Denzel Washington married actress Pauletta Pearson in 1983; they have four children. Their oldest son, John David, was drafted in 2006 by the NFL's St. Louis Rams. Their other children are daughter Katia, who attends Yale University and twins Olivia and Malcolm.

Washington was last seen onstage in the summer of 1990 in the title role of the Public Theater's production of Shakespeare's Richard III) and in 2005 after a 15-year hiatus he appeared onstage again in another Shakespeare play as Marcus Brutus in Julius Caesar on Broadway. The production's limited run was a consistent sell-out averaging over 100% attendance capacity nightly despite receiving mixed reviews.

In February 2009 Washington began filming The Book of Eli a post-Apocalyptic drama set in the near future which was released in January 2010. He is also set to star as a veteran railroad engineer in the action film Unstoppable which is about an unmanned, half-mile-long runaway freight train carrying a dangerous cargo. The film is to be directed by Tony Scott and it will be the fifth collaboration between the two with previous films Crimson Tide (1995), Man on Fire (2004), Déjà Vu (2006) and The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009).

On May 4, 2010, Washington was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for his role in the play Fences.

Personal life

In 1983 Washington married actress Pauletta Pearson who he met on the set of his first screen work the TV-movie Wilma. The couple have four children John David (b. July 28, 1984) who signed a football contract with the St. Louis Rams in May 2006 after playing college football at Morehouse, Katia (b. November 1987) who is attending Yale University and twins Olivia and Malcolm (named in honor of Malcolm X) (b. April 10, 1991). Malcolm is attending University of Pennsylvania where he plays for the basketball team. In 1995 the couple renewed their wedding vows in South Africa with Archbishop Desmond Tutu officiating.

Washington is a devout Christian. In 1995 he donated 2.5 million dollars to help build the new West Angeles COGIC facility in Los Angeles at the city's West Angeles Church of God in Christ.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia named Washington as one of three people (the others being directors Oliver Stone and Michael Moore) with whom they were willing to negotiate for the release of three defense contractors that the group had held captive from 2003 to 2008.

On May 18, 1991 Washington was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Fordham University, for having "impressively succeeded in exploring the edge of his multifaceted talent". He also was awarded an honorary doctorate of humanities from Morehouse College on May 20, 2007.

In 2008 Washington visited Israel with a delegation of African American artists in honor of the Jewish State's 60th birthday.