Denzel Washington's route to film stardom was an unusual one - taking in a degree in journalism.
The star of the new action thriller Unstoppable was born in Mount Vernon, near New York, in 1954.
His father was a Pentecostal minister; his mother, a beautician and gospel singer. While Denzel is, to this day, a profoundly Christian - and profoundly attractive - man, voted among the sexiest stars in history on more than one occasion, the familial similarities seemingly stop there.
Certainly acting was not Washington's first career choice. As a child he considered becoming a doctor, but changed his mind in preference for a career in journalism. He read for a Journalism BA at Fordham University, but having performed in a number of student productions, he soon became convinced that acting was the path to pursue.
With this in mind he moved post haste to San Francisco, where he enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater. Feeling increasingly unsettled, he left the academy after just a year, itching to find work on screen.
By the age of 27 he had already landed his first major film role in Carbon Copy, playing a black teenage boy who longs to be adopted into a white family.
Thence followed, in 1982, his role as Dr. Chandler in the NBC medical TV drama St. Elsewhere. Washington continued this role for an impressive six years, before embarking upon further film work. It was for one of these early performances, his part as a runaway slave in Edward Zwick's film Glory (1989), that Washington won his first Oscar, aged just 35.
In 1992 Washington played Malcolm X in the eponymous biopic of the Black Power proponent, a role which Washington counts among his favourite to date. Washington indeed named one of his four children Malcolm in his honour.
The Black Power movement had established itself as an alternative to Martin Luther King's 'peaceful protest'-led movement, determined to secure improved rights for black citizens in twentieth-century America. Washington was yet once to say, "I'm very proud to be black, but black is not all I am.
That's my cultural historical background, my genetic makeup, but it's not all of who I am, nor is it the basis from which I answer every question."
His role as Malcolm X was followed by a run of big budget blockbusters, including The Pelican Brief (1993), Philadelphia (1993), and Courage Under Fire (1996).
The mid-nineties also marked Washington's first collaboration with director Tony Scott, Crimson Tide (1995). This was to be the first of five such collaborations to date, Man on Fire, Deja Vu, The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and Unstoppable being the subsequent titles.
In 2001 Washington won his second Oscar for his role as Detective Alonzo Harris in the high-occtane cop-film Training Day.
In addition to his performances in a score of blockbuster action thrillers, Washington has proved his versatility with roles across a broad range of films, including Walt Disney's Remember the Titans (2000) and Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing, in which he played Don Pedro, the Prince of Aragon.
He made his debut as a director in 2002 with the film Antwone Fisher, which follows a navy officer's journey to mental recovery.
Denzel Washington lives in an LA mansion once owned by William Holden with his wife Pauletta, whom he met on the set of the 1977 TV movie Wilma, in which they both starred, and their children John David, Kaita, and twins Malcolm and Olivia.
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