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Denzel
Washington likes being an actor. It’s the other part of his
career –being a movie star– that makes him uncomfortable.
What’s the difference? As an actor, his job is
on
stage and screen. Denzel has been in over 25 movies. Malcolm
X, Courage Under Fire, The Preacher’s Wife, Devil In A Blue
Dress and Crimson Tide are just a few of them.
A movie star
continues to work –even when off the
set–
promoting himself at parties and doing lots of interviews. Denzel
doesn’t want
to get involved with
the Hollywood movie star lifestyle. He’s not interested in going
to big parties and being interviewed on TV.
“I didn’t go into acting to be a movie star,” Denzel told Esquire
magazine. “I never thought about being a movie star, ever,
ever in my life. Ever.”
Instead, Denzel prefers to spend time with his wife, Pauletta, and
their four children, John David, Katia, and twins Olivia and
Malcolm. Denzel
coaches the
basketball team for one of his children. He likes to push the kids
to do their best, but he thinks it’s wrong when coaches and
parents are
mean
to children.
“I’ve seen some parents who
go way too far,” he says.
“They seem to be more interested in winning than in playing the
game.”
In the movie He Got Game, Denzel plays a father who wants
his son to be a star basketball player. Spike Lee, famous for his
alternative, non-Hollywood films, directed the movie. It was the
number one movie in America during its opening week.
Denzel is well respected in Hollywood for his acting talent. He
won an Academy Award in 1990 for his role as an escaped
slave
in Glory. He also received Academy Award nominations for
his performances in Cry Freedom and Malcolm X.
Denzel likes to play a variety of characters. “I couldn’t
play the same guy eight times and I don’t have to,” Denzel
says.
When he gets a part in a movie, Denzel does a lot of
research
to learn about his character. For example, before he started Courage
Under Fire, he met with soldiers
to
find out about going to war. To prepare for his role as
a lawyer in Philadelphia, he met with famous
attorney
Johnny Cochran.
Denzel became interested in acting while attending Fordham
University in New York. He went there to study medicine. After he
acted in a school theatre production, he
changed
his mind and studied acting. That’s a good thing for
Denzel’s many fans. He
might have
made
a good doctor, but who
would have acted in his many popular films? |
