Denzel Washington Net Worth

Denzel Washington's Quotes

• (In 1998) Acting's like someone asking you for years to write the characters, but they write the book.
• I'm very proud to be black, but black is not all I am. That's my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it's not all of who I am nor is it the basis from which I answer every question.
• [on where he likes to keep his Oscars] Next to each other.
• [on approaching 50] I have a friend who says "The first 50 was for them, this 50's for me." I like that. The weirdest part of it, or even the saddest part, is that you start to see people die. You go "Man! He wasn't even that old." I lost a friend recently who died of a heart attack. He was 58. When I was 20, 58 was old. It ain't now.
• [on working with young female co-stars] That ain't fair, really. Michelle Pfeiffer hasn't been finding a lot of work recently because she doesn't like what a woman her age is offered. That's a real double standard. You get Sean Connery, who gets older and older, still playing opposite young ladies, but it doesn't work the other way around.

Interesting Facts about Denzel Washington

1. Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#77) (1995).
2. Son, Malcolm, was named in honor of Malcolm X.
3. To prepare for his role as boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter in The Hurricane (1999), Washington worked out for a year with Los Angeles boxing trainer Terry Claybon.
4. Received his Bachelor's degree in Journalism from Fordham University in New York City.
5. 1996 Harvard Foundation Award
6. In a Newsweek cover story about the biological basis of the perception of beauty, he was used as a key example in a scientific explanation why he is considered an extremely handsome man.
7. Chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (1990).
8. According to a 1995 Premiere magazine article, Denzel confronted director Quentin Tarantino when he visited the set of Crimson Tide (1995). Quentin had done an uncredited rewrite of the script. Denzel lambasted Tarantino about his use of racial slurs in his films. Tarantino got embarrassed and wanted to move the conversation to a more private area. Denzel said, "No, if we're going to discuss it, let's discuss it now." Denzel later said he still felt that Quentin was "a fine artist".
9. Denzel is named after his father who was in turn named after the doctor, Doctor Denzel, who had delivered him.
10. In the early 1980s, years before he portrayed Malcolm X in the Spike Lee film Malcolm X (1992), Washington portrayed Malcolm in the off-Broadway production of "When the Chickens Came Home to Roost", at the Henry Street Theatre in New York City.
11. Frequent collaborator of Spike Lee.
12. Named one of E!'s "top 20 entertainers of 2001".
13. Supports charities such as the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, and the Gathering Place (an AIDS hospice).
14. Met his wife Pauletta Washington in 1977 when both had small roles in the television movie Wilma (1977) (she was billed as Pauletta Pearson), the story of runner Wilma Rudolph. They wed five years later.
15. His father was a Pentecostal minister; his mother a beautician and former gospel singer. They divorced when he was 14.
16. Is a spokesperson for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, having been a member of the Boys Club once himself.
17. Only the second black actor (after Sidney Poitier) to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role (for Training Day (2001)). Poitier received the honorary Academy Award that same year.
18. Named by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World (2002).
19. Ranked #28 in Premiere magazine's 2003 annual Power 100 List. Had ranked #40 in 2002.
20. Cousin is newsman Ukee Washington, who co-anchors the news on the CBS affiliate in Philadelphia.