i want you to hit me as hard as you can
there are few things in life that are as certain as a denzel washington performance you know that
when he is on screen you are going to be treated to a master class of acting but still even though
we know a great deal about this legend there are always still things left to discover 22 things in
this case why 22 because it's it's a good number okay first i just want to say thanks for watching
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content now back to the show number one when you hear the name denzel there is only one person that
comes to mind denzel washington but did you know that he is actually denzel washington jr
that's right his father was actually named denzel washington so where did denzel washington senior
get this distinguished name from well it comes from the man who delivered him as a baby dr denzel
number two his mother worked in a beauty salon one day denzel was in there and a customer known as
the prophetess had a vision about denzel's future this prophetess prophesized that denzel would grow
up to be a person who speaks to millions and yeah she was right number three when denzel washington
was 14 years old he was sent to military academy he credits this with saving his life as he said
the path that he was down on that point was not a good one number four as a struggling student young
denzel changed his major several times everything from biology to political science to journalism
he even studied to become a doctor and considered joining the military then finally
he decided to take an acting class because he was told it was an easy way to get good grades
and to this very day denzel washington is still getting very good grades in acting you amaze me
number five denzel rarely does comedy films and that may be due to his first
theatrical film carbon copy about a caucasian man who finds out that he has a black sun omg
but that wasn't his last exploration in the world of comedy in 1990 denzel washington would star
in the mega flop heart condition the film was such an embarrassment to denzel who was just
coming off his glorious oscar win and he felt like this film was a major setback in his career
so he immediately fired his agents who were strongly pushing for him to do heart condition
so the movie is all over the map we don't know whether to laugh or to cry i know enough to give
it two stars and i'm roger ebert number six in the 90s newsweek printed an article about the
biological basis for the perception of beauty and in the article the pretty face of denzel
washington was used as the primary example of perfection for beauty commenting on the symmetry
of his facial features he's perfect number seven and if you think denzel washington just
rolled out of bed one day and became one of the greatest actors to ever live well you'd be wrong
because he says that his first audition for a broadway play was a complete disaster
of course persistence is key and he eventually would win a tony award for his role in fences
you see kids never give up on your your dreams you see number eight one of the most famous
lines in movie history or at least one of the most famous lines from the movie training day
is when denzel washington screams out king kong ain't got [ __ ] on me and that line right there
was all denzel it wasn't in the script he was improvising mad libbing whose line is it anywaying
and denzel washington says that king kong was one of his earliest movie memories and he felt
many similarities between this character in the film training day and this giant gorilla as they
were both kings of their respected worlds who met their ends on the streets of the city and here i
was just thinking he was saying that because it sounded cool king kong ain't got [ __ ] on me
number nine he and director robert zemeckis his friends call him bob were such huge fans of the
script flight that both of them gave up 90 of their salaries to get this movie made which led
to one of denzel's many oscar nominations number 10 speaking of the oscars the academy awards
denzel has some pretty solid accomplishments under his belt at the oscars he's the most
nominated black actor in history with eight nominations of course when denzel washington
stepped on to the stage to accept his best actor trophy for training day
becoming only the second black man to do so since sydney poitier so denzel took
the opportunity to thank poitier who received an honorary oscar just moments before 40 years i've
been chasing sydney they finally give it to me what they do they give it to him the same night
number 11. his son john david washington is a very successful actor himself
appearing in such films as black klansmen and tenet but before this talented offspring
of denzel washington got into acting he was a very successful college football running back
he would then sign on with the st louis rams in 2006 but his professional football career
never fully took off so he just decided to fall back on this movie star thing
number 12 denzel has turned down many roles during his career but he says the one that he regrets the
most is turning down the brad pitt part in david fincher's seven once he saw brad pitt's amazing
performance in that amazing film denzel knew that he had made a mistake number 13. have you ever
wanted to see denzel washington spit out dialogue scripted by the one and only quentin tarantino
well that's actually already happened just pop in your copy of crimson tide into your
vcr because quentin tarantino did uncredited work on the script and that's why that movie's
kind of good however when quentin tarantino showed up one day on set denzel washington cornered him
in full view of the cast and crew and scolded him for his use of racial slurs in his films
quentin tarantino said that he was embarrassed by the entire interaction however since then
washington has apologized to queen tarantino saying that he probably overreacted and in a full
circle kind of moment denzel washington's eldest daughter katya worked with quentin tarantino on
django unchained as a production assistant number 14 do you enjoy that fast and furious franchise
do you think kurt russell is awesome as mr nobody would you be surprised to learn that that role was
originally offered to denzel washington number 15. as a child denzel washington was part of the boys
and girls club and credits that organization with helping him become the successful man he
turned into he has become a national spokesman for the organization and is routinely involved
in fundraising activities number 16 in hollywood marriages come and go a lot of them are probably
fake but washington and his wife pauletta pearson have been successfully married for over 38 years
which in hollywood that's like forever 17. during the 2016 presidential election a reporter asked
denzel washington about a news story that had been written about denzel washington's
voting activities and in response denzel gave one of the greatest quotes ever if you don't
read the newspaper you're uninformed if you do read it you're misinformed
number 18 denzel is a devout christian and at one point in his life he considered being a preacher
he says that part of him still thinks that's what he's meant to do number 19. we all love wesley
snipes as blade but originally that role was offered to denzel who turned it down number 20.
while on set of philadelphia he did some tomfoolery on tom hanks joking around poking
fun at the actor not being able to eat denzel would even leave hundreds of candy bars in tom
hanks's dressing room such a prankster hilarious number 21 denzel has directed some very well
respected movies such as fences the great debaters and antoine fisher number 22 if you
are a fan of the late great chadwick boseman then you actually owe a debt to mr denzel washington
when chadwick was just a struggling college student he was accepted into a mid-summer program
with the british american drama academy and of course denzel washington made a very
generous donation to help these kids pay for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity after chadwick
had become a prolific actor in his own right he was able to pay tribute to denzel by saying
as fate would have it i was one of the students he paid for imagine receiving the letter that your
tuition for that summer was paid for and that your benefactor was none other than the dopest
actor on the planet later saying that there is no black panther without denzel washington
and there you have it 22 things you didn't know about denzel washington that's right
right right there there those were 22 little known things about one of the greatest actors to ever
live you know we just thought that 25 things would be a little too much and
20 things well it's just not enough so uh 22 so yeah 22.
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