80 Fun Facts About Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington was born on 28 December 1954 in which New York suburb?

His mother ran a beauty parlour there; his father worked for the city water department and a department store as well as preaching.

What was his father's vocation?

The children were barred from the cinema and grew up on Bible epics like King of Kings and The Ten Commandments instead.

Where did he earn a BA in Drama and Journalism in 1977?

He later gave it $2 million for an endowed chair in the theatre department and received an honorary doctorate there in 1991.

In college he played basketball as a guard under which coach, later an NBA head coach?

A colleague at a YMCA summer camp suggested he try acting after seeing him in a staff talent show.

He wanted to attend Texas Tech because its teams shared which nickname with his hometown Boys Club?

He said the Lubbock uniforms looked like the ones he grew up wearing.

His screen debut was a 1977 made-for-television docudrama about which sprinter?

He met his future wife Pauletta Pearson on that set; they married in 1983.

What was his first Hollywood film, a 1981 comedy with George Segal?

He played Roger Porter, the long-lost 17-year-old son of Segal's wealthy San Marino businessman.

He played Dr. Phillip Chandler on which NBC hospital drama from 1982 to 1988?

He was one of only a handful of Black actors to stay with the series for its entire six-year run.

The hospital drama in which he played Dr. Chandler was set at St. Eligius in which city?

Its finale implied the whole series had taken place inside a snow globe held by an autistic boy.

His first Oscar nomination came for playing which South African activist in Cry Freedom (1987)?

South Africa's censors unexpectedly let the film screen uncut even though the activist's own writings were still banned.

Who directed Cry Freedom, the 1987 anti-apartheid drama that earned him his first Oscar nomination?

The script by John Briley was based on two books by journalist Donald Woods, and the film premiered while apartheid was still in force.

In Cry Freedom, which actor played journalist Donald Woods opposite his Biko?

Woods, a liberal white editor, initially found the activist too radical before the two became friends.

He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for which 1989 film?

He played Trip, a defiant ex-slave who is flogged for going AWOL to find new shoes.

In his 1989 Civil War film he played Private Trip, a soldier of which regiment?

Trip persuades the men to refuse their pay when they learn Black soldiers earn about three-quarters of a white soldier's wage.

Which colonel, played by Matthew Broderick, commanded the regiment in that Civil War film?

Shaw's body ends the film sliding into a mass grave beside Trip's after the assault on Fort Wagner.

He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for which 2001 film?

Roger Ebert called it a rare villainous role: "like a monster from a horror film, unkillable and implacable".

In the 2001 film that won him Best Actor, what was the name of his corrupt LAPD narcotics officer?

The film follows him and Ethan Hawke's rookie over a single 24-hour shift through Westlake, Echo Park and South Central.

His 2001 Best Actor win made him the second Black actor to win the category, after whom?

Poitier's win was for Lilies of the Field in 1963; Washington has called him a mentor and a friend.

Which actor has he called his "hero", saying "He is who I wanted to be"?

He credits Jones with starting his college theatre career, and insists he considers himself a stage actor rather than a Hollywood star.

Which future head of state made a cameo as a Soweto schoolteacher in Malcolm X (1992)?

Al Sharpton also appears; the role earned Washington his first Oscar nomination in the lead category.

What is the name of the production company he founded in 1992?

It was the same year Malcolm X came out; 40 Acres and a Mule is Spike Lee's company.

Who directed Philadelphia (1993), in which he played lawyer Joe Miller opposite Tom Hanks?

Bill Murray, William Hurt, Nick Nolte and Tim Robbins were all considered for Miller before the part went to Washington.

In The Pelican Brief he played reporter Gray Grantham of which fictional newspaper?

Bill and Hillary Clinton hosted a private White House screening a week before release.

In Crimson Tide he played executive officer Ron Hunter aboard which nuclear submarine?

Gene Hackman's Captain Ramsey wants to launch; Hunter has him arrested for trying to bypass the two-man rule.

Which role did he play in Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (1993)?

Keanu Reeves played the villainous half-brother Don John, and Kate Beckinsale made her film debut as Hero.

In Courage Under Fire, Meg Ryan's Captain Walden is up for which decoration, never yet given to a woman?

Civil War surgeon Mary Edwards Walker had in fact received it, though not for combat valour, and was struck off the roll in 1917 before being restored in 1977.

In The Preacher's Wife (1996) with Whitney Houston, what was the name of his angel?

Henry is the preacher, played by Courtney B. Vance; the angel ends up falling for the preacher's wife.

His 1996 Whitney Houston Christmas comedy was a remake of which 1947 Cary Grant film?

Both are based on Robert Nathan's 1928 novel; Penny Marshall directed the remake.

In He Got Game (1998), his son Jesus Shuttlesworth was played by which NBA player?

His character Jake is on temporary release from Attica to persuade the boy to sign with the governor's alma mater, Big State.

In Mo' Better Blues he played jazz musician Bleek Gilliam, who plays which instrument?

His career ends when he is beaten with his own horn defending his manager Giant; Terence Blanchard supplied the actual playing.

What is the touch-hopping demon that hunts Denzel Washington's detective John Hobbes in Fallen (1998) called?

The demon taunts him by having each new host sing the Rolling Stones' "Time Is on My Side".

In The Bone Collector he played which bed-bound forensics expert from Jeffery Deaver's novels?

The role was written with Al Pacino in mind; Angelina Jolie's part had been offered to Demi Moore and Nicole Kidman.

To prepare for playing a quadriplegic detective in The Bone Collector, he met which paralysed actor?

He also spent time with a police officer paralysed by a gunshot wound.

Boxer Rubin "The Hurricane" Carter was wrongly convicted of a triple murder in which New Jersey city?

Carter's reaction to the casting: "I didn't know I was that good-looking."

Which 1975 Bob Dylan song declared Rubin Carter innocent, long before Washington's film about him?

Dylan co-wrote it with Jacques Levy; Carter's convictions were finally overturned in 1985.

In Remember the Titans he played coach Herman Boone at T. C. Williams High School in which Virginia city?

The real 1971 Titans went 13–0 and finished ranked second in the nation.

In his 2002 directorial debut he played Jerome Davenport, a Navy what?

He was originally sent the script only to act in it; his agent rang back to say he wanted to direct it too.

What was the title of his 2002 directorial debut?

It was also the first screenwriting credit for the real Antwone Fisher and Derek Luke's first feature film role.

The Great Debaters (2007), which he directed and starred in, follows which school's team?

On the day of release he announced a $1 million gift so the college could re-establish its debate team.

Which 2010 runaway-train film was his fifth and final collaboration with director Tony Scott?

The others were Crimson Tide, Man on Fire, Déjà Vu and The Taking of Pelham 123; Scott died in 2012.

His 2010 runaway-train film with Chris Pine was inspired by which real 2001 incident?

The real unmanned train ran 66 miles through north-west Ohio; the film moved it to Pennsylvania.

In Man on Fire (2004), his bodyguard John Creasy protects Dakota Fanning's Pita where?

The 1987 film of the same novel had been set in Naples; producer Arnon Milchan made both.

In Inside Man (2006) he played which NYPD hostage negotiator?

Spike Lee offered him the choice of the detective or Clive Owen's masked robber; he took the New Yorker.

In American Gangster, Frank Lucas sells his unusually pure heroin under which brand name?

The real Lucas claimed it was 98 to 100 per cent pure when it left Thailand, smuggled on planes returning from Vietnam.

American Gangster opens in 1968 with Frank Lucas as right-hand man to which Harlem mob boss?

Ruby Dee played Lucas's mother and Russell Crowe the Newark detective who brings him down.

American Gangster was his second film with Russell Crowe. Which 1995 sci-fi thriller was the first?

Crowe played SID 6.7, a virtual-reality serial killer built from the personalities of real ones.

He won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for the revival of which August Wilson drama?

He reprised the role in the 2016 film he also directed, which won Viola Davis her first Oscar.

Troy Maxson, the role that won him a Tony and an Oscar nomination, works in 1950s Pittsburgh as a what?

A former Negro league player, Troy becomes the first Black man in the city promoted to drive the truck.

Which role did he play in the 2005 Broadway revival of Julius Caesar?

Reviews were mixed but the limited run sold out consistently.

In 2018 he played 'Hickey' Hickman on Broadway in The Iceman Cometh, by which playwright?

It brought his second Tony nomination; at Fordham he had played the title role in O'Neill's The Emperor Jones.

Who played Iago opposite his Othello on Broadway in 2025?

Kenny Leon directed, as he had for Washington's A Raisin in the Sun; Gyllenhaal is one of the actors Washington has mentored.

He made his Broadway debut in 1988 in which Ron Milner play?

His stage career had begun off-Broadway with the Negro Ensemble Company, where he shared an Obie for A Soldier's Play.

Who directed Flight (2012), in which he played alcoholic airline pilot Whip Whitaker?

It was Zemeckis's first live-action film since 2000, made for $31 million because both men waived their usual fees.

Safe House (2012), in which he played rogue operative Tobin Frost, is set in which city?

He prepared for the role by submitting to a torture session that included waterboarding.

The Equalizer films are based on a 1980s TV series in which Robert McCall was played by whom?

Russell Crowe had tried to bring the character to the screen himself with director Paul Haggis in 2010.

In The Magnificent Seven (2016), his bounty hunter Sam Chisolm is a warrant officer from which Kansas town?

He never watched Westerns growing up and did not view the 1960 original, in which the character was Yul Brynner's Chris Adams.

In the post-apocalyptic film The Book of Eli, what is the last remaining copy his character carries west?

The warlord Carnegie wants it to control people; the twist is that Eli has been reading it in Braille.

Who wrote and directed Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017), which brought his ninth Oscar nomination?

The film was re-cut after its festival premiere, losing a dozen minutes and a whole subplot.

The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021) was a rare solo effort by which director?

It was shot in black and white in the boxy 1.37:1 ratio to evoke German Expressionism.

Who played Lady Macbeth opposite him in The Tragedy of Macbeth?

She also produced the film and had played both Lady Macbeth and a witch on stage in 2016.

In Gladiator II (2024) he played which scheming ex-slave who owns Paul Mescal's gladiator?

The scene-stealing turn brought a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Highest 2 Lowest (2025), his reunion with Spike Lee, remakes High and Low by which Japanese director?

A24 and Apple co-produced it; Jeffrey Wright co-starred.

In 1995 he and his wife Pauletta renewed their wedding vows in South Africa. Who officiated?

The same year he gave $1 million to a South African children's fund.

Before acting, his son John David Washington played which sport professionally?

He was a running back for the Sacramento Mountain Lions of the UFL after setting a rushing record at Morehouse.

John David Washington's breakthrough role was Ron Stallworth in which Spike Lee film?

His first screen appearance had been as a child in his father's Malcolm X in 1992.

Malcolm Washington made his directorial debut with which August Wilson adaptation?

Malcolm studied film at the University of Pennsylvania; his twin Olivia appeared in Lee Daniels's The Butler.

He has been national spokesman since 1993 for which organisation?

He grew up in his hometown's Boys Club and has sat on the national board since 1995.

The US Army made him Honorary Sergeant Major of the Army in 2021 for his work with which foundation?

It builds free homes for military families while a relative receives medical care; he donated after finding one full at Fort Sam Houston.

In 1995 he donated $2.5 million to help build the new home of which congregation, of which he is a member?

He has said he reads the Bible daily and long felt a calling to preach; he received a ministry licence in December 2024.

Which honour did he receive at the Cannes Film Festival in 2025?

The same year brought the Presidential Medal of Freedom, originally scheduled for 2022.

How many competitive Academy Awards has he won?

Best Supporting Actor for 1989 and Best Actor for 2001, out of ten nominations.

In Devil in a Blue Dress he played Easy Rawlins, the 1948 LA detective created by whom?

Don Cheadle played his trigger-happy friend Mouse; the novelist served as associate producer.

Who directed Mississippi Masala (1991), in which he romanced Sarita Choudhury's Ugandan-Indian immigrant?

His character Demetrius runs a carpet-cleaning business in Greenwood, Mississippi.

In John Q. (2002), in which city does a factory worker take an emergency room hostage for his son's transplant?

The hospital wanted a $75,000 down payment just to put the boy on the transplant list.

In The Siege (1998), the Army seals off which New York borough under martial law?

Bruce Willis's general runs the occupation; the film's working title had been Martial Law.

In The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), what does John Travolta's hijacker call himself?

The hijacker demands $10 million within 60 minutes and watches the Dow plunge on his laptop as the news breaks.

Who played the escaped-convict villain Earl Talbot Blake opposite him in Ricochet (1991)?

Ice-T played his drug-dealing childhood friend Odessa and released a song of the same name.

In Out of Time (2003) he played police chief Matt Lee Whitlock of Banyan Key, in which state?

Carl Franklin directed, reuniting them after Devil in a Blue Dress; Eva Mendes co-starred.

In which year did Denzel Washington receive the AFI Life Achievement Award?

The Cecil B. DeMille Award came three years earlier, and 2025 brought the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Which 2021 film was the fourth feature Denzel Washington directed?

By then films he had appeared in had grossed more than $5.1 billion worldwide, and the New York Times had named him the greatest actor of the 21st century.