Born in 1954 to a minister and school teacher, Denzel Washington’s authenticity and great acting ability has made him popular with moviegoers of all ages. His dedication to his craft, strong work ethic and zeal for higher levels of achievement have garnered the two-time Academy Award winning actor unparalleled success as an actor and director.
From Trip, an embittered runaway slave in Glory, to South African freedom fighter Steven Biko in Cry Freedom; from Shakespeare’s tragic historical figure in Richard III, to the womanizing trumpet player, Bleek Gilliam, in Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues, the American Gangster star makes each character distinctly his own.
The American Gangster actor has entertained audiences with highly intense, emotionally-gripping performances in films like director Tony Scott’s Man on Fire, in which he starred as an ex-Marine hired to protect a young girl (Dakota Fanning) from kidnapping threats; and director Jonathan Demme’s modern remake of the 1962 classic The Manchurian Candidate, taking on the role Frank Sinatra made famous and starring alongside Meryl Streep and Liev Schreiber.
Washington’s most critically acclaimed performance to date is his Academy Award®-winning turn in Training Day, directed by Antoine Fuqua. The film was only one of two in 2001 that spent two weeks in the number one box office spot.
The American Gangster star’s other film credits include Carl Franklin’s murder mystery, Out of Time which co-starred Eva Mendes and Sanaa Lathan; Phillip Noyce’s The Bone Collector, co-starring Angelina Jolie; Gregory Hoblit’s Fallen; Spike Lee’s He Got Game; Edward Zwick’s in The Siege and Courage Under Fire; and the romantic thriller Devil in a Blue Dress.
Washington made his directorial debut in 2002 with the film Antwoine Fischer. In 2002, he also starred as a father desperate to save his son’s life in John Q, which established an opening day record for Presidents’ Day weekend, grossing $24.1 million, and provided the highest weekend gross in Washington’s career.
Russell Crowe (Richie Roberts) is an Academy Award winning actor. Masterful performances the films The Insider (2000), Gladiator (2001) and A Beautiful Mind (2002), earned the American Gangster star three consecutive Academy Award® Best Actor nominations. He claimed Best Actor for his performance as Maximus in Ridley Scott's blockbuster Gladiator. This role also earned him Best Actor honors from the Broadcast Film Critics. In addition, he received nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA.
In Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind, the American Gangster co-star’s masterful portrayal of Nobel Prize-winning John Forbes Nash, Jr. garnered him a Golden Globe Best Actor award, a Best Actor win from the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the Screen Actors Guild and BAFTA.
The American Gangster actor also earned Best Actor awards for his performance in Michael Mann’s The Insider from the Los Angeles Film Critics, Broadcast Film Critics, National Society of Film Critics and the National Board of Review and nominations for a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Crowe made his American film debut in 1995’s The Quick and the Dead, with Gene Hackman and Sharon Stone, and then starred as the villain Sid 6.7 in Virtuosity, opposite his American Gangster co-star Denzel Washington. Additional film credits include Heaven's Burning, Breaking Up, Rough Magic, The Sum of Us, For the Moment, Love in Limbo, The Silver Brumby, The Efficiency Expert and Prisoners of the Sun.
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