, Peter (September 24, 2021). "The Tragedy of Macbeth review – McDormand and Washington deliver noirish nightmare". The Guardian. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
  58. ^ Kroll, Justin (February 2, 2019). "Michael B. Jordan to Star in Denzel Washington's 'Journal for Jordan'". Variety. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
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  70. ^ de Moraes, Lisa (August 5, 2013). "TCA: Denzel Washington To Narrate PBS' 'The March'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  71. ^ Nilles, Billy (February 10, 2016). "How Denzel Washington's Wife Helped Him Direct Meredith's Terrifying Grey's Anatomy Attack". E!. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  72. ^ "Coriolanus". Lortel. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
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  75. ^ "Checkmates". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  76. ^ "The Tragedy of Richard III". Lortel. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  77. ^ "Julius Caesar". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  78. ^ "Fences". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  79. ^ "A Raisin in the Sun". Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  80. ^ McPhee, Ryan (July 1, 2018). "The Iceman Cometh, Starring Denzel Washington, Concludes Broadway Run July 1". Playbill. Retrieved November 7, 2019.

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