My faith helps me understand that circumstances don't dictate my happiness, my inner peace.
— Denzel Washington
I read the Bible every day.
I work hard for the audience. It's entertainment. I don't need validation.
It's simple: You get a part. You play a part. You play it well. You do your work and you go home. And what is wonderful about movies is that once they're done, they belong to the people. Once you make it, it's what they see. That's where my head is at.
I say luck is when an opportunity comes along and you're prepared for it.
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 and haven't been unemployed for 20 years. I'm an exception to the rule.
I never really had the classic struggle. I had faith.
I wasn't allowed to go to movies when I was kid; my father was a minister. 101 Dalmatians and King of Kings, that was the extent of it.
I've been fortunate. I don't pick scripts. Scripts pick me.
If I am a cup maker, I'm interested in making the best cup I possibly can. My effort goes into that cup, not what people think about it.
In any profession it gets to be a grind.
My mother used to tell me man gives the award, God gives the reward. I don't need another plaque.
The last few years I've been saying I was ready to quit. It wasn't that interesting to me. Now that I'm directing, it's all new again.
When I did A Soldier's Story, I was very young and green and thought I knew everything-now I know I know everything!
Where I think the most work needs to be done is behind the camera, not in front of it.
You pray for rain, you gotta deal with the mud too. That's a part of it.
My ultimate life dream project is my kids. My family.
I like talking. I like acting.
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 older, still playing opposite young ladies, but it doesn't work the other way around.
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.
Any good piece of material like Shakespeare ought to be open to reinterpretation.
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 annihilating people. Maybe that's their gift.
I don't concern myself with award. I'd been to the party enough times to know it really didn't matter.
I played Othello, but I didn't sit around thinking how Laurence Olivier did it when he played it. That wouldn't do me any good.
I'm not a film buff. I don't watch a lot of movies.
I've worked in a factory. I was a garbage man. I worked in a post office. It's not that long ago. I like to think that I'm just a regular guy.
If you don't trust the pilot, don't go.
In Los Angeles, everyone is a star.
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!
The poorest people are the sweetest people.
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 it was probably my Guardian Angel.
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.
Acting is just a way of making a living, the family is life.
I think a role model is a mentor - someone you see on a daily basis, and you learn from them.
I still have my unemployment books and I remember when I worked for the sanitation department and the post office.
Man gives you the award but God gives you the reward.
My mother never gave up one me. I messed up in school so much they were sending me home, but my mother sent me right back.
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.
Growing up I didn't watch movies.
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 Agency before I graduated.
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'm not in the loop; I don't know any actors, really, just the ones I work with.
I've worked with children all my life.
If you have an enemy, then learn and know your enemy, don't just be mad at him or her.
Meryl and Katharine Hepburn are probably the two greatest actresses of this and the last century.
One good thing about acting in film is that it's good therapy.
The time to worrying about flying is when you're on the ground. When you're up in the air, it's too late. No point in worrying about it then.
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.
You have to grab moments when they happen. I like to improvise and ad lib.
