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Denzel Washington (born 28 December 1954) is an African American, Oscar-winning actor.
He was born in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of a minister and a beauty-parlour owner. In his youth, Denzel was banned by his parents from watching movies. When his parents split up, Denzel went through a rebellious stage, at the end of which several of his friends went to prison after getting into trouble. His mother's reaction was to send him away to preparatory school, and then on to Fordham University, where he discovered acting and earned a degree in journalism.
He landed his first film role in the 1975 TV movie Wilma. While filming this movie he met actress Pauletta Pearson, who he later married. His big break came when he starred in the popular TV hospital drama St. Elsewhere.
Washington turned down roles in several action films, in hopes for a more challenging role. In 1987 he starred as South African anti-apartheid campaigner Steve Biko in Richard Attenborough's Cry Freedom. In 1989 Denzel won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, after playing a defiant self-possessed slave in the film Glory.
Denzel played one of his most critically acclaimed roles in 1992's Malcolm X, directed by Spike Lee where his performance as the Black Nationalist leader earned him an Oscar nomination.
Malcolm X transformed Denzel's career, turning him overnight into one of Hollywood's most respected actors. He turned down several similar roles, such as the chance to play Martin Luther King Jr., because he didn't want to risk being typecast by subject matter.
After being nominated several times before, in 2002 Denzel won an Oscar for Best Actor for his performance in the film Training Day in which he played a corrupt, drug-dealing cop.
Denzel Washington Filmography
Actor
• Man on Fire (2004)
• The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
• Training Day/Swordfish (2004)
• Antwone Fisher/Thin Red Line, The (2003)
• Out of Time (2003)
• Siege, The/Behind Enemy Lines (2003)
• Antwone Fisher (2002)
• John Q (2002)
• Training Day (2001)
• Remember the Titans (2000)
• The Bone Collector (1999)
• The Hurricane (1999)
• Fallen (1998)
• He Got Game (1998)
• The Siege (1998)
• Courage Under Fire (1996)
• The Preacher's Wife (1996)
• Crimson Tide (1995)
• Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
• Virtuosity (1995)
• Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
• The Pelican Brief (1993)
• Philadelphia (1993)
• Malcolm X (1992)
• Mississippi Masala (1992)
• Ricochet (1991)
• Heart Condition (1990)
• Mo' Better Blues (1990)
• For Queen And Country (1989)
• Glory (1989)
• The Mighty Quinn (1989)
• Cry Freedom (1987)
• The George McKenna Story (1986)
• Power (1986)
• Carbon Copy (1981)
Director
• Antwone Fisher (2002)
Featured
• Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II (1992)
Producer
• Antwone Fisher (2002)
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