Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (with a birthdate of December 28, 1954) is an American actor who also works as a producer and director. 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 best actor of the 21st century in 2020. He has won several prestigious awards over his career, 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. Washington has been honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award (2016), AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 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 (between 1982 and 1988), and in the war film *A Soldier's Story* (released in 1984). He won two Oscars, his first for Supporting Actor for playing a soldier during the Civil War in the war drama *Glory* (released in 1989) and his second for the role of 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* (released in 1987), *Malcolm X* (1992), *The Hurricane* (1999), *Flight* (released in 2012), *Fences* (from 2016), *Roman J. Israel, Esq.* (2017), and *The Tragedy of Macbeth* (released in 2021). A renowned leading man, Washington starred in movies including *Mo' Better Blues* (1990), *Mississippi Masala* (1991), *Philadelphia* (1993), *Courage Under Fire* (from 1996), *Remember the Titans* (2000), *Man on Fire* (from 2004), *Inside Man* (in 2006), *American Gangster* (released in 2007), and the *Equalizer* films (released from 2014 to 2023). Washington starred in and directed the films *Antwone Fisher* (from 2002), *The Great Debaters* (2007), and *Fences* (from 2016). In theater, he has acted in performances of *Coriolanus* (1979) and *The Tragedy of Richard III* (1990) at The Public Theater in New York. His Broadway debut came in the Ron Milner play *Checkmates* (1988). He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in the Play category for his role as a disillusioned father from the working class in the Broadway revival of *Fences* by August Wilson (released in 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).