Yet he sees himself not as a standard-bearer but simply as an actor trying to make smart choices and do good work. And I don't consider myself a role model. Washington doesn't consider himself a sex symbol either, though on that point many moviegoers would disagree. I don't know. I can say that a love story within a film has never been a reason for my doing or not doing a film.
Respect is something Washington has always commanded.
He grew up in Mount Vernon, New York, the son of a beautician mother and a minister father. Washington went to New York's Fordham University, where he was known as both a brilliant actor and a mercurial student. After graduation, Washington studied with the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and later appeared in numerous New York stage productions, including the acclaimed 1981 Negro Ensemble Theater production of A Soldier's Play. When difficult questions are posed, he grows monosyllabic, evasive. But I won't talk about it because I didn't talk about it to him in order for other people to hear about it.