Denzel Washington and his family are in the spotlight following the initial release of the new movie “The Piano Lesson,” a film that’s a family affair for the two-time Academy Award winner.
The elder Washington produced the movie while his son Malcolm Washington directed and co-wrote the musical drama and his daughter Katia Washington served as executive producer. John David Washington, the eldest Washington son, stars in the film based on August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, as Boy Willie, while his mother Pauletta Washington appears as Mama Ola and his sister Olivia Washington plays a young Mama Ola.
Get to know the Washington family below.
Denzel and Pauletta Washington, both actors, first met in the 1970s and starred in the 1975 dramatic sports movie “Wilma.” The couple went on to marry in June 1983 and welcomed four children together.
Both Denzel and Pauletta Washington say their love has shaped their bond together.
“We work at it. It's work,” Pauletta Washington told People magazine. “There are a lot of prayers for strength for staying in a forgiveness mode and both parts, mine and his … but it's the basic love that we have for each other.”
When Denzel Washington accepted the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2019, he thanked his wife of four decades and called her “the most important person” in his life.
“Forty years of sacrifice, forty years of forgiveness. She taught me about faith, spirituality, love, real love, unwavering love, in spite of myself,” he said. “I would not be alive without Pauletta Washington. I wouldn’t be alive.”
The first of the Washington children, John David Washington was born on July 28, 1984.
John David Washington was a college and then professional football player before he followed in his famous parents’ footsteps into acting. He received his big break as Ron Stallworth in 2018’s “BlacKkKlansman,” for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Katia Washington is the eldest daughter and second child of Denzel and Pauletta Washington.
Katia Washington has focused her career behind the camera as a producer. In addition to “The Piano Lesson,” she was a co-executive producer of 2021’s romantic drama “Malcolm & Marie,” which also starred her older brother John David Washington as the titular Malcolm, opposite Zendaya’s Marie.
On April 10, 1991, Denzel and Pauletta Washington welcomed twins – daughter Olivia and son Malcolm.
Like her parents and siblings, Olivia Washington is also an actor and was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for her role as Flora in the 2023 drama “I’m a Virgo.”
She has also starred opposite her father in 2021’s crime thriller “The Little Things” and the film “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” which was also released in 2021.
Malcolm Washington is the twin brother of Olivia Washington and was also born on April 10, 1991.
He started his career as a production assistant, producer, writer and can now add director to his resume.
Malcolm Washington told the “Los Angeles Times” that adapting famed playwright August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” was an “exciting” challenge.
“People don’t always know that August Wilson plays with genre and he has all these different elements to his work. I think a lot of people think of him as straight drama and I think getting to show audiences that other side of his work and build on it and use it as a foundation and interpret and adapt the work for a new medium was just really, really exciting,” he said.