Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born on December 28, 1954) is an American actor who also works as a producer and director. Recognized for his powerful performances 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 the year 2020. He has won several prestigious awards over his career, including two Oscars, three Golden Globes, a SAG Award, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award. He has been awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2016, AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and the 2022 Presidential Medal of Freedom. Following his training at the American Conservatory Theater, he started his acting career in theater, starring in off-Broadway shows. He gained early fame in the NBC drama *St. Elsewhere* (1982–1988), and in the war film *A Soldier's Story* (in 1984). He has two Academy Awards to his name, his first for Best Supporting Actor for playing an American Civil War soldier in the war drama *Glory* (released in 1989) and his second for Best Actor for playing a corrupt law enforcement officer in the crime thriller *Training Day* (released in 2001). He was Oscar-nominated for his performances in *Cry Freedom* (1987), *Malcolm X* (from 1992), *The Hurricane* (from 1999), *Flight* (from 2012), *Fences* (released in 2016), *Roman J. Israel, Esq.* (in 2017), and *The Tragedy of Macbeth* (2021). A prominent leading man, Washington starred in movies including *Mo' Better Blues* (released in 1990), *Mississippi Masala* (in 1991), *Philadelphia* (in 1993), *Courage Under Fire* (in 1996), *Remember the Titans* (from 2000), *Man on Fire* (released in 2004), *Inside Man* (in 2006), *American Gangster* (from 2007), and The Equalizer trilogy (released from 2014 to 2023). Washington directed and starred in the films *Antwone Fisher* (from 2002), *The Great Debaters* (2007), and *Fences* (from 2016). In live theater, he has performed in productions of both Coriolanus (1979) and The Tragedy of Richard III (1990) at The Public Theater. He made his Broadway debut in the Ron Milner play *Checkmates* (released in 1988). He earned the Tony Award for Best Actor on Broadway for his role as a disheartened blue-collar father in the Broadway revival of August Wilson's play *Fences* (from 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).