Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is a celebrated American actor, producer, and filmmaker. Known for his dramatic roles on stage and screen, he is widely regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, with The New York Times calling him the greatest actor of the 21st century in 2020. Over his career he has received several accolades, including two Oscars, three Golden Globes, a SAG Award, and a Tony Award in addition to being nominated for two Emmy Awards and one Grammy Award. Washington has been honored with the 2016 Cecil B. DeMille Award, AFI Life Achievement Award (2019), and the 2022 Presidential Medal of Freedom. After studying at the American Conservatory Theater, he launched his career in theater, with roles in off-Broadway productions. He was first recognized widely in the NBC medical drama series *St. Elsewhere* (from 1982 to 1988), and in the war film *A Soldier's Story* (released in 1984). He has two Academy Awards to his name, his first for Best Supporting Actor for playing a soldier during the Civil War in the war drama *Glory* (released in 1989) and his second for Best Actor for playing a corrupt cop in the crime thriller *Training Day* (released in 2001). He was Oscar-nominated for his performances in *Cry Freedom* (released in 1987), *Malcolm X* (from 1992), *The Hurricane* (in 1999), *Flight* (from 2012), *Fences* (2016), *Roman J. Israel, Esq.* (in 2017), and *The Tragedy of Macbeth* (2021). A prominent leading man, Washington starred in movies like *Mo' Better Blues* (released in 1990), *Mississippi Masala* (released in 1991), *Philadelphia* (1993), *Courage Under Fire* (in 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 both starred in and directed the films *Antwone Fisher* (2002), *The Great Debaters* (in 2007), and *Fences* (in 2016). In live theater, Washington has appeared in productions like *Coriolanus* (1979) and *The Tragedy of Richard III* (1990) at The Public Theater in New York. He made his Broadway debut in the Ron Milner play *Checkmates* (released in 1988). He won the Tony Award for Best Actor on Broadway for his role as a disheartened blue-collar father in the Broadway revival of the play *Fences* by August Wilson (2010). He has also acted 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).