Tall, the strikingly handsome leading man of films and television in the 1980s and 1990s. He appeared in several notable films throughout the 1990s. He could disappear into a role and mesmerize audiences. After graduating from Fordham University with a B.A. in Journalism, Washington enrolls in San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre and spends the summer filming his first onscreen role in the TV movie Wilma. Washington won an Oscar as best actor for his role as a rogue cop in the 2001 film Training Day.
It was his second Academy Award; he also won in 1989 as best supporting actor for the Civil War film Glory. He is a member of the Boys’ Club of America, for whom he is a leading spokesman to this day; he’s also a major supporter of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund, and AIDS-hospice The Gathering Place.
(1954 -)
– Denzel Washington Quotes –
The time to worrying about flying is when you’re on the ground. When you’re up in the air, it’s too late. No point in worrying about it then.
~ Denzel Washington
Everybody has a job to do. There are people in Iraq on both sides of this war who do what they do for religious reasons, and they feel with God on their side. Some people are good at annihilating people. Maybe that’s their gift.
~ Denzel Washington
Growing up I didn’t watch movies.
~ Denzel Washington
Family is life; acting is making a living.
~ Denzel Washington
I had a lot of success from the start. I never really was tested for long periods of time. I got my first professional job while I was a senior in college. I signed with the William Morris Agency before I graduated.
~ Denzel Washington
In any profession it gets to be a grind.
~ Denzel Washington
You have to grab moments when they happen. I like to improvise and ad lib.
~ Denzel Washington
I wasn’t allowed to go to movies when I was kid; my father was a minister. 101 Dalmatians and King of Kings, that was the extent of it.
~ Denzel Washington
Dakota Fanning is a child, but she is a wonderful actor. I don’t know what a child actor is. She’s an actor who’s a child.
~ Denzel Washington
Where I think the most work needs to be done is behind the camera, not in front of it.
~ Denzel Washington
I made a commitment to completely cut out drinking and anything that might hamper me from getting my mind and body together. And the floodgates of goodness have opened upon me – spiritually and financially.
~ Denzel Washington
Meryl and Katharine Hepburn are probably the two greatest actresses of this and the last century.
~ Denzel Washington
If I am a cup maker, I’m interested in making the best cup I possibly can. My effort goes into that cup, not what people think about it.
~ Denzel Washington
I played Othello, but I didn’t sit around thinking how Laurence Olivier did it when he played it. That wouldn’t do me any good.
~ Denzel Washington
I think the bottom of the totem pole is African-American women, or women of colour. I think they get the least opportunities in Hollywood.
~ Denzel Washington
You don’t know when you’re being watched. That’s one of the weird things about celebrity. It’s my least favorite part of acting, celebrity.
~ Denzel Washington
I’ve worked in a factory. I was a garbage man. I worked in a post office. It’s not that long ago. I like to think that I’m just a regular guy.
~ Denzel Washington
If you have an enemy, then learn and know your enemy, don’t just be mad at him or her.
~ Denzel Washington
I’ve worked with children all my life.
~ Denzel Washington
When people protest and are upset with a movie, it becomes a big hit. They hated Passion of The Christ, it worked out pretty well for the box office. So let’s get that going.
~ Denzel Washington
My mother used to tell me man gives the award, God gives the reward. I don’t need another plaque.
~ Denzel Washington
I’ve been fortunate. I don’t pick scripts. Scripts pick me.
~ Denzel Washington
I never really had the classic struggle. I had faith.
~ Denzel Washington
Luck is where opportunity meets preparation.
~ Denzel Washington
In Los Angeles, everyone is a star.
~ Denzel Washington
Black or white good parts are hard to come by. A good actor with a good opportunity has a shot; without the opportunity it doesn’t matter how good you are.
~ Denzel Washington
Any good piece of material like Shakespeare ought to be open to reinterpretation.
~ Denzel Washington
The poorest people are the sweetest people.
~ Denzel Washington
When I was a child I thought I saw an angel. It had wings and kinda looked like my sister. I opened the door so some light could come into the room, and it sort of faded away. My mother said it was probably my Guardian Angel.
~ Denzel Washington
I and haven’t been unemployed for 20 years. I’m an exception to the rule.
~ Denzel Washington
One good thing about acting in film is that it’s good therapy.
~ Denzel Washington
When I did A Soldier’s Story, I was very young and green and thought I knew everything-now I know I know everything!
~ Denzel Washington
My mother never gave up on me. I messed up in school so much they were sending me home, but my mother sent me right back.
~ Denzel Washington
If you don’t trust the pilot, don’t go.
~ Denzel Washington
I’d be more frightened by not using whatever abilities I’d been given. I’d be more frightened by procrastination and laziness.
~ Denzel Washington
I’m not in the loop; I don’t know any actors, really, just the ones I work with.
~ Denzel Washington
You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. That’s a part of it.
~ Denzel Washington
I don’t concern myself with award. I’d been to the party enough times to know it really didn’t matter.
~ Denzel Washington
Acting is just a way of making a living, the family is life.
~ Denzel Washington
The last few years I’ve been saying I was ready to quit. It wasn’t that interesting to me. Now that I’m directing, it’s all new again.
~ Denzel Washington
My role 14 years ago in Richard III – that was the first time I played a bad guy and learned a lot about it – they have all the fun!
~ Denzel Washington
I’m not a film buff. I don’t watch a lot of movies.
~ Denzel Washington
I say luck is when an opportunity comes along and you’re prepared for it.
~ Denzel Washington
