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 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. He has won several prestigious awards over his career, including two Oscars, three Golden Globes, a SAG Award, and a Tony Award in addition to being nominated for Emmys and a Grammy. He received the 2016 Cecil B. DeMille Award, 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, starring in off-Broadway shows. He first came to prominence in the NBC drama *St. Elsewhere* (1982–1988), and in the war film *A Soldier's Story* (1984). He won two Academy Awards, his first for the Best Supporting Actor category for playing a Union soldier in the war drama *Glory* (released in 1989) and his second for the role of Best Actor for playing a corrupt police 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* (2012), *Fences* (2016), *Roman J. Israel, Esq.* (from 2017), and *The Tragedy of Macbeth* (released in 2021). As a major leading actor, Washington appeared in movies like *Mo' Better Blues* (released in 1990), *Mississippi Masala* (1991), *Philadelphia* (in 1993), *Courage Under Fire* (in 1996), *Remember the Titans* (from 2000), *Man on Fire* (released in 2004), *Inside Man* (2006), *American Gangster* (from 2007), and the *Equalizer* films (from 2014 to 2023). Washington both starred in and directed the films *Antwone Fisher* (from 2002), *The Great Debaters* (in 2007), and *Fences* (2016). In live theater, Washington has appeared in productions of both 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 working-class 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).