Washington also garnered critical praise playing South African activist Steven Biko in CRY FREEDOM (1987), earned a best supporting actor Oscar® for GLORY (1989) and turned in yet another powerful performance as trumpeter Bleek Gilliam in Spike Lee's MO' BETTER BLUES (1990). By then fully established as a film star, Washington lent some box-office weight to Mira Nair's engaging art-house romance MISSISSIPPI MASALA (1992) and Lee's epic biography MALCOLM X (1992), for which he received an Oscar nomination.
Other notable film credits include THE MIGHTY QUINN (1989), RICOCHET (1991), MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, THE PELICAN BRIEF and PHILADELPHIA (all 1993), CRIMSON TIDE, VIRTUOSITY and DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS (all 1995), COURAGE UNDER FIRE and THE PREACHER'S WIFE (both 1996), FALLEN, HE GOT GAME and THE SIEGE (all 1998), THE BONE COLLECTOR and THE HURRICANE (both 1999), BAMBOOZLED and REMEMBER THE TITANS (both 2000), TRAINING DAY (2001), JOHN Q and ANTWONE FISHER (also producer & director) (both 2002), OUT OF TIME (2003), MAN ON FIRE and THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (both 2004), INSIDE MAN and DEJA VU (both 2006), AMERICAN GANGSTER and THE GREAT DEBATERS (also producer) (both 2007), and THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123 (scheduled for release in 2009). He was executive producer of HANK AARON: CHASING THE DREAM (1995) and producer of "Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks" (2000, TV).
Washington has been married to actress Pauletta Pearson since 1983; they have 4 children.
Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 1987: CRY FREEDOM
Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role 1989: GLORY
Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role 1992: MALCOLM X
Nominated for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role 1999: THE HURRICANE
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role 2001: TRAINING DAY
5 nominations, 2 Awards