Standing in the shining light of Sidney Poitier’s history as Hollywood’s strong, black male lead, a New Yorker from Mount Vernon named Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. carved his own history to surpass the threshold of Hollywood’s ‘strong black male lead’ to simply being one of Hollywood’s most prolific lead actors.
As it stands, Washington is the most awarded black actor in the world with two Academy Awards and nine nominations. In total, Washington’s award tally is 39 wins and 97 nominations.
Let’s take a look at the roles that earned him two Oscar Awards in 1990 and 2002.
Glory (1989)
This is the story of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, told mostly through the eyes of their commander, Colonel Robert Gould Shaw (played by Matthew Broderick). The infantry was formed during the American Civil War and was the first African-American unit in the US Army. The film follows the formation of the regiment, its first volunteers, their training, disputes with administrators, their first operations in South Carolina and, finally, their moment of glory which was the attack on Fort Wagner.
Washington in the film plays Silas Trip, an escaped slave who is mistrustful of Shaw, also causing him to have clashed with others. His exceptionally convincing portrayal of the character earned him a Best Supporting Actor win at the Academy Awards in 1990.
Training Day (2001)
The story follows an L.A.P.D. detective Alonzo Harris (played by Washington) a veteran narcotics officer whose methods of enforcing the law are ethically questionable and maybe even downright corrupt. Los Angeles is a city where streets are overrun by drug dealers and those who have sworn to uphold the law are breaking them to clean up the streets. Harris has to train rookie officer, Jake Hoyt over 24 hours the only way he knows how. Ethical dilemmas arise for Hoyt as well as the audience as questions present themselves as to whether or not Harris' methodology for ridding the streets of South Central Los Angeles of drugs is right or wrong.
This role earned him the Best Actor award at the Academy Awards in 2002.
We celebrate this iconic actor while he lives to see the impact of his work.
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