Denzel Washington (with a birthdate of December 28, 1954) is an American actor who also works as a producer and director. Famed for his dramatic roles in film and theater, he is widely regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, with The New York Times declaring him the best actor of the 21st century in 2020. Throughout his career, Washington has garnered numerous awards, including an Academy Award, Golden Globes, a SAG, and a Tony Award in addition to being nominated for Emmys and a Grammy. He has been awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2016, AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. After training at the American Conservatory Theater, he started his acting career in theater, acting in performances off-Broadway. He gained early fame 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 won two Oscars, his first for the Best Supporting Actor category for playing a Union soldier in the war drama *Glory* (from 1989) and his second for Best Actor for playing a corrupt law enforcement officer in the crime thriller *Training Day* (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.* (in 2017), and *The Tragedy of Macbeth* (2021). A prominent leading man, Washington also acted in movies like *Mo' Better Blues* (1990), *Mississippi Masala* (1991), *Philadelphia* (in 1993), *Courage Under Fire* (from 1996), *Remember the Titans* (from 2000), *Man on Fire* (released in 2004), *Inside Man* (2006), *American Gangster* (from 2007), and the *Equalizer* trilogy (released from 2014 to 2023). Washington both starred in and directed the films *Antwone Fisher* (from 2002), *The Great Debaters* (from 2007), and *Fences* (in 2016). In theater, he has performed in performances of *Coriolanus* (1979) and *The Tragedy of Richard III* (1990) at The Public Theater. His first appearance on Broadway in the Ron Milner play *Checkmates* (released in 1988). He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in the Play category 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 starred in the Broadway revivals of Shakespeare's *Julius Caesar* (2005), Hansberry's *A Raisin in the Sun* (2014), and O'Neill's *The Iceman Cometh* (2018).