Actor Denzel Washington Gets Baptized and Receives Minister’s License
Denzel Washington has been a mainstay in Hollywood for more than four decades. The 69-year-old Academy Award-winning actor has accomplished all there is to achieve in the entertainment industry. Despite his career success, the actor believes his best days are still ahead of him. On December 21, 2024, he was baptized and received his minister’s license.
During the livestreamed ceremony at Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ in New York City, Washington declared, “In one week I turn 70. It took a while, but I’m here. If [God] can do this for me, there’s nothing he can’t do for you. The sky literally is the limit.”
While the significant step of faith comes late in the actor’s life, he has long held a belief in God. In a feature story Esquire published in November of last year, he detailed a pivotal experience he had during which he felt he was filled with the Holy Spirit:
“Things I said about God when I was a little boy, just reciting them in church along with everybody else, I know now. God is real. God is love. God is the only way. God is the true way. God blesses. It’s my job to lift God up, to give him praise, to make sure that anyone and everyone I speak to the rest of my life understands that he is responsible for me. When you see me, you see the best I could do with what I’ve been given by my lord and savior.”
He admits it isn’t always easy to be religious in Hollywood, “It’s not fashionable. It’s not sexy.” Yet he claims he isn’t concerned about public perception: “I’m unafraid. I don’t care what anyone thinks . . . I’m free now.” Denzel Washington’s baptism is the latest noteworthy religious declaration within the entertainment industry, following the recent baptisms of iconic tattoo artist Kat Von D, legendary wrestler Hulk Hogan, comedian/actor Russell Brand, and others.
