Denzel Washington – actor and film director

Denzel Washington is an American actor, film director and film producer. He is the second black-winner of the Oscar award for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor.
Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. was born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. The boy was named after his father-priest. There were three children in the family. Their worked in a beauty salon and young Denzel helped her.
After school he entered Fordham University in New York, where he first studied medicine, then biology, then became interested in journalism, and finally became interested in theater. In 1977 he graduated with BA in Journalism. Then Washington entered the American Conservatory in San Francisco. A year later he moved to New York.

In 1977, Denzel got a small role in his first film – sports drama Wilma. On the set of the film he met his future wife Paulette Pearson. In 1981, Washington starred in the comedy Carbon Copy where he played a major role. He became popular after his role in the television series St. Elsewhere in which he starred for 6 years.
In 1988, he was nominated for Oscar for his role of a political activist Steve Biko in the movie Cry Freedom by Richard Attenborough.
In 1990, the actor got the first Oscar for his role of courageous runaway slave in Glory by Edward Zwick.

In 1993, Washington was nominated for Oscar for his role as a religious leader in Spike Lee’s film Malcolm X. Denzel also played in other films by Lee – Mo’ Better Blues, He Got Game with Milla Jovovich and Inside Man with Clive Owen and Jodie Foster.
In 1993, he played the role of a homophobic lawyer in Philadelphia with Tom Hanks and Antonio Banderas.
In 2000, Washington received Golden Globe award for his role as a boxer in the biopic The Hurricane.
In 2001, the actor played a negative character for the first time in his career in the film Training Day and received Oscar.

Personal life
In 1982, Denzel married Paulette Pearson. They have four children: son John David (born in 1985), daughter Kate (born in 1988) and twins Olivia and Malcolm (born in 1991).

Selected Filmography
1979 – Flesh & Blood
1984 – A Soldier’s Story
1988 – For Queen And Country
1989 – The Mighty Quinn
1991 – Mississippi Masala
1993 – The Pelican Brief
1995 – Devil In Blue Dress
1996 – The Preacher’s Wife
1999 – The Bone Collector
2000 – Remember the Titans
2003 – Out of Time
2004 – The Manchurian Candidate
2007 – The Great Debaters, American Gangster
2009 – The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
2010 – The Book of Eli
2012 – Safe House
2013 – 2 Guns
2014 – The Equalizer
2016 – The Magnificent Seven, Fences

Denzel Washington – actor and film director