The supporting role that changed Denzel Washington’s life
There are multiple generations of cinemagoers who only know Denzel Washington‘s career from his time spent as one of the most popular and bankable stars in the business. However, he still had to work his way up to leading man status just like anybody else.
Although he received the first Academy Award nomination of his career for Richard Attenborough’s acclaimed apartheid-era drama Cry Freedom, it wasn’t until he collected his first Oscar that his rapid ascension up the industry ladder truly began. Prior to Edward Zwick’s historical war epic released in 1989, Washington had only appeared in six feature films. Of that sextet, he’d only been the top-billed name in the cast in two of them, and one only landed in cinemas nine months before Glory launched him to new heights.
His first-ever leading role in 1988’s For Queen and Country starred Washington as a British ex-paratrooper who struggles to adjust to civilian life after fighting in the Falklands War, and it crashed and burned at the box office. His sophomore above-the-title outing in The Mighty Quinn was at least well-received by critics but nonetheless failed to catch fire among paying customers.
However, in the period immediately following Glory, Washington was almost exclusively found as the number one name on the call sheet. Of the ten films he starred in that arrived within six years of his genuine mainstream breakthrough, it became abundantly clear that the paradigm had shifted.
During that fruitful period, he headlined Spike Lee’s Mo’ Better Blues, toplined Mira Nair’s acclaimed romance Mississippi Masala, made his action hero debut in the sorely underrated Ricochet, and delivered one of the best performances he’s ever given when reuniting with Lee on Malcolm X. In addition, the actor also diversified into Shakespeare with Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing, lent his name to another critical darling with Philadelphia, scored the biggest commercial hit of his career to date in The Pelican Brief, and went toe-to-toe with Gene Hackman in Crimson Tide.
There are plenty of rising stars who have won Oscars but have never been able to fully capitalise on that momentum, a fate that clearly did not befall Washington. With one of the most prestigious accolades in the business in his back pocket, a whole new wave of doors was immediately opened up.
That’s not to say he wouldn’t have made it to the summit of the A-list had it not happened because he’s simply too good not to be a superstar, but there’s a clear distinction in the pre and post-Glory years of how rapidly Washington’s profile began to rise. Before then, he was earmarked as a talent well worth keeping an eye on, but afterwards, every major studio and notable filmmaker was falling over themselves for the opportunity to work with him.
