Denzel Washington's net worth

As of January 2025, Denzel Washington’s net worth is $300 million as per Celebrity Net Worth.

Denzel Hayes Washington Jr is an American actor, director, and producer noted for his appearances on stage and screen. The actor first appeared on television in 1977 before making his big film debut in 1981. However, he rose to popularity with his roles in the television series St. Elsewhere and the film A Solider's Story, released in 1982 and 1984 respectively.

His first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor came in 1989 for the movie Glory. He won the Oscar for Best Actor in 2001 with Training Day. Washington also received Academy Award nominations for his parts in Cry Freedom, Malcolm X, The Hurricane, Flight, Fences, Roman J. Israel Esq, and The Tragedy of Macbeth. Outside of film, Washington has had a busy theatrical career, debuting in 1979 and continuing to act in several plays as of 2025, with his most recent, Othello, slated to premiere in early February 2025.

Denzel Washington’s early life and career

Denzel Washington was born in New York on December 28th, 1954 to Lennis "Lynne" (Lowe) and Denzel Hayes Washington Sr. However, his parents got divorced when he was 14 and his mother then sent him to the private preparatory school Oakland Military Academy. Washington now credits that move for changing the course of his life as he believes that he wouldn’t have survived in the direction he was heading before that. He then attended high school in Florida before earning a BA in Drama and Journalism from Fordham University in 1977.

However, a period of indecision followed and Washington took a semester off before returning to Fordham and enrolled to study acting. Shortly after graduating, he made his screen acting debut in the made-for-television film Wilma and his first Hollywood appearance in the 1981 film Carbon Copy. More roles came his way but his breakthrough came in the television drama St. Elsewhere. He also appeared in several other television and stage roles throughout that time before he earned his first Academy Award in 1989.

That came for his role in the film Glory and by the 1990s, Washington had established himself as a leading man across films, television, and the stage, earning lavish reviews. Not only that, but he also established himself as a great actor with starring roles in Malcolm X, The Hurricane, and several other films, earning more Academy Award nominations in the process. However, it wasn’t until 2001 that he won his first Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Training Day.

In the years since, Washington returned to the stage and continued to thrive as a big screen actor, earning an Academy Award nomination for his role in Flight (2012). He was nominated again for another Academy Award alongside a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his role in Fences, four years later. That continued as Washington continued to do well across all formats, with roles in a Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh, on the big screen in Roman J. Israel, Esq, and more.

He received another slew of award nominations for his role as the titular character in the 2021 film adaptation of the William Shakespeare tragedy Macbeth. That included an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. He was also cast in Gladiator II, High and Low, and is even set to return to the stage in Othello, which will start in 2025.

Denzel Washington’s earnings

While Denzel Washington’s exact earnings are unknown as per Celebrity Net Worth, the actor has reportedly earned over $200 million from ten films alone. These are Virtuosity ($7.5 million), Courage Under Fire ($10 million), The Hurricane ($10 million), Fallen ($12 million), The Siege ($12 million), Training Day ($12 million), Out of Time ($20 million), Man on Fire ($20 million), American Gangster ($40 million) and The Little Things ($60 million).

Also read: Denzel Washington movies in order