Don’t get it twisted and call Denzel Washington a Hollywood Actor
In an exclusive, on CSB Sunday Morning, on Sunday, March 23rd Jake Gyllenhaal and Denzel Washington, starring as Iago and Othello in a new Broadway production of Shakespeare’s tragedy, talk with “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker about performing a story in which life and death are “ever-present in every moment of the show.” They also discuss becoming familiar with Shakespeare’s language, aging into the character, and the challenge of playing a villain.
Denzel Washington is doing more than breaking box office records with his blockbuster Broadway outing with Jake Gyllenhaal — he’s setting the record straight on how he feels about being labeled a “Hollywood actor” who occasionally graces the New York stage.
“I’m a stage actor who does film, it’s not the other way around. I did stage first. I learned how to act on stage, not on film,” Washington declared to “CBS News Sunday Morning” host Bill Whitaker after the journalist pointed out the number of “Hollywood actors” who have roles on Broadway this season.
Watch a clip from the interview below:
Denzel Washington, known for his Oscar-winning roles in “Glory” and “Training Day,” rejects being labeled a “Hollywood actor.”
“What’s the definition of a Hollywood actor? Myself, I’m from Mt. Vernon, so I’m a ‘Mt. Vernon actor,’” Denzel said, stopping CBS’s Bill Whitaker midway through his question about the “star-studded season on Broadway” featuring “lots of Hollywood actors and producers.” “I don’t know what ‘Hollywood’ means. I know it’s a place?” the Oscar winner continued at 1:48 into the video.
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. was born in Mount Vernon, New York, on December 28, 1954, and spent his childhood at the Boys & Girls Club of Mount Vernon, which he credits with being a positive influence and shaping his life.
“Everything you’ve seen or heard about me began with lessons I learned to live by at the Club,” the Mount Vernon native has often said.
Denzel Washington is a national spokesperson for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and his support is rooted in his personal experience. Washington even wrote a personal essay for Essence Magazine, on December 6, 2020, highlighting the importance of the Boys & Girls Club and his own experience.
He attended Pennington-Grimes Elementary School in Mount Vernon until 1968. When he was 14, his parents divorced, and his mother sent him to the private preparatory school, Oakland Military Academy in New Windsor, New York.
The Academy Award-winning actor now has a school named after him, the Denzel Washington School of the Arts on the Nellie A. Thornton Campus, located at 121 S 6th Avenue in his hometown of Mount Vernon serving students in grades 6-12, focusing on arts and preparing them for college and careers in the arts industry. Wednesday, September 7, 2022, was the first day of school at Denzel Washington School of the Arts, and students excitedly filled the halls.
Actor, director, and producer Denzel Washington has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Tony Award, as well as nominations for a Grammy Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards. He received ten Academy Award nominations and is one of eight actors who has been nominated for an acting Academy Award in five different decades (1980s, ’90s. 2000s, ’10s and ’20s), joining Laurence Olivier, Katharine Hepburn, Paul Newman, Jack Nicholson, Michael Caine, Meryl Streep and Frances McDormand.
Over his career, he has received numerous honorary awards, including the BAFTA Los Angeles Britannia Award in 2007, the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2016, and the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019. He was supposed to be awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Joe Biden in 2022, but didn’t receive it until Saturday, January 4, 2025, at a White House ceremony. Denzel received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Joe Biden, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
No matter how many awards and accolades Denzel Washington has received he always represents the 914 and never lets the world forget he is from Mount Vernon, New York including the time he worked for Mount Vernon DPW as a garbage man before he made it big. ‘that was hard, there is nothing we do making movies that hard compared to that,” he remembers, Denzel is a true Black Westchester Legend!
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Great to see and hear the greatest actor of our generation represent his hometown. Denzel Washington works in Hollywood but, he is Mount Vernon to the heart. He has never forgotten where he came from, and has given back so much to his hometown of MV. I am sure the students that go to school named in his honor, will be inspired to follow in his giant footsteps.
We here in Mount Vernon, N.Y. are all so very proud of you Denzel Washington. I pray God’s multiple Abundance of Blessings for you and your dear Family.