Denzel Washington
Photoplayd Industry Rating
Roles are weighted by involvement: director 1.0, screenwriter 0.7, lead 0.8, supporting 0.4, crew 0.1.
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor. Known for his dramatic roles on stage and screen, he has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, an Actor Award, two Golden Globes, two Silver Bears and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for a Grammy Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards. In 2020, The New York Times named Washington the greatest actor of the 21st century. He has also been honoured with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2016, AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, the Honorary Palme d'Or in 2025, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $5.1 billion worldwide. After training at the American Conservatory Theater, Washington began his career in theatre, acting in Off-Broadway performances. 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). Washington won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for playing an American Civil War soldier in the war drama Glory (1989) and for Best Actor for playing a corrupt police officer in the crime thriller Training Day (2001). He was Oscar-nominated for his roles 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). Washington has starred in other notable films, including The Pelican Brief, Philadelphia (both 1993); Crimson Tide, Devil in a Blue Dress (both 1995); He Got Game (1998); Remember the Titans (2000); Man on Fire (2004); Déjà Vu, Inside Man (both 2006); American Gangster (2007); Unstoppable, The Book of Eli (both 2010); The Equalizer trilogy (2014–2023), Gladiator II (2024), and Highest 2 Lowest (2025). Washington has also directed the films Antwone Fisher (2002), The Great Debaters (2007), Fences (2016), and A Journal for Jordan (2021). On stage, he has acted in The Public Theater productions of Coriolanus (1979) and The Tragedy of Richard III (1990). 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) and Othello (2025), Lorraine Hansberry's play A Raisin in the Sun (2014), and Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh (2018).
Known for
Credits
Inside Man (2006)
as Keith Frazier
1 watch
🍿 5.0
The Equalizer (2014)
as Robert McCall
The Equalizer 3 (2023)
as Robert McCall
The Equalizer 2 (2018)
as Robert McCall
Gladiator II (2024)
as Macrinus
Training Day (2001)
as Alonzo
American Gangster (2007)
as Frank Lucas
The Book of Eli (2010)
as Eli
Highest 2 Lowest (2025)
as David King
The Magnificent Seven (2016)
as Sam Chisolm
The Little Things (2021)
as Joe 'Deke' Deacon
Man on Fire (2004)
as John W. Creasy
Crimson Tide (1995)
as Lt. Commander Ronald "Ron" Hunter
Safe House (2012)
as Tobin Frost
Glory (1989)
as Pvt. Trip
Unstoppable (2010)
as Frank Barnes
The Pelican Brief (1993)
as Gray Grantham
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009)
as Walter Garber
Remember the Titans (2000)
as Coach Herman Boone
The Bone Collector (1999)
as Lincoln Rhyme
Fallen (1998)
as John Hobbes
Déjà Vu (2006)
as Doug Carlin
Flight (2012)
as Whip Whitaker
Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017)
as Roman J. Israel
John Q (2002)
as John Quincy Archibald
The Hurricane (1999)
as Rubin "Hurricane" Carter
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
as Macbeth
2 Guns (2013)
as Robert 'Bobby' Trench
Fences (2016)
as Troy Maxson
A Soldier's Story (1984)
as Private First Class Peterson
Courage Under Fire (1996)
as Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Serling
Philadelphia (1993)
as Joe Miller
Malcolm X (1992)
as Malcolm X
The Siege (1998)
as Anthony 'Hub' Hubbard
The Great Debaters (2007)
as Melvin B. Tolson
Out of Time (2003)
as Matt Lee Whitlock
Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
as Don Pedro
Val (2021)
as Self (archive)
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
as Easy Rawlins
The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
as Major Bennett Ezekiel Marco
The Preacher's Wife (1996)
as Dudley
Sidney (2022)
as Self
Cry Freedom (1987)
as Steve Biko
Mo' Better Blues (1990)
as Bleek Gilliam
He Got Game (1998)
as Jake Shuttlesworth
Virtuosity (1995)
as Parker Barnes
Ricochet (1991)
as Nick Styles
Heart Condition (1990)
as Napoleon Stone
Chadwick Boseman: A Tribute for a King (2020)
as Self (archive footage)
The Mighty Quinn (1989)
as Xavier Quinn
Antwone Fisher (2002)
as Dr. Jerome Davenport
Sesame Street | All-Star 25th Birthday: Stars and Street Forever! (1994)
as Self (archive footage)
Flesh & Blood (1979)
as Kirk
The George McKenna Story (1988)
as George McKenna
Quentin Tarantino: From a Movie Buff to a Hollywood Legend (2021)
as Self (archive footage)
Here Comes the Flood (—)
Actor
Whoopi Goldberg: The Winning Act (2022)
as Self (archive footage)
Mississippi Masala (1991)
as Demetrius Williams
Power (1986)
as Arnold Billings
Black Panther 3 (2028)
Actor
We Are One: The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial (2009)
as Self
Chasing Trane (2017)
as John Coltrane (voice)
Carbon Copy (1981)
as Roger Porter
Mother Goose: A Rappin' and Rhymin' Special (1997)
as Humpty Dumpty / The Crooked Man (voice)
A Century of Cinema (1994)
as Self
The Evolution of an American Filmmaker (2003)
as Self
People Like Us: Making 'Philadelphia' (2004)
as Self (archive)
Coriolanus (1979)
as Roman Soldier / Volscian Soldier
Straight from the Streets (2000)
as Self
Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute (1988)
as Self
License to Kill (1986)
as Martin Sawyer
Whitney, a Look Back (2022)
as Self (archive footage)
The Making of 'Crimson Tide' (1995)
as Self
Fallen Empire: Making 'American Gangster' (2008)
as Self
For Queen & Country (1988)
as Reuben
By Any Means Necessary: The Making of 'Malcolm X' (2005)
as Self
The Making of Gladiator II (2024)
as Self
Behind the Scenes of 'John Q' (2002)
as Self
Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway (1992)
as Narrator (voice)
The Piano Lesson: Legacy and a Vision (2024)
as Self
Romare Bearden: A Life in Collage (2026)
as self
Giving Voice (2020)
as Self
Liberators: Fighting on Two Fronts in World War II (1992)
as Narrator (voice)
Denzel Washington: Falling Forward (2025)
Actor
Wilma (1977)
as Robert Eldridge, age 18
Denzel Washington: American Icon (2024)
as Self
Rabbit Ears - John Henry (1990)
as Narrator (voice)
Denzel Washington: Reel Life (2018)
as Self
Untitled Hannibal Film (—)
as Hannibal the Great
NBA at 50 (1996)
as Self - Host
American Gangster Special (—)
as Self
Rabbit Ears - Anansi (1991)
as Narrator (voice)