Celebrating Black History: Denzel Washington Jr.

Unlimited Whispers’ black hero of the day is Denzel Washington.   I chose Denzel because of his philanthropy achievements, his educational background, award achievements, work ethics and family life.  Denzel is an avid supporter of the Boys and Girls Club.  He credits the youth organization for providing him with structure in his life when he needed it the most.  He felt it diverted him from going down a negative path in his childhood. He regularly returns the favor with monetary donations and encourages others to support the organization as well.

Ultimately, the man has a zeal at achieving great heights in his career and it deserves to be duly noted.  Denzel’s life before fame should be part of high school student’s curriculum to success.  The following is a brief synopsis of what makes Denzel great.

Actor, director. Born Denzel Jermaine Washington, Jr. on December 28, 1954, in Mount Vernon, New York, where the Boys & Girls Club would help keep him out of trouble. When he was 14, his parents’ marriage broke down and he and his older sister were sent away to boarding school. He was sent to a private preparatory school, Oakland Military Academy, in New Windsor, New York. “That decision changed my life,” Washington later said, “because I wouldn’t have survived in the direction I was going. The guys I was hanging out with at the time, my running buddies, have now done maybe 40 years combined in the penitentiary. They were nice guys, but the streets got them.” After Oakland, Washington next attended Mainland High School, a public high school in Daytona Beach, Florida, from 1970–71. Washington was interested in attending Texas Tech University: “I grew up in the Boys Club in Mount Vernon, and we were the Red Raiders. So when I was in high school, I wanted to go to Texas Tech in Lubbock just because they were called the Red Raiders and their uniforms looked like ours.” Washington earned a B.A. in Drama and Journalism from Fordham University in 1977. At Fordham he played collegiate basketball as a freshman guard under coach P. J. Carlesimo. After a period of indecision on which major to study and dropping out of school for a semester, Washington worked as a counselor at an overnight summer camp, Camp Sloane YMCA in Lakeville, Connecticut. He participated in a staff talent show for the campers and a colleague suggested he try acting.

Returning to Fordham that fall with a renewed purpose and focus, he enrolled at the Lincoln Center campus to study acting and was given the title roles in both Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones and Shakespeare’s Othello. Upon graduation he attended graduate school at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, where he stayed for one year before returning to New York to begin a professional acting career.

Washington spent the summer of 1976 in St. Mary’s City, Maryland in summer stock theater performing Wings of the Morning, the Maryland State play. He also filmed a series of commercials in the Fruit of the Loom ensemble, as Grapes. Shortly after graduating from Fordham, Washington made his professional acting debut in the 1977 made-for-television film Wilma with his first Hollywood appearance in the 1981 film Carbon Copy.

Denzel made his feature film debut in the comedy A Carbon Copy (1981). He also appeared in a number of off-Broadway productions and in television movies before being cast in a starring role in the hit television medical drama St Elsewhere (1982–88).

Denzel grabbed his first of five Oscar nominations for Cry Freedom (1987) as real-life South African apartheid martyr Steve Biko. He won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Glory (1989).

Denzel proved time and again he could disappear into a role and mesmerize audiences. He appeared in several notable films throughout the 1990s, including his first of four Spike Lee collaborations Mo’ Better Blues (1990), Malcolm X (1992) in another Oscar-nominated performance, Philadelphia (1993), Crimson Tide (1995), Courage Under Fire (1996) and The Hurricane (1999), for which he received a Golden Globe for Best Actor and another Oscar nomination.

In 2001, he received his second Oscar (this time in a leading role) for the cop thriller Training Day. The following year, he directed his first film, the drama Antwone Fisher, in which he also co-starred.

Several blockbusters followed, including Man on Fire (2004), The Manchurian Candidate (2004) and Spike Lee’s Inside Man (2006). He also starred as Frank Lucas, a real-life heroin kingpin from Harlem, in the 2007 film American Gangster, opposite Russell Crowe. In 2009, Washington starred as MTA Dispatcher Walter Garber in the remake of the classic film The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3.

Denzel Washington married actress Pauletta Pearson in 1983; they have four children. Their oldest son, John David, was drafted in 2006 by the NFL’s St. Louis Rams. Their other children are daughter Katia, who attends Yale University and twins Olivia and Malcolm.

Check out these little known Denzel Washinton facts:

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#77). [1995]

Has 4 children, John David Washington (born July 28, 1984), Katia Washington (born November 27, 1987), and twins Malcolm Washington and Olivia Washington (born April 10, 1991), with Pauletta Washington.

Son, Malcolm, was named in honor of Malcolm X.

To prepare for his role as boxer Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter in The Hurricane (1999), Washington worked out for a year with L.A. boxing trainer Terry Claybon.

Attended Fordham University, receiving a B.A. in Journalism.

1996 Harvard Foundation Award

In a Newsweek cover story about the biological basis of the perception of beauty, he was used as a key example in a scientific explanation why he is considered an extremely handsome man.

Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the world [1990]

According to a 1995 Premiere magazine article, Denzel confronted director Quentin Tarantino when he visted the set of Crimson Tide (1995). Quentin had done an uncredited rewrite of the script. Denzel lambasted Tarantino about his use of racial slurs in his films. Tarantino got embarrassed and wanted to move the conversation to a more private area. Denzel said, “No, if were going to discuss it, let’s discuss it now.” Denzel later said he still felt that Quentin was “a fine artist”.

Denzel is named after his father who was in turn named after the doctor, Doctor Denzel, who had delivered him.

In the early 1980s, years before he portrayed Malcolm X in the Spike Lee film Malcolm X (1992), Washington portrayed Malcolm in the off-Broadway production of “When the Chickens Came Home to Roost”, at the Henry Street Theatre in NYC.

Frequent collaborator of Spike Lee.

Named one of E!’s “top 20 entertainers of 2001.”

Supports charities such as the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, and the Gathering Place (an AIDS hospice).

Met his wife Pauletta Washington in 1977 when both had small roles in the TV-movie Wilma (1977) (TV) (she was billed as Pauletta Pearson), the story of runner Wilma Rudolph. They wed five years later.

His father was a Pentecostal minister; his mother a beautician and former gospel singer. They divorced when he was 14.

Is a spokesperson for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, having been a member of the Boys Club once himself.

Only the second black actor (after Sidney Poitier) to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (for Training Day (2001)). Poitier received the honorary Academy Award that same year.

Was named one of the 50 Most Beautiful People by People Magazine in 2002.

Ranked #28 in Premiere’s 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #40 in 2002.

Often works with director Edward Zwick.

Cousin is CBS anchorman Ukee Washington.

He and his family are members of the same church as actors Dwayne Winstead, Sy Richardson, Marvin Wright-Bey, and Fitz Houston.

Was awarded the title of “Police Chief for a Day” when he was a member of The Boys and Girls Club of America as a child. The photo was shown during his latest appearance on “LIVE! with Kelly” (1988).

Bought the film rights to the Sammy Davis Jr. biography in 2004, Sammy in Black and White.

Tom Hanks said working with Washington on Philadelphia (1993) was like “going to film school”. Hanks said he learned more about acting by watching Denzel than from anyone else.

He was at his mother’s beauty parlor, when a woman getting her hair done saw him and told someone to get her a piece of paper and she wrote at the top “Prophecy” and then wrote that Denzel would grow up and one day speak to millions. Denzel kept the bit of paper in his wallet. The woman was known as a prophetess in their church and community.

Cites star-athletes like Jim Brown and Gale Sayers as the role models of his youth.

First studied Biology in hopes of becoming a doctor, then switched to Political Science then to a Journalism/Drama major in college.

Has worn some kind of military uniform in at least six of his films.

Ranked #59 on VH1′s 100 Hottest Hotties

Because of his pay-or-play deal on the doomed 2005 “American Gangster” project (which was to be directed by Antoine Fuqua), he was paid $20 million even though the film did not move ahead.

Premiere Magazine ranked him as #39 on a list of the Greatest Movie Stars of All Time in their Stars in Our Constellation feature (2005).

Chosen as People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive [1996]

First African-American actor to receive two Academy Awards

Has played two soldiers who have suffered traumatic, life-changing experiences while fighting in the 1991 Persian Gulf War: Lt. Col. Nathaniel Serling in Courage Under Fire (1996) and Maj. Ben Marco in The Manchurian Candidate (2004).

Though his first theatrical film was a comedy (Carbon Copy (1981)), he has only done three more since. Has mentioned that he’s always wanted to do a great one.

He and his family visited the troops at Brook Army Medical Center, in San Antonio, Texas (BAMC). There are some buildings there called Fisher Houses. The Fisher House is a Hotel where soldiers’ families can stay, for little or no charge, while their soldier is staying in the Hospital. BAMC has quite a few of these houses on base, but as you can imagine, they are almost filled most of the time. He was given a tour of one of the Fisher Houses and subsequent to his visit sent them one of the largest donations they’ve ever received.

His performance as Malcolm X in Malcolm X (1992) is ranked #17 on Premiere Magazine’s 100 Greatest Performances of All Time (2006).

Is the second of three children.

As of 2006, he is the most Oscar-winning (two) and most nominated (five) black actor/actress in Academy history.

Son John David Washington recently signed as a running back with the St. Louis Rams (May 2006).

Has two films on the American Film Institute’s 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time. They are: Glory (1989) at #31 and Philadelphia (1993) at #20.

Has worked with both Ridley Scott and Tony Scott. Ridley directed him in American Gangster (2007). He has worked with Ridley’s brother, Tony, on four films, which are: Crimson Tide (1995), Man on Fire (2004), Deja Vu (2006), and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009). He will work with Tony for the fifth time in the upcoming Unstoppable (2010).

Turned down Se7en (1995). He opted to do another detective thriller that year, Devil in a Blue Dress (1995).

Claims his personal favorite performances are his works in Cry Freedom (1987), Glory (1989), Malcolm X (1992), and Training Day (2001).

Turned down the role of Detective David Mills in Se7en (1995).

Turned down the role of Cinque in Amistad (1997).

His daughter, Katia Washington, currently attends Yale University.

Good friends with actress Julia Roberts.

Voted as America’s Favorite Movie Star in the 2006 and 2007 Harris Polls.

At one point, was to star as Dr. Alex Cross in Kiss the Girls (1997), had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts.

He was presented with the honorary degree Doctor of Humane Letters from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia on May 20, 2007.

Son of Lennis Washington, a beautician and former Gospel singer.

Almost every summer he and his family go to Italy on vacation.

For Courage Under Fire (1996), he trained at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in California, where he qualified on the M1A1 tank and the 120mm gun, participated in battle games and listened to audiotapes of tank battles in Desert Storm.

To prepare for his attorney role in Philadelphia (1993), he met with two lawyers who were about to become celebrities in their own right: Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and Carl Douglas.

He spent months on the beat with Washington Post reporters to prepare for The Pelican Brief (1993).

Has worked with both Fanning sisters. He worked with Dakota Fanning in Man on Fire (2004); he worked with (although did not have any scenes with) Elle Fanning in Deja Vu (2006).

December 2007 – According to Forbes, for each dollar he got paid, his movies averaged $10 of gross income.

In 2006, he donated $1 million to Save Africa’s Children.

When Washington won the Best Actor Oscar for Training Day (2001), Halle Berry won the Best Actress Oscar for Monster’s Ball (2001), and Sidney Poitier won the Honorary award (2001), 2002 marked the first time in Academy Awards history that 3 African-Americans so dominated the Oscar ceremonies. [2002]

He is a big fan of the TV show “Monk” (2002). He requested Ted Levine to play a part in American Gangster (2007) because he was a fan of the series. He also worked with Tony Shalhoub in The Siege (1998/I).

Named Gene Hackman, Angelina Jolie, and Dakota Fanning as the most talented actors he has ever worked with.

The actors he most wants to work with are Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. The director he most wants to work with is Martin Scorsese.

The offer he regrets turning down the most is Brad Pitt’s role in Se7en (1995).

Was the original choice to play the title character in Blade (1998).

Nickname:  D   Height  6′ 0½” (1.84 m)

Was considered for the part of Det. Ricardo Tubbs on “Miami Vice” (1984).

Broke the pinky finger of his right hand during a childhood basketball accident and never had it set correctly, resulting in the finger healing in a crooked position. The finger is still crooked to this day, bent at the bottom knuckle a full 45 degrees outward from his other fingers.

Attended the star-studded opening of Dubai’s lavish Atlantis Palms resort. Guests were welcomed in style with a display of one million fireworks, said to be visible from space. [November 11, 2008]

As of 2009, Washington and sound engineers Willie D. Burton and Russell Williams II are the only African-Americans to win two Oscars.

Brother-in-law of actress Rita Pearson.

Frequently works with directors Spike Lee and Tony Scott.

Was in consideration for the part of Curtis Taylor Jr in Dreamgirls (2006). However Jamie Foxx was cast instead.

Performed all of his own stunts for the hand to hand fight sequences in the post-apocalyptic action film The Book of Eli (2010).

Turned down the role that went to George Clooney in Michael Clayton (2007).

Lives in Los Angeles, California.

(1997) Release of the book, “Denzel Washington” by Alex Simmons.

(1999) Release of the book, “Denzel Washington” by Anne E. Hill.

(2003) Release of the book, “Denzel Washington: Academy Award-winning Actor” by Sara McIntosh Wooten.

(2006) Release of his book, “A Hand to Guide Me” by Denzel with Daniel Paisiner.

Likes to point out the difference between his father’s and his first name: Denzel. Though both are spelled the same, his dad’s name is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable – DEN-zel, whereas the actor’s name is pronounced – den-ZEL.

Among his favorite black actors are – Idris Elba and Chiwetel Ejiofor – who happen to be British, and both of whom co-starred with Washington in American Gangster (2007).

Has worked twice with Chiwetel Ejiofor. In Inside Man (2006), they played police detectives; in American Gangster (2007), they played criminals.

Sources: IMDb, Wikipedia, and BIO  Also, you can also check out this brief video documentary on Denzel’s life.