There are several ways to gauge the impact an actor has had on modern society. One could consider the number of awards they've won, for example. Perhaps you could count the number of column inches dedicated to them in the Hollywood tabloids. Hundreds of actors can claim to have really affected the world around them, but very few actually have.
衡量一个演员在现代社会的影响力有很多种方法。例如，可以看他们赢得的奖项，或者是在好莱坞小报上所占有的专栏数量。很多演员都宣称自己对这个世界举足轻重，实际上真正做到的寥寥无几。

In 2006, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a rebel organisation holding hostages including three US defence contractors, issued a statement saying they would consider a prisoner exchange, but they would only negotiate with three people: Directors Oliver Stone and Michael Moore, and Hollywood legend Denzel Washington.
2006年，哥伦比亚革命武装力量（FARC），一个反政府组织挟持了多名人质，其中包括三名美国军事承包商，他们发表公开声明表示愿意交换人质，但只和三个人谈判：导演奥利佛•斯通、迈克尔•摩尔以及好莱坞传奇演员丹泽尔•华盛顿。

There have been very few actors over the past two decades who can claim to be as influential and respected as Washington. Sure, he's won a humungous amount of awards for his work (two Academy Awards, three nominations and at least fifty other awards), makes millions of dollars (in 2007, his average wage was $20 million per picture), and is incredibly attractive to the opposite sex (People magazine voted him the sexiest man alive in 1996), but there's a quality he possesses that is more important than any of these: integrity.
在过去二十年里很少有演员像华盛顿这样具有影响力，受到广泛的尊敬。的确，他因杰出的影视作品获奖无数（两次奥斯卡、三次提名以及其它五十多次奖项），收入丰厚（2007年，他的平均片酬是2千万美元），并吸引了成千上万的女性（1996年入选《人物》杂志最性感先生），但是他最重要的品质是：正直。

A devout Christian, Washington is well-known for not partaking in any of the usual shenanigans that Hollywood stars are partial to. He's been happily married to his wife, Pauletta, since 1983 and has four children, the eldest of which is a professional American footballer. He is protective of his image- in a country that seemingly prizes celebrity above all else, Washington is an example of a popular figure whose public and private lives are kept distinctly separate.
作为一个诚挚的基督徒，华盛顿以从不参加好莱坞明星所热衷的一切消遣娱乐而闻名。1983年他和妻子幸福地步入了婚礼殿堂，并有了4个孩子，大儿子是专业美式橄榄球员。华盛顿一直维护着自己的形象——他是公私分明的良好公众形象的典范，在一个国家中成为备受尊敬的名人。

Born in Mount Vernon, New York to a Pentecostal minister and a beautician/gospel singer, Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. first discovered acting at University, when he starred in a production of Shakespeare's Othello. After a lacklustre time at University, he left to become a professional actor, enrolling in the American Conservatory of Theatre for a year before finding his first screen role in Carbon Copy with George Segal.
出生于美国纽约州弗农山的一个由唱诗班歌手和美容师组成的家庭，丹泽尔•华盛顿在大学里首次展露表演才能——在莎士比亚的《奥赛罗》里担任主角。平淡无奇的大学生活结束后，他为了成为一个专业演员而前往美国国家戏剧学院学习了一年，之后他开始了第一个银屏角色，在《黑人儿子》中饰演乔治•西格尔。

After a stint as a doctor in the medical drama St. Elsewhere established his name, Washington got his first major role as Private Trip in Edward Zwick's Civil War epic Glory. Washington's inspiring performance as the bitter, passionate ex-slave earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and cemented him as one of the leading male actors in showbusiness.
由于在电视剧《圣•艾尔西维亚》中所扮演的医生而声名鹊起，华盛顿出演了爱德华•兹维克的史诗内战电影《光荣》——一部关于美国黑人军队浴血奋战的历史影片。他将黑人奴隶士兵的痛苦、热情表现得淋漓尽致，这为他赢得了奥斯卡最佳男配角奖，并跻身于影视界的优秀男演员之列。

From here on in, the only way for Washington was straight up the Hollywood ladder. With his portrayal of Malcolm X in the 1992 biopic of the Civil Rights leader, he proved that he could be as full of righteous fire as any of Martin Luther King's colleagues. As lawyer Joe Miller in Philadelphia, he showed us that he was more than capable of playing the everyman character, and in Courage Under Fire we saw him as a valiant military officer.
此后，摆在华盛顿面前的只有通向好莱坞阶梯的星光大道。1992年，他在名人传记影片《马尔科姆X》里饰演黑人运动领袖，证明了他可以像马丁•路德•金一样点燃正义之火。他在《费城故事》里扮演的律师乔伊•米勒告诉我们他可以胜任任何一个普通人的角色，而在《生死豪情》中大家又见到了他作为一名英勇军官的另一面。

Although his Best Actor Oscar came for Training Day, an action movie in which he plays a corrupt cop, Washington prefers to play deep character roles rather than action heroes. He told one magazine: "I like talking. I like acting. Running and jumping and ducking bullets is not my idea of a good day."
尽管华盛顿因为在动作片《训练日》中所扮演的一个腐败的警察而荣获奥斯卡最佳男演员，但他更喜欢出演复杂的人物而非动作英雄。他告诉一家杂志：“我喜欢说话，喜欢表演。奔跑、跳跃、躲子弹不是我理想的生活状态。”

Over the last 15 years, he has played virtually every memorable black male leading role in US cinema, specialising in proud, articulate martyrs simmering with self-righteous belief. He's portrayed great men and has done the roles justice where most would probably only have succeeded in creating clichés. In a movie world where most black actors are generally restricted to one type of role - either action movie staples like Lawrence Fishburne or Samuel L. Jackson or comedy figures like Martin Lawrence or Eddie Murphy - Denzel Washington stands alongside Morgan Freeman and Will Smith as one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood.
在过去15年里，华盛顿扮演了很多美国银屏上令人难忘的黑人领袖形象，尤其是骄傲、自信的正义烈士。他塑造了很多伟人，并赋予了这些走老套路线的角色以正义的形象。在电影世界里大多黑人演员都局限于一种角色——像动作演员劳伦斯•费舍伯恩和塞缪尔•杰克逊以及喜剧明星马丁•劳伦斯和艾迪•摩非，但丹泽尔•华盛顿却与摩根•弗里曼、威尔•史密斯一起成为好莱坞最多才多艺的演员之一。


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