Denzel Washington

“What it taught me was forgiveness. It taught me that when people present themselves in a certain way, there's probably some back story or issue or reason for the way that they are. It's not...”

“I'd be more frightened by not using whatever abilities I'd been given. I'd be more frightened by procrastination and laziness.”

“Meryl and Katharine Hepburn are probably the two greatest actresses of this and the last century.”

“You have to grab moments when they happen. I like to improvise and ad lib.”

“I think the bottom of the totem pole is African-American women, or women of colour. I think they get the least opportunities in Hollywood.”

“I had a lot of success from the start. I never really was tested for long periods of time. I got my first professional job while I was a senior in college. I signed with the William Morris A...”

“When I was a child I thought I saw an angel. It had wings and kinda looked like my sister. I opened the door so some light could come into the room, and it sort of faded away. My mother said...”

“In Los Angeles, everyone is a star.”

“My mother used to tell me man gives the award, God gives the reward. I don't need another plaque.”

“I don't concern myself with award. I'd been to the party enough times to know it really didn't matter.”

“Man gives you the award but God gives you the reward.”

“My role 14 years ago in Richard III - that was the first time I played a bad guy and learned a lot about it - they have all the fun!”

“When people protest and are upset with a movie, it becomes a big hit. They hated Passion of The Christ, it worked out pretty well for the box office. So let's get that going.”

“Black or white good parts are hard to come by. A good actor with a good opportunity has a shot; without the opportunity it doesn't matter how good you are.”

“Everybody has a job to do. There are people in Iraq on both sides of this war who do what they do for religious reasons, and they feel with God on their side. Some people are good at annihil...”

“I'm not a film buff. I don't watch a lot of movies.”

“You don't know when you're being watched. That's one of the weird things about celebrity. It's my least favorite part of acting, celebrity.”

“Dakota Fanning is a child, but she is a wonderful actor. I don't know what a child actor is. She's an actor who's a child.”

“I never really had the classic struggle. I had faith.”

“Michelle Pfeiffer hasn't been finding a lot of work recently because she doesn't like what a woman her age is offered. That's a real double standard. You get Sean Connery, who gets older and...”