Denzel vs. Shakespeare: How a Tongue Injury Almost Silenced a Legend
OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Denzel Washington’s career is packed with achievements, from two Academy Awards to countless critically acclaimed performances. Yet, the 70-year-old actor resists the label of “Hollywood actor,” emphasizing instead his roots in Mount Vernon, New York, and his identity as a stage performer who happens to do films.
Speaking on CBS Sunday Morning, Washington said, “What’s the definition of a Hollywood actor? Myself, I’m from Mount Vernon, so I’m a ‘Mount Vernon actor.’ I don’t know what ‘Hollywood’ means.” He added, “I’m a stage actor who does film. It’s not the other way around.”
Washington first honed his craft on the stage, not in front of a camera. “I learned how to act on stage, not on film,” he explained. “Movies are a filmmaker’s medium. You shoot it, and then you’re gone and they cut together and add music and do all of that. Theater is an actor’s medium. The curtain goes up, nobody can help you.”
Now, Washington is returning to his theatrical roots, taking on one of Shakespeare’s most complex characters in a new revival of Othello. This contemporary version sets the tragedy in a modern military context, with Washington in the title role and Jake Gyllenhaal as the scheming Iago.
“People think it’s about jealousy and betrayal,” Washington said of Othello. “But it’s about two soldiers who trust each other with their lives.”
Washington has performed in numerous Shakespearean roles over the years, including Richard III, Julius Caesar, Much Ado About Nothing, and Macbeth. But playing Othello in this stage production represents a culmination of his career-long journey. Reflecting on his early attempts at the part, he admitted, “I didn’t really like the part ’cause I wasn’t wise enough to understand it. Now I understand it’s really about a bond that these characters have. He loves not wisely, but too well.”
The new production also offers Washington a chance to follow in the footsteps of his hero, James Earl Jones, who last played Othello on stage in 1982. “James Earl Jones was my northern star when I was in college,” Washington said. “He was who I wanted to be.”
For Washington, preparing for this role has been a decades-long endeavor. “I worked my whole career for this moment,” he said. “This is a 48-year journey for me. It’s fascinating to have been too young for the part, and some may say now too old. But 48 years of experience, so 48 years of pain and pleasure and life, has informed my approach to playing the role.”
The journey hasn’t been without challenges. Washington revealed that a recent tongue injury made certain lines in the play difficult to deliver. “I bit my tongue almost half-off a few months ago,” he said. “It’s hard because my tongue is swollen. It has affected everything.” Still, the veteran actor is forging ahead, using the injury as an opportunity to refine his performance.
As he steps onto the stage in Othello, Washington embodies not just a Shakespearean icon, but the culmination of a lifetime dedicated to his craft. For an actor who describes himself as “Mount Vernon’s own,” the role marks both a return to his roots and the realization of a nearly 50-year dream.
