Denzel at 50

Ebony, Jan, 2005

TWENTY-THREE years after he made what one writer called an "inauspicious" movie debut in a comedy called Carbon Copy, Denzel Washington, the actor, director, public presence and Icon, is celebrating his 50th birthday with the class that has distinguished one of the great Hollywood careers, After some 30 movies, five Academy Award nominations and two landmark Oscars, he will celebrate the day, as he has celebrated so many of his artistic triumphs, "quietly with family as usual." But the movie great who was born on December 28, 1954, in Mount Vernon, N.Y., to the Rev. Denzel Washington, a Pentecostal preacher, and Lennis (Lynne) Washington, a beauty shop owner, is also a public monument who was celebrated publicly in the monuments of a career that helped change the color and the face of Hollywood.

Hailed in EBONY throughout his career, Washington made his mark in Hollywood with a still-evolving, award-winning career that began with (1) his first movie role in the comedy Carbon Copy in 1981. That was followed by (2) a stint on TV's St. Elsewhere, the celebration (3) of his first Academy Award for best supporting actor for his role in the movie Glory and (4) his first effort as a director for the movie Antwone Fisher, in which he also starred.

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Despite the incredible demands of a major Hollywood career, Washington has made it a point that family always remained his priority. At left, he is joined by his mother, Lennis (Lynne) Washington, at Fordham University, where he received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree in 1991. (He graduated from Fordham's College of Lincoln Center in 1977.) At bottom, Denzel poses with family members after the traditional footprints and handprints ceremony at the historic Mann's Chinese Theatre in 1998. Below, he is hand-in-hand with the leading lady in his life, his wife Pauletta Pearson. They have been married for 22 years and have four children, John David, Kutia and twins Olivia and Malcolm.

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Roles

(1) A Soldier's Story, 1984 (2) Malcolm X, 1992 (3) Cry Freedom, 1987 (4) Glory, 1989 (5) Remember The Titans, 2000 (6) Philadelphia, 1993 (7) The Hurricane, 1999 (8) Crimson Tide, 1995 (9) Training Day, 2001 (10) The Manchurian Candidate, 2004.

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Leading Ladies

(1) The Mighty Quinn, with Sheryl Lee Ralph, 1989 (2) The Preacher's Wife, with Whitney Houston, 1996 (3) The Pelican Brief, with Julia Roberts, 1993 (4) Mo" Better Blues, with Cynda Williams, 1990 (5) The Bone Collector, with Angelina Jolie, 1999 (6) Out of 77me, with Sanaa Lathan, 2003.

A triumphant Denzel Washington (below) celebrates his second Academy Award for his role in the 2001 movie Training Day.

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