Net Worth:
Denzel Washington has a net worth of $280 million and works as an actor, screenwriter, producer, and director in the United States. Denzel Washington earns between $60 and $80 million each year.
Early Life:
Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. was born on December 28, 1954, in Mount Vernon, New York. When Denzel was 14 years old, his parents, beauty shop owner Lennis and Pentecostal minister/municipal worker Denzel Washington, Sr., split.
Denzel’s mother sent him to Oakland Military Academy in New Windsor, New York after the divorce. That decision would later be credited with saving the actor’s life. He and his closest pals were on the verge of committing suicide before departing for military school. Washington revealed in an interview with Parade Magazine that those pals went on to serve a total of nearly 40 years in jail.
Denzel went to Fordham University in New York City and played basketball there. He took a semester off to think about his future plans and decide on a major. During that time, he worked at a YMCA camp for a summer. Denzel’s performance in a camp talent competition wowed the kids and his coworkers to the point where one of them suggested he try acting. He continued studying acting when he returned to Fordham that fall and finished with a BA in drama and journalism in 1977.
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Career:
Washington received a full-ride scholarship at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, but after a year, he returned to New York to pursue acting professionally. He has performed in a number of theatrical productions before landing his first on-screen role in 1977’s Wilma, a made-for-television film.
Several minor theatre and television appearances followed, but Washington’s big break came in 1982 when he was cast in the hit medical drama St. Elsewhere. He played Dr. Phillip Chandler throughout the whole six-year run of the show.
Box Office Hits:
Washington’s star swiftly increased when films like Malcolm X, The Pelican Brief, Philadelphia, and Courage Under Fire showcased his extraordinary talent. For his cinematic roles, he was soon earning large sums of money. He earned $7.5 million for the science fiction picture Virtuosity in 1995. He earned $12 million for his roles in the films Fallen and The Siege in 1998, as well as his Oscar-winning performance in Training Day in 2001. Denzel Washington now earns more than $60 million per year.
Awards and Honors:
In 1988, Washington was nominated for an Academy Prize for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the anti-apartheid film Cry Freedom, and he won the same award in 1989 for his role in Glory.
He received a Best Actor nomination in 1992 for his role in Malcolm X, and he was nominated again in 1999 for The Hurricane, for which he also won a Golden Globe. For his work in Training Day, he eventually won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2002, becoming only the second African-American actor to do so. In the same year, he starred in the Disney football drama Remember the Titans, which grossed over $100 million in theatres and earned him a Black Reel Award and an NAACP Image Award for Best Actor. Denzel was honored at the Golden Globe Awards in 2016 with the Cecil B. Demille Lifetime Achievement Award.
Despite never completing graduate school, the actor has been awarded three honorary doctorates. The first was from Fordham University in 1991, for “impressively succeeding in exploring the edge of his multi-faceted skill.” He received an honorary Doctorate of Humanities from Morehouse College in 2007 and an honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania in 2011.
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Directing and Producing Career:
Washington began his directing and producing career in 2002, directing Antwone Fisher; since then, he has directed The Great Debaters (2007) and Fences (2016). He has also produced a number of films and television shows, including The Book of Eli and The Equalizer.
Personal Life:
Denzel’s debut film, the made-for-television sports drama Wilma, provided him with more than just a career break; he also met his wife on the set. In 1983, he married Pauletta Pearson, with whom he had four children.
Washington, a devoted Christian, has explored becoming a preacher and has even considered leaving acting to seek a career in the church. Fortunately for his supporters, he has chosen to remain in Hollywood, but he claims to study the Bible every day.
Denzel Washington, Oliver Stone, and Michael Moore were among a group of American artists and intellectuals who enlisted the support of Colombia’s Revolutionary Armed Forces in 2006. They pleaded with the group to assist them in persuading then-President George W. Bush to free 600 imprisoned insurgents in exchange for 62 Colombian hostages.
Philanthropy:
Denzel Washington hasn’t just kept his reputation and huge salary to himself; he’s also donated his financial and personal support to a number of deserving causes. Since 1993, he has been the Boys & Girls Club of America’s spokesperson and has sat on its board of directors since 1995. Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Fund, Fordham University, the Fisher House Foundation, and Wiley College have all received significant donations from him.
Summary:
Denzel Washington has a net worth of $250 million as an actor, director, and producer in the United States. Since the late 1970s, he has been in numerous stage and screenplays, and is best recognized for his appearances in Hollywood films such as Glory, Malcolm X, Training Day, and Remember the Titans.