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Compare and Contrast of Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman

Although they come from different parts of the United States, Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington they have both picked up similar careers. Ever since the beginning of their careers, they have excelled in their movie productions.

Morgan Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee. His mother’s name was Mayme Edna, who was a teacher and his father’s name was Morgan Porterfield Freeman, who was a barber who died in 1961 from cirrhosis. He has three older siblings. Freeman was sent as an infant to his paternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi. His family moved frequently during his childhood, living in Greenwood, Mississippi; Gary, Indiana; and finally Chicago, Illinois Freeman made his acting debut at age 9, playing the lead role in a school play. He then attended Broad Street High School, currently Threadgill Elementary School, in Mississippi. At age 12, he won a statewide drama competition, and while still at Broad Street High School, he performed in a radio show based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1955, he graduated from Broad Street, but turned down a partial drama scholarship from Jackson State University, opting instead to work as a mechanic in the United States Air Force.

Denzel Washington was born in Mount Vernon, near New York City, on December 28, 1954. His mother, Lennis "Lynne", was a beauty parlor-owner and operator born in Georgia and partly raised in Harlem. His father, Reverend Denzel H. Washington, Sr., a native of Buckingham County, Virginia, served as an ordained Pentecostal minister, and also worked for the Water Department and a local department store, S. Klein.Washington attended grammar school at Pennington-Grimes Elementary School in Mount Vernon until 1968. When he was 14, his parents' marriage fell apart and his mother sent him to a private preparatory school, Oakland Military Academy, in New Windsor, New York State. "That decision changed my life," Washington later said, "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." After Oakland, Washington next attended Mainland High School, a public high school in Daytona Beach, Florida, from 1970–71. Washington was interested in attending Texas Tech University: Washington grew up in the Boys Club in Mount Vernon, and we were the Red Raiders. So when he was in high school, Denzel Washington wanted to go to Texas Tech in Lubbock just because they were called the Red Raiders and their uniforms looked like theirs. Washington earned a B.A. in Drama and Journalism from Fordham University in 1977. At Fordham he played collegiate basketball as a freshman guard under Coach P. J. Carlesimo. After a period of indecision on which major to study and dropping out of school for a semester, Washington worked as a counselor at an overnight summer camp, Camp Sloane YMCA in Lakeville, Connecticut. He participated in a staff talent show for the campers and a colleague suggested he try acting.

Freeman and Washington’s appearances are very similar. They are both tall African American males with a deep but soft spoken voice.  Their hair however, differs. Morgan freeman has black hair but with a bit of gray while Denzel Washington has curled black hair. From the TV however you can never tell how their skin is besides the fact that it is a lighter shade of African American. Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington have a very similar physical appearance.

These actors are very similar in their acting styles. They both like to take part in movies that have a moral towards the end, and they also like to take apart of movies that are based on true stories. The movies that Washington has taken apart of that have a historical significance are “Remember the Titians”, Malcolm X, the recent hit,” Unstoppable” and many others, while Freeman has been a part of the newest block buster, “Invictous”. These movies have changed the voices of our generation.

The two American actors have also made drama movies a favorable choice. Most of the true story movies have been dramas but these two actors have done many fictional dramas that have been top of the charts. Many of these films consist of the well known, batman begins, wanted, the million dollar baby, the shawshank redemption, and the newest of its saga, the dark night are the major fictional drama movies acted in by Mr. Freeman. Some fictional stories that Washington has acted in are Déjà Vu, American Gangster, and the newest award winning movie, The Book of Eli. Also unlike Washington, Morgan Freeman has taken an interest in narrating many documentaries. The most famous documentary that he has been a part of is the March of the Penguins. Another acting job that has separated Freeman from Washington is the ability for Freeman to do comedy movies.