It’s tough being a Christian in Hollywood, according to actor Denzel Washington. Media Take Out learned that the actor is speaking out about the discrimination that Christian actors face.
In Washington’s first-person essay for Esquire, published last week the actor, 69, reflected on an impactful first visit he took to the Pentecostal West Angeles church in Los Angeles at the suggestion of actor and director Robert Townsend in the 1980s. “The biggest moment of my life was when I was filled with the Holy Spirit,” he wrote of the experience.
The actor, who added that his faith is stronger today than when he was a child, opined that being outspoken about your religion is somewhat discouraged amongst his peers in the industry.
“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,” Washington wrote in his essay. “When you see me, you see the best I could do with what I’ve been given by my lord and savior. I’m unafraid. I don’t care what anyone thinks. See, talking about the fear part of it — you can’t talk like that and win Oscars. You can’t talk like that and party. You can’t say that in this town.”
“I’m free now. It’s not talked about in this town. It’s not talked about. It’s not talked about. It’s not fashionable. It’s not sexy. But that doesn’t mean people in Hollywood don’t believe,” he added.
Washington, who has been promoting his new movie Gladiator II in recent weeks, expressed in the essay that he does not “have a lot of actor friends” beyond longtime friends of his family like Samuel L. Jackson and added that the idea of Hollywood as an institution is not entirely accurate in his experience.
“There’s no such thing called Hollywood anyway. What does that even mean? That to me means a street called Hollywood Boulevard,” he wrote. “It’s not like we all meet somewhere and discuss what we believe. So I don’t know how many other actors have faith. I didn’t do no poll. How would I find that out? I mean, there’s no Church Actor Meetings I’ve been to.”
