Editing Denzel Washington (section)

==Early life and education==
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. was born in [[Mount Vernon, New York]], on December 28, 1954. His mother, Lennis "Lynne" (Lowe), was a beauty parlor owner and operator born in [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] and partly raised in [[Harlem|Harlem, New York]].<ref name="bookref1">{{cite book|last=Nickson|first=Chris|author-link=Chris Nickson|title=Denzel Washington|publisher=St. Martin's Paperbacks|year=1996|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780312960438/page/9 9–11]|isbn=0-312-96043-3|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780312960438/page/9}}</ref><ref name=gniaid>{{Cite book|last=Ingram|first=E. Renée|title=Buckingham County|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|year=2005|page=55|isbn=0-7385-1842-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://familyhistoryinsider.com/denzel-washingtons-ancestor-registered-to-vote-in-georgia-in-1867/|title=familyhistoryinsider.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last1=Kranz | first1=R. | last2=Lisa | first2=Y. | title=Biographical Dictionary of African Americans, Revised Edition | publisher=Infobase Publishing | year=2021 | isbn=978-1-4381-9877-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dNyPEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA412 | access-date=December 10, 2024 | page=412}}</ref> His father, Denzel Hayes Washington Sr., a native of [[Buckingham County, Virginia]], was an ordained [[Pentecostalism|Pentecostal]] minister who was also an employee of the [[New York City water supply system#Responsible agencies|New York City Water Department]], and worked at a local [[S. Klein]] department store.

Washington attended [[Pennington-Grimes Elementary School]] in Mount Vernon until 1968. When he was 14, his parents divorced and his mother sent him to the private preparatory school [[Oakland Military Academy]] in [[New Windsor, New York]]. Washington later said, "That decision changed my life, because I wouldn't have survived in the direction I was going. The guys I was hanging out with at the time, my running buddies, have now done maybe 40 years combined in the penitentiary. They were nice guys, but the streets got them."<ref>{{cite news |last=Rader |first=Dodson |date=December 12, 1999 |title=I Try To Send A Good Message |url=http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/1999/edition_12-12-1999/Denzel_Washington |url-status=dead |newspaper=Parade Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060411214059/http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/1999/edition_12-12-1999/Denzel_Washington |archive-date=April 11, 2006 |access-date= March 12, 2014}}</ref> After Oakland, he attended [[Mainland High School]] in [[Daytona Beach, Florida]], from 1970 to 1971.<ref name="bookref1"/>

He was interested in attending [[Texas Tech University]]: "I grew up in the [[Boys & Girls Clubs of America|Boys Club]] in Mount Vernon, and we were the Red Raiders. So when I was in high school, I wanted to go to Texas Tech in [[Lubbock, Texas|Lubbock]] just because they were called the [[Texas Tech Red Raiders|Red Raiders]] and their uniforms looked like ours."<ref name="College">{{cite news|url=http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/123007/col_-230127235.shtml|title=Leach OK with star power|newspaper=[[Florida Times-Union]]|access-date=December 31, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120303171552/http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/123007/col_-230127235.shtml|archive-date=March 3, 2012}}</ref> Instead, he earned a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in Drama and Journalism from [[Fordham University]] in 1977.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fordham.edu/campus_resources/enewsroom/archives/archive_545.asp |title=Denzel Washington Returns to Acting Roots |publisher=Fordham.edu |date=October 28, 2003 |access-date=August 14, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628183701/http://www.fordham.edu/campus_resources/enewsroom/archives/archive_545.asp |archive-date=June 28, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> At Fordham, he played [[college basketball|collegiate basketball]] as a [[guard (basketball)|guard]]<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/sports/spurs-coach-sticks-neck-carlesimo-article-1.664620 |first=Frank|last=Isola|title=Spurs Coach Sticks Neck Out for Carlesimo|newspaper=[[The New York Daily News]]|date=June 5, 2003}}</ref> under coach [[P. J. Carlesimo]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/22/sports/pro-basketball-notebook-chicago-s-jordan-jackson-pippen-triangle.html |title=Pro Basketball" Notebook; Chicago's Jordan-Jackson-Pippen Triangle, page 2 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=March 22, 1998 |access-date=August 14, 2011 |first=Mike |last=Wise}}</ref> After a period of indecision on which major to study and taking a semester off, Washington worked as creative arts director of the overnight summer camp at Camp Sloane YMCA in [[Lakeville, Connecticut]]. He participated in a staff talent show for the campers and a colleague suggested he try acting.<ref>{{cite book|first=Daniel|last=Paisner|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ILdSeSY8FSQC&pg=PA17|title=A Hand to Guide Me|publisher=[[Meredith Corporation|Meredith Books]]|location=Des Moines, Iowa|date=2006|page=17|isbn=978-0-696-23049-3}}</ref>

Returning to Fordham that fall with a renewed purpose, Washington enrolled at the Lincoln Center campus to study acting, where he was cast in the title roles in [[Eugene O'Neill]]'s ''[[The Emperor Jones]]'' and [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Othello]]''. He then attended graduate school at the [[American Conservatory Theater]] in San Francisco, California, where he stayed for one year before returning to New York to begin a professional acting career.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmovie.com/artist/denzel-washington-p74843|title=Denzel Washington Biography|website=[[AllMovie.com]]|accessdate=February 13, 2008}}</ref>