Black actors who won Oscars but had horrible roles

By Terry Shropshire
Feb 20, 2013
7:57 am

Denzel Washington — Two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster called him the best actor she’s ever worked with. Two-time Academy Award winner Tom Hanks said playing alongside Denzel was like going to “film school.” Academy Award winner Julia Roberts said she could not envision a wold where she has a Best Actress Oscar and he didn’t get the male equivalent.

All this praise from elite actors but Denzel received his for his portrayal of the brutal, ruthless, thieving and lying detective Alonzo Harris in Training Day — lost in 1992 despite his powerfully and eerily realistic transformation into Malcolm X, and in 1987 despite his just-as-powerful transformation into Steve Biko in Cry Freedom. And some believe his riveting performance in Hurricane was his best work ever.