Black Movies – Denzel Washington Movies

Denzel Washington is an African American actor who has worked and starred in many films. His work is highly regarded and he has been reward for his efforts by winning 3 Golden Globes and 3 Academy Awards.

He is only the second black actor in history to win the award for best actor. The first person to receive this accolade was Sidney Poitier.

Denzel does not work only as an actor. He is also a very busy screenwriter, director and producer.

Born in December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, near New York, Denzel was well educated and went on to gain a BA in Drama and Journalism from Fordham University.

After appearing in a few TV shows, he got his big break playing Dr. Philip Chandler in the popular TV series St Elsewhere. He stayed with the show for its entire run from 1982 to 1988.

Since then, he has been a regular and welcomed fixture on our movie screens where he has worked portraying strong black characters as well as dealing with serious and sometime politically focused issues.

The film Malcolm X, directed by Spike Lee, is a full scale biography. It tells the story of the young man who started out as a small town hustler called Detroit Red, who evolved and not only converted and became a Muslim, he went on to become politically active and famous as the powerful Malcolm X.

His passion and actions regarding the fight during the Civil Rights movement were opposite to the views of Dr Martin Luther King, who preferred to fight using non-aggressive methods and preached a message of non-violence.

Malcolm X did not agree that this was the way to gain personal freedoms. His well known message in order to gain equality for the black race was to do it “by any means necessary”.

This film also stars Angela Bassett, who plays Malcolm X’s wife Betty Shabazz and Spike Lee also takes an acting role in this film.

Philadelphia was made way back in 1994 but is still as effective and moving today as it was when it first hit movies theatres around the world.

It was one of the very first Hollywood mainstream films to deal with the issues of AIDs. It was directed by Jonathan Demme and alongside Denzel, Tom Hanks put in an Oscar winning performance as the gay lawyer Andrew Beckett who sues his firm for unlawful termination of his contract due to the fact the he has AIDs.

Denzel plays his lawyer who at first is reluctant to take on this case. His character represents the average person who knows very little about AIDS and about gay people.

We learn more about both things along with the character and see how his preconceptions are completely unfounded.

Bruce Springsteen provides the beautiful soundtrack to this movie.

There are many black films that you can choose from where Denzel puts in award winning performances.

You can opt for the true life stories in which he portrays black people of extraordinary faith and courage.

He is truly one of the most versatile famous black actors that is popular with people of all ages.