Age: 71
male
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor, producer, and director. Known for his dramatic roles on stage and screen, he is widely regarded as one of the best actors of his generation, with The New York Times declaring him the greatest actor of the 21st century in 2020. Over his career, he has received several accolades, including two Academy Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for two Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award. Washington has been honoured with the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2016, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2022. After training at the American Conservatory Theatre, Washington began his career in theatre, acting in performances off-Broadway. He first came to prominence in the NBC medical drama series St. Elsewhere (1982–1988) and in the war film A Soldier's Story (1984). He won two Academy Awards, his first for Best Supporting Actor for playing an American Civil War soldier in the war drama Glory (1989) and his second for Best Actor for playing a corrupt police officer in the crime thriller Training Day (2001). He was Oscar-nominated for his performances in Cry Freedom (1987), Malcolm X (1992), The Hurricane (1999), Flight (2012), Fences (2016), Roman J. Israel, Esq. (2017), and The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021). A prominent leading man, Washington also acted in Mo' Better Blues (1990), Mississippi Masala (1991), Philadelphia (1993), Courage Under Fire (1996), Remember the Titans (2000), Man on Fire (2004), Inside Man (2006), American Gangster (2007), and The Equalizer trilogy (2014–2023). Washington directed and starred in the films Antwone Fisher (2002), The Great Debaters (2007), and Fences (2016). On stage, he has acted in productions of both Coriolanus (1979) and The Tragedy of Richard III (1990) at the Public Theater. He made his Broadway debut in the Ron Milner play Checkmates (1988). He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as a disillusioned working-class father in the Broadway revival of August Wilson's play Fences (2010). He has also acted in the Broadway revivals of William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (2005), Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun (2014), and Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh (2018).
Denzel Washington
Mace Windu
for Mace Windu in The Star Wars - Part One: The Chosen One (1999)
Suggested by themightylorog
The Galactic Republic is in quiet collapse. Systems fracture under the weight of corruption, the Outer Rim seethes with rebellion, and a new militaristic faction — led by former Jedi Count Dooku — threatens galactic peace. Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, a maverick within the Order, is sent alongside his restrained and disciplined apprentice Obi-Wan Kenobi to mediate a dispute between the Trade Federation and the neutral world of Shakka Prime. But after a botched assassination attempt on Senator Padmé Naberrie, their path leads them to the outlawed slums of Mos Vaerra, deep in the Tatooine wastes. There, Qui-Gon meets Anakin Skywalker, an 18-year-old enslaved mechanic and racer with uncanny reflexes, subconscious Force use, and haunting dreams of fire and destruction. Hardened, quiet, and intense, Anakin is fiercely protective of his mother, Shmi, and hides his abilities to avoid suspicion. Qui-Gon believes Anakin is the Chosen One — the subject of an ancient Force prophecy said to bring balance between light and dark. But Anakin resents the Jedi, viewing them as the elite who abandoned the Outer Rim to rot. It’s only after Shmi is nearly killed by a brutal slave owner backed by the Hutt Cartel that Anakin agrees to flee with Qui-Gon, longing to protect her and wield power to change his fate. As political tensions escalate, Darth Sidious manipulates events behind the scenes, orchestrating a crisis on Naboo to test the Republic’s response and the Jedi's limits. Meanwhile, the Council, led by Mace Windu and Yoda, refuses to train Anakin, sensing deep anger and fear within him. Obi-Wan disapproves of Qui-Gon’s obsession. Padmé, on the run from political execution, bonds with Anakin — they clash ideologically but connect through mutual defiance and yearning for freedom. When the Sith assassin Darth Maul ambushes the Jedi on Naboo, Qui-Gon is killed in a brutal duel. Obi-Wan defeats Maul, but at great cost. Dooku vanishes into the Outer Rim. Palpatine ascends to Chancellor. War looms. And Anakin — scarred by loss, full of fury, and isolated from both the Jedi and his mother — accepts his place in the Order. But beneath his promise... lies something fractured.
