WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.120 If a YMCA camp counselor hadn't spoken up after 00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:07.360 a talent show in the late 1970s, the man the 00:00:07.360 --> 00:00:10.980 New York Times literally calls the greatest actor 00:00:10.980 --> 00:00:13.589 of the 21st century might have, well... He might 00:00:13.589 --> 00:00:15.949 have spent his life in a penitentiary or I mean, 00:00:16.010 --> 00:00:17.969 maybe in a slightly better timeline, he might 00:00:17.969 --> 00:00:20.250 just be a retired point guard down in Lubbock, 00:00:20.289 --> 00:00:22.870 Texas. Right. Yeah, it is the absolute definition 00:00:22.870 --> 00:00:25.829 of a precarious trajectory, because I mean, we 00:00:25.829 --> 00:00:27.929 really like to look at cultural icons and just 00:00:27.929 --> 00:00:29.910 assume their success was this straight line. 00:00:30.010 --> 00:00:31.890 Right. Like it was completely predestined. Oh, 00:00:31.890 --> 00:00:34.049 absolutely. But when you actually examine this 00:00:34.049 --> 00:00:37.009 particular life, you realize the whole cultural 00:00:37.009 --> 00:00:40.009 landscape of the last 40 years hung on the slightest 00:00:40.009 --> 00:00:43.000 breeze shifting in a teenager's world. And that 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:45.859 is exactly our mission for this deep dive. Because 00:00:45.859 --> 00:00:48.079 you, listening right now, you've likely seen 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:50.979 his iconic movies. You know the famous walk, 00:00:51.119 --> 00:00:54.500 the cadence, the sheer undeniable swagger. But 00:00:54.500 --> 00:00:57.179 do you know the intense sliding doors moments 00:00:57.179 --> 00:01:00.539 that actually forged Denzel Washington? How a 00:01:00.539 --> 00:01:02.899 kid from Mount Vernon evolved into an absolute 00:01:02.899 --> 00:01:05.359 titan of American cinema? So, okay, let's unpack 00:01:05.359 --> 00:01:07.500 this. Yeah, to do that, we have to look far past 00:01:07.500 --> 00:01:10.379 the movie posters. We're tracking a journey from 00:01:10.379 --> 00:01:14.359 his 1977 television debut all the way to his 00:01:14.359 --> 00:01:18.079 2025 return to Broadway and his upcoming films 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:21.700 because to understand the why behind his enduring 00:01:21.700 --> 00:01:24.840 really multi -generational success we have to 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:27.780 analyze his profound dedication to craft his 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:31.620 unexpected mentors and a relentless almost gravitational 00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:34.540 commitment to his roots. Right because Before 00:01:34.540 --> 00:01:36.560 we get to the two -time Oscar winner, before 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:38.599 we get to the movie star who can just command 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:40.819 a screen without saying a single word, we have 00:01:40.819 --> 00:01:43.459 to look at the teenager. A teenager who, frankly, 00:01:44.239 --> 00:01:46.159 almost didn't make it to adulthood. Exactly. 00:01:46.620 --> 00:01:48.760 The reality of his early years is pretty stark. 00:01:49.079 --> 00:01:51.500 He was born in 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. 00:01:51.799 --> 00:01:54.359 And his parents were incredibly hardworking, 00:01:54.739 --> 00:01:56.620 but they operated in two very different worlds. 00:01:56.760 --> 00:01:59.159 How so? Well, his mother owned a beauty parlor, 00:01:59.379 --> 00:02:01.260 which, you know, is a real hub of community and 00:02:01.260 --> 00:02:03.599 conversation. And his father was an ordained 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:05.680 Pentecostal minister who also worked for the 00:02:05.680 --> 00:02:07.799 New York City Water Department. Which actually 00:02:07.799 --> 00:02:10.659 brings up an amazing detail about his very identity 00:02:10.659 --> 00:02:13.560 and his name. We all say Denzil, but his name 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:15.620 is actually pronounced with the emphasis on the 00:02:15.620 --> 00:02:19.599 first syllable. Oh, right. Yeah. He explained 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:21.819 on Jimmy Kimmel recently that his mother only 00:02:21.819 --> 00:02:24.159 started stressing the second syllable Denzil 00:02:24.159 --> 00:02:26.719 so that he would respond when she called out, 00:02:26.780 --> 00:02:29.620 instead of his father, whose name was also Denzil. 00:02:29.939 --> 00:02:33.300 It's such a brilliant, subtle shift, like a linguistic 00:02:33.300 --> 00:02:35.919 pivot that essentially creates a whole new identity. 00:02:36.479 --> 00:02:39.139 But that early childhood stability didn't last. 00:02:39.300 --> 00:02:41.889 When he was 14, his parents divorced. And this 00:02:41.889 --> 00:02:44.310 triggers the first major sliding doors moment. 00:02:44.849 --> 00:02:46.750 The fracture at home led him to start running 00:02:46.750 --> 00:02:48.889 with a rough crowd on the streets of Mount Vernon. 00:02:49.129 --> 00:02:51.550 Yeah, and he doesn't mince words about how dangerous 00:02:51.550 --> 00:02:53.530 that moment was. He's pointed out that the guys 00:02:53.530 --> 00:02:55.349 he was hanging out with at the time, his running 00:02:55.349 --> 00:02:57.669 buddies, ended up doing something like 40 years 00:02:57.669 --> 00:02:59.729 combined in the penitentiary. I mean, that is 00:02:59.729 --> 00:03:02.270 a terrifying fork in the road. Exactly. Yeah. 00:03:02.409 --> 00:03:04.289 The streets were actively claiming the people 00:03:04.289 --> 00:03:07.129 around him. But his mother saw what was happening, 00:03:07.370 --> 00:03:09.930 stepped in, and made a drastic decision. She 00:03:09.930 --> 00:03:12.469 pulled him entirely out of his environment and 00:03:12.469 --> 00:03:15.189 sent him to Oakland Military Academy, which was 00:03:15.189 --> 00:03:17.870 a private prep school in upstate New York. Wow. 00:03:18.210 --> 00:03:20.310 Yeah, it was a very rigid, structured intervention. 00:03:20.590 --> 00:03:23.590 And he credits that move with basically saving 00:03:23.590 --> 00:03:27.449 his life. But even after he escapes that immediate 00:03:27.449 --> 00:03:30.669 danger, his path remains incredibly unpredictable. 00:03:31.539 --> 00:03:33.599 When it comes time for college, he originally 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:36.219 wants to go to Texas Tech University. And the 00:03:36.219 --> 00:03:39.080 reason why is just, it's so perfectly teenage. 00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:41.280 It really is. He grew up going to the local boys 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:43.520 club in Mount Vernon and their team was called 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:46.270 the Red Raiders. Texas Tech's team, also the 00:03:46.270 --> 00:03:48.770 Red Raiders, and their uniforms matched. It just 00:03:48.770 --> 00:03:51.270 highlights how incredibly arbitrary our hero's 00:03:51.270 --> 00:03:53.469 origin stories actually are. I mean, he almost 00:03:53.469 --> 00:03:55.810 dictated his entire academic and geographical 00:03:55.810 --> 00:03:58.349 future based on a jersey color. Seriously. But 00:03:58.349 --> 00:04:00.629 instead of Texas, he ends up at Fordham University 00:04:00.629 --> 00:04:03.030 in New York playing collegiate basketball as 00:04:03.030 --> 00:04:06.250 a guard under coach P .J. Carlesimo. So we have 00:04:06.250 --> 00:04:09.500 these wild, divergent. timelines, you know. In 00:04:09.500 --> 00:04:11.800 one, he's a tragic statistic in the prison system. 00:04:12.259 --> 00:04:14.319 In another, he's running the point for Texas 00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:17.579 Tech. And yet, the actual spark for his legendary 00:04:17.579 --> 00:04:20.399 career happens because he took a semester off 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:22.579 from Fordham to work as a creative arts director 00:04:22.579 --> 00:04:25.519 at Camp Sloan YMCA in Connecticut. Yes, just 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:28.439 a standard summer camp job. He participated in 00:04:28.439 --> 00:04:31.319 a staff talent show for the campers. And afterward, 00:04:31.399 --> 00:04:33.279 a colleague pulled him aside and simply suggested 00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:35.480 he try acting. Just like that. Just like that. 00:04:35.620 --> 00:04:38.860 That was the catalyst. One conversation he returned 00:04:38.860 --> 00:04:41.339 to Fordham with an entirely new purpose and enrolled 00:04:41.339 --> 00:04:43.439 at the Lincoln Center campus to study acting 00:04:43.439 --> 00:04:46.199 It's staggering to think about a generational 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:49.879 career a literal five billion dollar box office 00:04:49.879 --> 00:04:52.300 footprint all hinging on a random suggestion 00:04:52.300 --> 00:04:56.100 after a YMCA skit If that colleague is just a 00:04:56.100 --> 00:04:57.920 little too tired to say anything that night, 00:04:58.120 --> 00:05:00.480 do we ever get Malcolm X? What's fascinating 00:05:00.480 --> 00:05:02.819 here is how all these seemingly disparate divergent 00:05:02.819 --> 00:05:05.000 paths. The Military School, the basketball court, 00:05:05.199 --> 00:05:07.740 the YMCA actually forged the foundation of his 00:05:07.740 --> 00:05:09.939 specific genius on screen. Wait, how do you mean? 00:05:10.100 --> 00:05:12.240 Like, how does running drills for P .J. Carlesimo 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:15.040 translate to winning Academy Awards? Think about 00:05:15.040 --> 00:05:17.560 the mechanics of what he was doing. At the Military 00:05:17.560 --> 00:05:20.800 Academy, he learned strict, unyielding discipline 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:23.819 and psychological resilience. Right. Then on 00:05:23.819 --> 00:05:26.040 the basketball court, particularly as a guard, 00:05:26.579 --> 00:05:30.839 he was mastering spatial awareness, precise teamwork, 00:05:31.600 --> 00:05:34.990 physical control. and you know repetition. He 00:05:34.990 --> 00:05:37.050 took the psychological endurance from the academy 00:05:37.050 --> 00:05:38.889 and the physical command from the basketball 00:05:38.889 --> 00:05:41.329 court and he funneled them directly into his 00:05:41.329 --> 00:05:43.740 acting method. Ah, so it's not just that he decided 00:05:43.740 --> 00:05:45.920 to work hard. It's that his body and mind were 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:48.519 already programmed for rigorous, repetitive execution. 00:05:48.839 --> 00:05:51.360 Exactly. It's exactly where he gets that signature 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:53.699 controlled rage. When you watch him, there is 00:05:53.699 --> 00:05:56.779 this immense coiled physical energy, but it's 00:05:56.779 --> 00:05:58.980 executed with surgical precision. He's not just 00:05:58.980 --> 00:06:02.379 flailing around. He is completely aware of the 00:06:02.379 --> 00:06:04.319 space around him, just like a point guard reading 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:06.540 the floor. That makes so much sense. It's like 00:06:06.540 --> 00:06:09.560 he was gathering high level tools for years without 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:12.920 knowing. what he was actually building, and that 00:06:12.920 --> 00:06:15.500 deep sense of discipline translated perfectly 00:06:15.500 --> 00:06:18.610 into a relentless work ethic on the stage. Which 00:06:18.610 --> 00:06:21.149 is crucial because the stage, not the screen, 00:06:21.350 --> 00:06:23.910 is his first true love. He didn't just move to 00:06:23.910 --> 00:06:26.089 LA to get famous and go to parties. Not at all. 00:06:26.449 --> 00:06:28.569 After Fordham, he went to graduate school at 00:06:28.569 --> 00:06:30.910 the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. 00:06:31.569 --> 00:06:34.490 He immersed himself in classical craft. So by 00:06:34.490 --> 00:06:36.829 the time he gets his major television breakthrough 00:06:36.829 --> 00:06:40.009 playing Dr. Philip Chandler on NBC's Saint Elsewhere 00:06:40.009 --> 00:06:43.509 in 1982, he treats the gig with incredible stamina. 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:46.060 Yeah, he was one of the very few African -American 00:06:46.060 --> 00:06:49.019 actors to stay for the entire six -year run of 00:06:49.019 --> 00:06:51.720 that medical drama. Right. He puts in the reps. 00:06:52.379 --> 00:06:55.079 And it pays off massively. He wins his first 00:06:55.079 --> 00:06:57.079 Oscar Best Supporting Actor for playing Private 00:06:57.079 --> 00:07:00.759 Trip, a defiant ex -slave in the 1989 Civil War 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:03.339 drama, Glory. Such an incredible performance. 00:07:03.819 --> 00:07:06.300 And shortly after, he collaborates with Spike 00:07:06.300 --> 00:07:10.589 Lee for the 1992 epic Malcolm X. The New York 00:07:10.589 --> 00:07:13.110 Times praised his performance in that film noting 00:07:13.110 --> 00:07:15.709 he had the psychological heft, the intelligence 00:07:15.709 --> 00:07:18.610 and the reserve to anchor it. Psychological heft 00:07:18.610 --> 00:07:20.990 is the perfect phrase. That role required him 00:07:20.990 --> 00:07:24.079 to age. to transform ideologically, to command 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:26.779 thousands of extras in massive sweeping speeches, 00:07:27.259 --> 00:07:29.860 and also to portray deep, intimate vulnerability. 00:07:30.019 --> 00:07:32.680 Yeah, it was a monumental task. And yet, despite 00:07:32.680 --> 00:07:35.060 pulling off one of the greatest cinematic performances 00:07:35.060 --> 00:07:37.560 of the decade, he continually states that he 00:07:37.560 --> 00:07:40.259 considers himself a stage actor, not a Hollywood 00:07:40.259 --> 00:07:42.839 star. Here's where it gets really interesting 00:07:42.839 --> 00:07:46.430 to me. I look at Denzel the way I look at a master 00:07:46.430 --> 00:07:48.829 blue -collar carpenter. OK, I like that. He treats 00:07:48.829 --> 00:07:51.529 acting as a literal trade. He's showing up with 00:07:51.529 --> 00:07:53.889 his lunch pail to do the work to build the house. 00:07:54.189 --> 00:07:56.769 Does this stage -first mentality explain why 00:07:56.769 --> 00:07:59.430 he can so effortlessly slip into such wildly 00:07:59.430 --> 00:08:02.629 diverse roles? Like, you watch him as a brilliant 00:08:02.629 --> 00:08:05.069 homophobic lawyer dealing with his own prejudices 00:08:05.069 --> 00:08:07.990 in Philadelphia, and then as a mutinous, highly 00:08:07.990 --> 00:08:11.230 -trained naval officer in Crimson Tide. He's 00:08:11.230 --> 00:08:14.189 equally terrifyingly believable in both. If we 00:08:14.189 --> 00:08:17.209 connect this to the bigger picture, it absolutely 00:08:17.209 --> 00:08:20.029 explains his range and more importantly, his 00:08:20.029 --> 00:08:22.670 presence. Think about how a lot of movie stars 00:08:22.670 --> 00:08:26.009 operate. They rely on what we might call cheap 00:08:26.009 --> 00:08:29.220 tricks. a specific camera angle, a lighting cue, 00:08:29.720 --> 00:08:31.699 a familiar smirk that tells the audience, hey, 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:34.179 it's me, your favorite celebrity. They let the 00:08:34.179 --> 00:08:36.059 camera do the heavy lifting. Right. The camera 00:08:36.059 --> 00:08:39.000 pushes in close. They shed a single tear. And 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:41.779 the music swells. The actor barely has to move. 00:08:42.000 --> 00:08:44.899 Precisely. But Denzel doesn't rely on those cinematic 00:08:44.899 --> 00:08:48.179 shortcuts. Because he is rooted in rigorous stagecraft, 00:08:48.559 --> 00:08:50.980 he brings a theatrical gravity to every single 00:08:50.980 --> 00:08:54.029 frame of film. Stage acting inherently demands 00:08:54.029 --> 00:08:56.570 deeper, full -body character work because you 00:08:56.570 --> 00:08:58.149 don't have a camera zooming in. Right, you're 00:08:58.149 --> 00:09:00.730 just on a stage. Exactly. You have to project 00:09:00.730 --> 00:09:03.470 the character's internal emotional life all the 00:09:03.470 --> 00:09:05.950 way to the back row of a massive theater using 00:09:05.950 --> 00:09:08.750 only your voice and your posture. So when you 00:09:08.750 --> 00:09:10.909 put a guy with that kind of projection power 00:09:10.909 --> 00:09:13.269 in front of a movie camera, it's almost overwhelming. 00:09:13.450 --> 00:09:15.370 He's filling the entire room with his presence. 00:09:15.649 --> 00:09:18.029 He is. He's carrying the weight of the theater 00:09:18.029 --> 00:09:20.899 into the cinema. And because he mastered that 00:09:20.899 --> 00:09:23.600 grounded theatrical stagecraft, he developed 00:09:23.600 --> 00:09:26.700 a unique ability to completely weaponize his 00:09:26.700 --> 00:09:29.779 natural charm. Which leads us perfectly into 00:09:29.779 --> 00:09:32.720 his mid -career shift toward incredibly dark, 00:09:33.220 --> 00:09:35.600 visceral action roles. Oh man, let's talk about 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:38.639 the dark side. Because this pivot is legendary. 00:09:38.980 --> 00:09:42.240 In 2001, he does Training Day. Oh, yeah. He wins 00:09:42.240 --> 00:09:44.960 his second Oscar, this time Best Actor, for playing 00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:48.100 Alonzo Harris, this insanely corrupt, terrifying 00:09:48.100 --> 00:09:51.159 Los Angeles narcotics detective. The late Roger 00:09:51.159 --> 00:09:53.679 Ebert noted it was a really rare villainous role 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:55.860 for him, and Ebert actually compared his performance 00:09:55.860 --> 00:09:59.240 to a monster from a horror film calling him unkillable 00:09:59.240 --> 00:10:01.779 and implacable. It was a shocking pivot for audiences. 00:10:02.279 --> 00:10:04.320 Up until then, we were deeply conditioned to 00:10:04.320 --> 00:10:07.159 seeing him play noble, righteous— to see him 00:10:07.159 --> 00:10:09.019 so put that inherent trust he built with the 00:10:09.019 --> 00:10:11.320 audience was jarring in the best way possible. 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:13.940 Yeah, it really was. And it ushered in a whole 00:10:13.940 --> 00:10:16.480 new era for him, particularly his collaboration 00:10:16.480 --> 00:10:19.039 with the late director Tony Scott. They made 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:22.740 five films together, including incredibly intense, 00:10:22.919 --> 00:10:25.559 gritty thrillers like Man on Fire and Unstoppable. 00:10:25.779 --> 00:10:28.759 He's just tearing through genres. In 2016, he 00:10:28.759 --> 00:10:30.860 stars in The Magnificent Seven, which is his 00:10:30.860 --> 00:10:33.740 very first western. And what's hilarious about 00:10:33.740 --> 00:10:36.340 this is why it took him until his 60s to do a 00:10:36.340 --> 00:10:38.580 western. Oh, the story with his father. Yes. 00:10:39.200 --> 00:10:41.799 Growing up, his father, the Pentecostal minister, 00:10:42.159 --> 00:10:44.980 banned them from going to the cinema to see westerns. 00:10:45.220 --> 00:10:47.620 The kids were only allowed to watch grand Biblical 00:10:47.470 --> 00:10:50.649 epics like The Ten Commandments and King of Kings. 00:10:50.789 --> 00:10:53.870 It's a wonderful poetic irony. One of our greatest 00:10:53.870 --> 00:10:57.009 leading men, a guy who basically defines American 00:10:57.009 --> 00:10:59.029 cinema, wasn't really allowed to consume it as 00:10:59.029 --> 00:11:01.730 a child. It's crazy. And while he's dominating 00:11:01.730 --> 00:11:03.850 the global box office in these gritty action 00:11:03.850 --> 00:11:06.429 thrillers, he is simultaneously stepping behind 00:11:06.429 --> 00:11:09.149 the camera to direct. He directs the emotional 00:11:09.149 --> 00:11:13.720 drama Antoine Fisher in 2002. Later in 2016, 00:11:14.059 --> 00:11:16.360 he directs and stars in the film adaptation of 00:11:16.360 --> 00:11:18.700 August Wilson's Pulitzer -winning play Fences. 00:11:19.480 --> 00:11:21.679 Reviewers noted that as both actor and director, 00:11:21.960 --> 00:11:24.980 he tore through the material with a joyful ferocity, 00:11:25.039 --> 00:11:27.720 like a man possessed. Okay, I have to jump in 00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:29.159 and push back on this a little bit because I 00:11:29.159 --> 00:11:30.740 need you to make sense of this timeline for me. 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:33.820 This completely defies the standard Hollywood 00:11:33.820 --> 00:11:36.240 action star trajectory. Usually an actor hits 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:38.600 a certain age, they grab a gun and they just 00:11:38.600 --> 00:11:41.120 cash easy checks, walking away from explosions. 00:11:42.340 --> 00:11:46.120 But Denzel, he's directing prestige, heavy August 00:11:46.120 --> 00:11:49.320 Wilson dramas with joyful ferocity to feed his 00:11:49.320 --> 00:11:52.179 artistic soul. But then for an action movie like 00:11:52.179 --> 00:11:54.360 Safe House, he is literally subjecting himself 00:11:54.360 --> 00:11:56.720 to actual waterboarding to prepare for the role. 00:11:57.039 --> 00:11:59.440 Wait, so he gets waterboarded for a popcorn flick? 00:11:59.740 --> 00:12:01.820 That feels like a massive overkill for an action 00:12:01.820 --> 00:12:05.000 thriller. How do we reconcile the high art prestige 00:12:05.000 --> 00:12:07.480 theater director with the visceral get waterboarded 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:09.500 action hero? You'd think it's overkill, right? 00:12:09.899 --> 00:12:12.159 But here's the thing. It entirely comes down 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:14.960 to his profound respect for the audience. The 00:12:14.960 --> 00:12:17.100 nuances of his method here are just incredible. 00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:20.240 He understands that audiences need sheer adrenaline 00:12:20.240 --> 00:12:22.960 pumping entertainment. They need an escape. But 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:26.379 he completely refuses to compromise his rigorous 00:12:26.379 --> 00:12:28.960 character work to deliver that escape. So he 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:31.179 refuses to phone it in, even if the script is 00:12:31.179 --> 00:12:33.419 just about a guy shooting bad guys in a warehouse. 00:12:33.620 --> 00:12:36.440 Exactly. He doesn't look down on an action film 00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:39.169 like The Equalizer. He treats the protagonist, 00:12:39.370 --> 00:12:41.669 Robert McCall, with the exact same psychological 00:12:41.669 --> 00:12:44.289 depth and historical preparation that he treats 00:12:44.289 --> 00:12:47.470 Shakespeare's Brutus or Macbeth. Wow. Whether 00:12:47.470 --> 00:12:49.610 he is performing Eugene O 'Neill on Broadway 00:12:49.610 --> 00:12:52.149 or breaking arms in a blockbuster, the level 00:12:52.149 --> 00:12:54.570 of commitment is identically intense. There is 00:12:54.570 --> 00:12:57.330 simply no off switch for his craft. That's amazing. 00:12:57.629 --> 00:12:59.870 He respects the Friday night popcorn crowd just 00:12:59.870 --> 00:13:02.250 as much as the Sunday afternoon Pulitzer Prize 00:13:02.250 --> 00:13:05.610 crowd. He does. He gives them both his absolute 00:13:05.610 --> 00:13:09.230 all. And this fascinating duality, the man who 00:13:09.230 --> 00:13:11.669 can play a terrifying, unkillable villain on 00:13:11.669 --> 00:13:14.549 screen while remaining deeply grounded in high 00:13:14.549 --> 00:13:17.909 -minded, empathetic craft, brings us to who Denzel 00:13:17.909 --> 00:13:20.629 is off -screen. Because as you look at his later 00:13:20.629 --> 00:13:23.809 years, his real -life roles of patriarch, pastor, 00:13:24.049 --> 00:13:27.049 and mentor have truly become his most defining 00:13:27.049 --> 00:13:29.590 characteristics. The off -screen reality is staggering. 00:13:29.710 --> 00:13:32.389 Let's dig into his faith, because it drives everything. 00:13:32.600 --> 00:13:34.840 We mentioned his father was a minister. Denzel 00:13:34.840 --> 00:13:37.799 is deeply religious himself. He donated $2 .5 00:13:37.799 --> 00:13:40.440 million to his Los Angeles church way back in 00:13:40.440 --> 00:13:43.460 1995. Yep, quietly too. He reads the Bible daily. 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:45.879 He's publicly stated for decades that he always 00:13:45.879 --> 00:13:48.259 felt a calling to be a pastor. And remarkably, 00:13:48.460 --> 00:13:50.840 in December 2024, he was officially baptized 00:13:50.840 --> 00:13:52.879 and actually received his ministry license from 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:55.059 a church in New York City. He followed through 00:13:55.059 --> 00:13:58.620 on that lifelong spiritual calling. And what's 00:13:58.620 --> 00:14:01.500 vital to understand is that his faith isn't just 00:14:01.500 --> 00:14:04.559 internalized, you know. It translates directly 00:14:04.559 --> 00:14:07.419 into massive philanthropic action. He's been 00:14:07.419 --> 00:14:09.700 the national spokesperson and a board member 00:14:09.700 --> 00:14:11.720 for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America since 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:14.259 the 1990s. Which is incredible because that's 00:14:14.259 --> 00:14:16.940 the exact same organization that shaped his youth 00:14:16.940 --> 00:14:19.360 and kept him safe in Mount Vernon. It's a perfect 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:23.320 circle and his service extends further. In 2021, 00:14:23.700 --> 00:14:26.159 the United States Army made him the honorary 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:28.980 sergeant major of the Army. This wasn't just 00:14:28.980 --> 00:14:31.279 a celebrity photo op. It was in recognition of 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:34.200 his massive, sustained financial contributions 00:14:34.200 --> 00:14:36.639 to the Fisher House Foundation, which builds 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:39.179 homes for military families to stay in while 00:14:39.179 --> 00:14:41.120 their loved ones receive critical medical kind. 00:14:41.980 --> 00:14:43.860 He was also awarded the Presidential Medal of 00:14:43.860 --> 00:14:46.620 Freedom in 2025. And we have to talk about how 00:14:46.620 --> 00:14:49.809 this universal respect manifests globally. There 00:14:49.809 --> 00:14:53.330 is this wild historical footnote from the 2000s. 00:14:53.330 --> 00:14:54.909 Oh, I know what you're going to say. During a 00:14:54.909 --> 00:14:57.789 high stakes hostage crisis, FARC rebels in Colombia 00:14:57.789 --> 00:15:00.509 actually named Denzel Washington as one of only 00:15:00.509 --> 00:15:02.629 three people in the entire world they would be 00:15:02.629 --> 00:15:04.909 willing to negotiate with. Along with Oliver 00:15:04.909 --> 00:15:07.830 Stone and Michael Moore. But think about why 00:15:07.830 --> 00:15:10.929 they named him. Why would armed rebels in a South 00:15:10.929 --> 00:15:14.549 American jungle trust an American actor? It speaks 00:15:14.549 --> 00:15:17.429 to the bizarre, incredibly potent global reach 00:15:17.429 --> 00:15:20.080 of his cultural authority. Through his roles 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:23.340 and his public persona, he projects an incorruptible, 00:15:23.460 --> 00:15:27.039 objective morality. People across the globe inherently 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:30.120 trust him. It's true. He exudes this fundamental 00:15:30.120 --> 00:15:33.419 fairness. And that deep well of trust makes him 00:15:33.419 --> 00:15:36.409 an unparalleled mentor in Hollywood. He has been 00:15:36.409 --> 00:15:39.210 married to his wife, Poletta, since 1983, and 00:15:39.210 --> 00:15:41.029 together they've built this incredible family. 00:15:41.509 --> 00:15:44.190 In 2024, his son, Malcolm, made his directorial 00:15:44.190 --> 00:15:46.610 debut with the Netflix film, The Piano Lesson. 00:15:46.809 --> 00:15:48.990 Denzel produced it, and his other son, John Dated, 00:15:49.169 --> 00:15:51.509 starred in it. A real family affair. Yeah, but 00:15:51.509 --> 00:15:54.350 his mentorship goes so far beyond his own family. 00:15:54.710 --> 00:15:57.549 He has quietly guided a massive roster of modern 00:15:57.549 --> 00:15:59.330 stars. We're talking about mentoring the late 00:15:59.330 --> 00:16:01.990 Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Austin Butler. 00:16:02.309 --> 00:16:05.590 He is physically shaping the ecosystem. of modern 00:16:05.590 --> 00:16:08.669 Hollywood. So what does this all mean? When I 00:16:08.669 --> 00:16:11.029 look at this phase of his life, I don't see him 00:16:11.029 --> 00:16:13.309 as just an older actor cashing in on his legacy. 00:16:13.730 --> 00:16:16.789 He's more like a keystone species and an ecosystem. 00:16:17.629 --> 00:16:20.590 His mere presence, his shadow is dictating the 00:16:20.590 --> 00:16:22.509 survival and growth of the actors around him. 00:16:22.789 --> 00:16:25.690 He's actively seeding the entire next generation 00:16:25.690 --> 00:16:28.429 of cinema. Absolutely. And the crazy part is 00:16:28.429 --> 00:16:31.190 he's doing all this mentoring while still working 00:16:31.190 --> 00:16:34.399 at the absolute highest levels himself. He stole 00:16:34.399 --> 00:16:38.059 the entire show in Gladiator II in 2024. He's 00:16:38.059 --> 00:16:40.440 reuniting with Spike Lee for a film called Highest 00:16:40.440 --> 00:16:43.360 Two, Lowest in 2025. And he's returning to Broadway 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:46.179 to play Othello that same year. This raises an 00:16:46.179 --> 00:16:48.139 important question, really the central philosophical 00:16:48.139 --> 00:16:51.039 question of his life. He has had this lifelong 00:16:51.039 --> 00:16:53.200 nagging feeling that he was supposed to preach, 00:16:53.759 --> 00:16:55.799 that he was meant for the pulpit just like his 00:16:55.799 --> 00:16:58.019 father. But when you look at how he operates, 00:16:58.409 --> 00:17:01.549 the profound way he mentors young actors, the 00:17:01.549 --> 00:17:03.769 millions he funnels into military families and 00:17:03.769 --> 00:17:06.430 youth clubs, the way he holds himself as a paragon 00:17:06.430 --> 00:17:09.210 of integrity in a notoriously chaotic industry, 00:17:09.910 --> 00:17:12.450 that calling is actually being fulfilled through 00:17:12.450 --> 00:17:15.210 his career. He hasn't ignored his faith at all. 00:17:15.369 --> 00:17:17.410 He has essentially turned the entire Hollywood 00:17:17.410 --> 00:17:19.809 machine into his own Ministry of Influence and 00:17:19.809 --> 00:17:22.029 Service. It's a phenomenal arc. We started this 00:17:22.029 --> 00:17:24.789 deep dive looking at a kid at a dangerous crossroads 00:17:24.789 --> 00:17:27.430 in Mount Vernon. A kid who gets pulled from the 00:17:27.430 --> 00:17:30.109 brink and sent to military school. A teenager 00:17:30.109 --> 00:17:32.829 who almost chooses a college based entirely on 00:17:32.829 --> 00:17:35.009 the color of a basketball jersey. Yeah, the Red 00:17:35.009 --> 00:17:37.690 Raiders. Exactly. A young man who finds his true 00:17:37.690 --> 00:17:40.430 spark because of a passing comment at a YMCAC. 00:17:40.329 --> 00:17:43.390 summer camp. And we traced that precarious path 00:17:43.390 --> 00:17:45.490 all the way to the peak of Hollywood royalty. 00:17:45.990 --> 00:17:47.950 But as we've seen, it's a royalty defined not 00:17:47.950 --> 00:17:50.390 by the superficial trappings of fame, but by 00:17:50.390 --> 00:17:53.630 a stage actor's grueling, unyielding work ethic 00:17:53.630 --> 00:17:56.910 and a pastor's deep, resonant sense of duty. 00:17:57.289 --> 00:17:59.650 He took the strict physical discipline of his 00:17:59.650 --> 00:18:01.750 youth, combined it with the deep, unshakable 00:18:01.750 --> 00:18:05.269 faith of his father, and built a historic, artistic 00:18:05.269 --> 00:18:08.630 empire squarely on top of them. So for you listening, 00:18:08.849 --> 00:18:10.950 the next time you sit down to watch a Denzel 00:18:10.950 --> 00:18:12.650 Washington performance, whether he's wearing 00:18:12.650 --> 00:18:15.190 a police badge, sitting on a horse in a western, 00:18:15.609 --> 00:18:18.109 or holding a Shakespearean dagger, look closely. 00:18:18.390 --> 00:18:21.170 Look beyond the movie star charisma. Look for 00:18:21.170 --> 00:18:23.430 that controlled rage he learned on the basketball 00:18:23.430 --> 00:18:25.710 court. Look for that stagecrafted precision that 00:18:25.710 --> 00:18:27.529 allows him to fill a room without relying on 00:18:27.529 --> 00:18:29.869 a camera trick. You are watching an absolute 00:18:29.869 --> 00:18:32.490 master who, but for a mother's fierce intervention 00:18:32.490 --> 00:18:35.210 and a military school, almost went down a very, 00:18:35.210 --> 00:18:36.990 very different path. And I'll leave you with 00:18:36.990 --> 00:18:40.490 this final thought to mull over. Back in 1999, 00:18:41.009 --> 00:18:43.150 Denzel stated that a part of him still wondered 00:18:43.150 --> 00:18:45.309 if he was compromising his true calling to be 00:18:45.309 --> 00:18:47.789 a preacher by choosing to be a Hollywood actor 00:18:47.789 --> 00:18:50.650 instead. But when you step back and look at the 00:18:50.650 --> 00:18:52.829 countless lives he's mentored, the charitable 00:18:52.829 --> 00:18:55.410 foundations he's funded, the military families 00:18:55.410 --> 00:18:58.210 he's housed, and the profound global emotional 00:18:58.210 --> 00:19:01.309 impact of his art, did he actually compromise 00:19:01.309 --> 00:19:04.069 his calling? Or did he simply find a pulpit with 00:19:04.069 --> 00:19:07.039 a worldwide reach? A multiverse where the timeline 00:19:07.039 --> 00:19:09.519 didn't diverge from its purpose, it just expanded 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:10.720 it. Think about that.