(ThyBlackMan.com) For about two decades now, Denzel Washington has been one of the most charismatic and popular A-list superstars in movies. He’s been that rare movie star unblemished by scandal and broadly respected by filmmakers and audiences. For the most part, he has played a prototypical hero but lately, like in his new film Safe House for instance, he’s taken on edgier, darker — even villainous roles, and as a fan, I think it’s a great thing.
We’ve become so accustomed to Denzel as a movie star that audiences sometimes take for granted just how incredible and groundbreaking his career has been. After a series of strong supporting turns in the 1980s, which eventually led to leading-man parts in the 1990s, Washington became the first bankable, black dramatic actor since Sidney Poitier. His success helped usher in a new generation of black male movies stars. Men like Morgan Freeman, Wesley Snipes, Will Smith and Samuel L. Jackson all owe a debt to Denzel.
Last year marked the 30th anniversary of Washington’s film career, and it hardly got off to an auspicious start. His first film was a forgettable (and 
arguably racially insensitive) “comedy” called Carbon Copy about a wealthy white man who discovers he has an illegitimate black son. After becoming a heartthrob on the critically acclaimed NBC medical drama St. Elsewhere, Washington shined in Oscar-nominated supporting roles in historical dramas like Cry Freedom and Glory.
Although those films failed to reach a wide audience and were criticized for telling black stories through white characters, they did help cement the Denzel Washington persona we all know and love.
Washington was a symbol of nobility and strength very much in the same mold as Sidney Poitier, with whom he is most often compared. The only striking difference between the two (at this stage of their careers) is that Poitier was never overtly a sex symbol, where Denzel unapologetically is. He is the first and only black man to be named People’s “Sexiest Man Alive.” Still, he was never allowed to give a full-fledged star-making turn, that is until Spike Lee’s 1992 biopic Malcolm X.
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