Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born on December 28, 1954) is a celebrated American actor, producer, and filmmaker. Famed for his dramatic roles in film and theater, he is considered one of the greatest actors of his time, with The New York Times calling him the best actor of the 21st century in 2020. Throughout his career, Washington has garnered numerous awards, including an Academy Award, Golden Globes, a SAG, and a Tony Award along with nominations in two Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award. Washington has been honored with the 2016 Cecil B. DeMille Award, AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2022). After studying at the American Conservatory Theater, he launched his career in theater, with roles in off-Broadway productions. He gained early fame in the medical drama *St. Elsewhere* on NBC (from 1982 to 1988), and in the war film *A Soldier's Story* (in 1984). He won two Oscars, his first for the Best Supporting Actor category for playing a Union soldier in the war drama *Glory* (from 1989) and his second for Best Actor for playing a corrupt police officer in the crime thriller *Training Day* (2001). He was received Oscar nominations for his performances in *Cry Freedom* (from 1987), *Malcolm X* (from 1992), *The Hurricane* (in 1999), *Flight* (2012), *Fences* (released in 2016), *Roman J. Israel, Esq.* (in 2017), and *The Tragedy of Macbeth* (from 2021). A renowned leading man, Washington appeared in movies like *Mo' Better Blues* (1990), *Mississippi Masala* (in 1991), *Philadelphia* (from 1993), *Courage Under Fire* (from 1996), *Remember the Titans* (in 2000), *Man on Fire* (released in 2004), *Inside Man* (in 2006), *American Gangster* (2007), and the *Equalizer* trilogy (from 2014 to 2023). Washington starred in and directed the films *Antwone Fisher* (from 2002), *The Great Debaters* (2007), and *Fences* (in 2016). On stage, he has acted in performances of *Coriolanus* (1979) and *The Tragedy of Richard III* (1990) at New York’s Public Theater. His Broadway debut came in the Ron Milner play *Checkmates* (in 1988). He earned the Tony Award for Best Actor in the Play category for his role as a disheartened blue-collar father in the Broadway revival of *Fences* by August Wilson (released in 2010). He has also appeared in the Broadway revivals of William Shakespeare's *Julius Caesar* (2005), Lorraine Hansberry's play *A Raisin in the Sun* (2014), and Eugene O'Neill's play *The Iceman Cometh* (2018).