With his critically acclaimed performance in Flight, it's been a banner year for Denzel Washington. And what better way to close it out than by celebrating his birthday?
The two-time Academy Award winner turns 58 today, and by all accounts, he's still got game on the big screen and off.
Not only is Washington at the pinnacle of a glorious acting career that scored him another Golden Globe nomination (his seventh overall) for his latest part as alcoholic pilot hero Whip Whitaker and in a few weeks is expected to snag his sixth Oscar nomination (he won Best Supporting Actor for 1989's Glory and Best Actor for 2001's Training Day)...
But he's also now reportedly eyeing a return to the boards.
Per the New York Post, the actor is in talks to play big-dreaming limousine driver Walter Lee Younger in a Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, his first role on the Great White Way since he starred in August Wilson's Fences a few years ago.
And then next month President Barack Obama is sworn into office for a second term, which will no doubt make Washington a happy camper having attended the president's historic inauguration four years ago.
All of this is just icing on the cake for this screen legend. So in honor of Denzel's big day, we're looking back at some of his greatest films in our Denzel Washington: Movie Star gallery.