Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (with a birthdate of December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Famed for his dramatic roles in film and theater, he is considered one of the greatest actors of his time, with a declaration from The New York Times naming him the best actor of the 21st century in 2020. Over his career he has received several accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild 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. After training 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* (released in 1984). He won two Oscars, his first for the Best Supporting Actor category for playing an American Civil War soldier in the war drama *Glory* (released in 1989) and his second for the Best Actor category for playing a corrupt law enforcement officer in the crime thriller *Training Day* (released in 2001). He was nominated for an Oscar for his performances in *Cry Freedom* (from 1987), *Malcolm X* (from 1992), *The Hurricane* (from 1999), *Flight* (from 2012), *Fences* (released in 2016), *Roman J. Israel, Esq.* (2017), and *The Tragedy of Macbeth* (released in 2021). A renowned leading man, Washington appeared in movies like *Mo' Better Blues* (in 1990), *Mississippi Masala* (in 1991), *Philadelphia* (from 1993), *Courage Under Fire* (in 1996), *Remember the Titans* (from 2000), *Man on Fire* (2004), *Inside Man* (released in 2006), *American Gangster* (released in 2007), and the *Equalizer* trilogy (2014–2023). Washington starred in and directed the films *Antwone Fisher* (from 2002), *The Great Debaters* (2007), and *Fences* (in 2016). On stage, 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 received a 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* (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).