Denzel Washington

Denzel Washington is an Academy Award-winning actor and director who is well known for his performance in films such as Spike Lee's Malcolm X and Antoine Fuqua's Training Day. In 2007, he appeared in Ridley Scott's American Gangster alongside Russell Crowe.

Fellow Hollywood heavyweight actor Tom Cruise is reportedly in talks to team up with Washington in his upcoming spy thriller The Matarese Circle.E Online: Tom Cruise Targets Denzel... (February 11, 2009)

Washington was born and raised in Mt. Vernon, New York. His father was a minister and his mother ran a beauty parlor. Washington's childhood was influenced by the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, for which he has recently served as a spokesperson.

He received a scholarship to attend the American Conservatory Theatre school in San Francisco but left after the first year.

Denzel Washington achieved his first major success in Hollywood while performing for six seasons on the television drama St. Elsewhere. In 1989, Washington's performance in Glory earned him an Academy Award for best supporting actor, and eleven years later he became the second African American actor to win an Oscar for best actor. The first winner was Sidney Poitier. The Oscar victory came for his performance in Training Day, in which he starred opposite Ethan Hawke.

Washington plays the role of Lieutenant Zachary Garber in Tony Scott's The Taking of Pelham 123 which is scheduled for a 2009 release. He is set to produce and star in the Book of Eli, a dramatic film about post-apocalyptic America. Production begins in January 2009.

• 1954: Born on December 28 in Mt. Vernon, New York

• 1982-1988: St. Elsewhere

• 1989: Glory

• 1991: Ricochet

• 1992: Malcolm X

• 1993: The Pelican Brief

• 1993: Philadelphia

• 1995: Crimson Tide

• 1996: Courage Under Fire

• 2000: Remember the Titans

• 2001: Training Day

• 2004: Man on Fire

• 2007: American Gangster

• 2008: The Great Debaters

• 2009: The Taking of Pelham 123

• 2010: Book of Eli