Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born on December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Recognized for his powerful performances on stage and screen, he is often seen as one of the top actors of his generation, with a declaration from The New York Times naming him the greatest actor of the 21st century in the year 2020. Throughout his career, Washington has garnered numerous awards, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Tony Award along with nominations in two Emmy Awards and one Grammy Award. He received the 2016 Cecil B. DeMille Award, 2019 AFI Life Achievement Award, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom (2022). After studying 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* (between 1982 and 1988), and in the war film *A Soldier's Story* (1984). He won two Academy Awards, his first for Best Supporting Actor for playing a Union soldier in the war drama *Glory* (released in 1989) and his second for the Best Actor category for playing a corrupt cop in the crime thriller *Training Day* (in 2001). He was nominated for an Oscar for his performances in *Cry Freedom* (from 1987), *Malcolm X* (released in 1992), *The Hurricane* (1999), *Flight* (2012), *Fences* (2016), *Roman J. Israel, Esq.* (from 2017), and *The Tragedy of Macbeth* (released in 2021). A prominent leading man, Washington appeared in movies including *Mo' Better Blues* (1990), *Mississippi Masala* (released in 1991), *Philadelphia* (1993), *Courage Under Fire* (1996), *Remember the Titans* (2000), *Man on Fire* (released in 2004), *Inside Man* (released in 2006), *American Gangster* (released in 2007), and the *Equalizer* films (released from 2014 to 2023). Washington directed and starred in the films *Antwone Fisher* (in 2002), *The Great Debaters* (in 2007), and *Fences* (2016). In theater, he has acted in productions of both Coriolanus (1979) and The Tragedy of Richard III (1990) at New York’s Public Theater. He made his Broadway debut in the Ron Milner play *Checkmates* (1988). He earned 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* (from 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).