Acting · Mount Vernon, New York, USA · Born December 28, 1954
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles on stage and screen, he is widely regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, with The New York Times declaring him the greatest actor of the 21st century in 2020. Over his career, he has received several accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award. Washington has been honoured with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2016, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. After training at the American Conservatory Theatre, Washington began his career in theatre, acting in performances off-Broadway. He first came to prominence in the NBC medical drama series St. Elsewhere (1982–1988) and in the war film A Soldier's Story (1984). He won two Academy Awards, his first for Best Supporting Actor for playing an American Civil War soldier in the war drama Glory (1989) and his second for Best Actor for playing a corrupt police officer in the crime thriller Training Day (2001). He was Oscar-nominated for his performances in Cry Freedom (1987), Malcolm X (1992), The Hurricane (1999), Flight (2012), Fences (2016), Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017), and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021). A prominent leading man, Washington also acted in Mo' Better Blues (1990), Mississippi Masala (1991), Philadelphia (1993), Courage Under Fire (1996), Remember the Titans (2000), Man on Fire (2004), Inside Man (2006), American Gangster (2007), and The Equalizer trilogy (2014–2023). Washington directed and starred in the films Antwone Fisher (2002), The Great Debaters (2007), and Fences (2016). On stage, he has acted in productions of both Coriolanus (1979) and The Tragedy of Richard III (1990) at the Public Theater. He made his Broadway debut in the Ron Milner play Checkmates (1988). He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as a disillusioned working-class father in the Broadway revival of August Wilson's play Fences (2010). He has also acted in the Broadway revivals of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (2005), Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (2014), and Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh (2018).
MovieDenzel Washington: Falling Forward
2025
MovieHighest 2 Lowest
2025
as David King
TVNumber One on the Call Sheet
2025
as Self
MovieThe Piano Lesson: Legacy and a Vision
2024
as Self
MovieThe Making of Gladiator II
2024
as Self
MovieGladiator II
2024
as Macrinus
MovieDenzel Washington: American Icon
2024
as Self
TVHollywood Black
2024
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThe Equalizer 3
2023
as Robert McCall
MovieSidney
2022
as Self
MovieWhoopi Goldberg: The Winning Act
2022
as Self (archive footage)
MovieThe Tragedy of Macbeth
2021
as Macbeth
MovieThe Little Things
2021
as Joe 'Deke' Deacon
Quentin Tarantino: From a Movie Buff to a Hollywood Legend
2021
as Self (archive footage)
MovieChadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King
2020
as Self (archive footage)
MovieGiving Voice
2020
as Self
MovieDenzel Washington: Reel Life
2018
as Self
MovieThe Equalizer 2
2018
as Robert McCall
MovieRoman J. Israel, Esq.
2017
as Roman J. Israel
MovieChasing Trane
2017
as John Coltrane (voice)
MovieFences
2016
as Troy Maxson
MovieThe Magnificent Seven
2016
as Sam Chisolm
TVThe Late Show with Stephen Colbert
2015
as Self - Guest
TVClose Up with The Hollywood Reporter
2015
as Self
MovieThe Equalizer
2014
as Robert McCall
TVThe Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
2014
as Self
Movie2 Guns
2013
as Robert 'Bobby' Trench
TVCircus Halligalli
2013
as Self
MovieFlight
2012
as Whip Whitaker
MovieSafe House
2012
as Tobin Frost
MovieUnstoppable
2010
as Frank Barnes
MovieThe Book of Eli
2010
as Eli
TVLive from Studio Five
2009
as Self
MovieThe Taking of Pelham 1 2 3
2009
as Walter Garber
MovieWe Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial
2009
as Self
MovieFallen Empire: Making 'American Gangster'
2008
as Self
MovieThe Great Debaters
2007
as Melvin B. Tolson
MovieAmerican Gangster
2007
as Frank Lucas
TVThe Graham Norton Show
2007
as Self
MovieDéjà Vu
2006
as Doug Carlin
MovieInside Man
2006
as Keith Frazier
The Reichen Show
2005
as Self - Guest
MovieBy Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X'
2005
as Self
MovieThe Manchurian Candidate
2004
as Major Bennett Ezekiel Marco
MoviePeople Like Us: Making 'Philadelphia'
2004
as Self (archive)
MovieMan on Fire
2004
as John W. Creasy
TVOn Air with Ryan Seacrest
2004
as Self
MovieOut of Time
2003
as Matt Lee Whitlock
TVThe Ellen DeGeneres Show
2003
as Self
MovieThe Evolution of an American Filmmaker
2003
as Self
TVJimmy Kimmel Live!
2003
as Self - Guest
MovieAntwone Fisher
2002
as Dr. Jerome Davenport
MovieBehind the Scenes of 'John Q'
2002
as Self
MovieJohn Q
2002
as John Quincy Archibald
MovieTraining Day
2001
as Alonzo
TVA Better Tomorrow
2001
as Reggie Malone
MovieRemember the Titans
2000
as Coach Herman Boone
MovieStraight from the Streets
2000
as Self
MovieThe Bone Collector
1999
as Lincoln Rhyme
TVThe Early Show
1999
as Self - Guest
MovieThe Hurricane
1999
as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
MovieThe Siege
1998
as Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard
TVTRL
1998
as Self
MovieHe Got Game
1998
as Jake Shuttlesworth
MovieFallen
1998
as John Hobbes
MovieMother Goose: A Rappin' and Rhymin' Special
1997
as Humpty Dumpty / The Crooked Man (voice)
TVThe View
1997
as Self
MovieThe Preacher's Wife
1996
as Dudley
MovieNBA at 50
1996
as Self - Host
MovieCourage Under Fire
1996
as Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling
MovieDevil in a Blue Dress
1995
as Easy Rawlins
MovieVirtuosity
1995
as Parker Barnes
MovieCrimson Tide
1995
as Lt. Commander Ronald "Ron" Hunter
TVHappily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
1995
as King Omar (voice)
MovieThe Making of 'Crimson Tide'
1995
as Self
MovieSesame Street | All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever!
1994
as Self (archive footage)
MoviePhiladelphia
1993
as Joe Miller
MovieThe Pelican Brief
1993
as Gray Grantham
TVLate Show with David Letterman
1993
as Self - Guest
MovieMuch Ado About Nothing
1993
as Don Pedro
MovieMalcolm X
1992
as Malcolm X
Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II
1992
as Narrator (voice)
MovieJammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway
1992
as Narrator (voice)
TVThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno
1992
MovieRicochet
1991
as Nick Styles
MovieMississippi Masala
1991
as Demetrius Williams
Rabbit Ears - Anansi
1991
as Narrator (voice)
MovieRabbit Ears - John Henry
1990
as Narrator (voice)
MovieMo' Better Blues
1990
as Bleek Gilliam
MovieHeart Condition
1990
as Napoleon Stone
MovieGlory
1989
as Pvt. Trip
ZDF-Mittagsmagazin
1989
as Self
MovieThe Mighty Quinn
1989
as Xavier Quinn
TVAmerican Experience
1988
as Narrator (voice)
TVLIVE with Kelly and Mark
1988
as Self
MovieThe George McKenna Story
1988
as George McKenna
MovieNelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute
1988
as Self
MovieFor Queen & Country
1988
as Reuben
MovieCry Freedom
1987
as Steve Biko
MovieLicense to Kill
1986
as Martin Sawyer
MoviePower
1986
as Arnold Billings
MovieA Soldier's Story
1984
as Private First Class Peterson
Goldene Kamera
1984
as Self
TVSt. Elsewhere
1982
as Philip Chandler
TVWogan
1982
as Self
MovieCarbon Copy
1981
as Roger Porter
TVWetten, dass..?
1981
as Self
MovieFlesh & Blood
1979
as Kirk
TVFlesh & Blood
1979
as Kirk
MovieCoriolanus
1979
as Roman Soldier / Volscian Soldier
TVCBS News Sunday Morning
1979
as Self
MovieWilma
1977
as Robert Eldridge, age 18
TVThe American Film Institute Salute to ...
1973
as Self
TVGreat Performances
1971
as Self
TVTony Awards
1956
as Self - Presenter
TVThe Oscars
1953
as Self
TVToday
1952
as Self
TVGolden Globe Awards
1944
as Self - Presenter
Black Panther 3
MovieHere Comes the Flood
American Gangster Special
as Self
Untitled Hannibal Film
as Hannibal the Great
