*Denzel Washington’s son, actor John David Washington, is speaking about carrying on his famous father’s legacy.
The star of blockbuster smashes such as “Tenant” and “BlacKkKlansman” says he has come to accept the “inescapable” comparisons to his dad.
Washington was initially hesitant to follow in his parents’ acting footsteps, calling Denzel “larger than life.”
“My mother is an extremely talented artist, and my father is one of the greatest of all time. He’s my favorite actor,” he said in a new interview with CBS Sunday Morning‘s Kelefa Sanneh.
READ MORE: John David Washington Talks ‘Tenet’ & Being Named the Black James Bond! – EUR Exclusive / WATCH
“It didn’t seem as simple to just pursue it,” Washington said of his decision to pause his acting dreams and become a college football star instead. As reported by Yahoo, Washington played for Morehouse College, the United Football League, and was also signed by the St. Louis Rams as an undrafted free agent. He got his breakout role in the HBO series “Ballers.”
“What motivated it, really, is independence — was my own name, was being able to carry my own weight in my life, even though I was hiding what I really wanted to do,” he explained on CBS Sunday Mornings.
Even as a football star, he couldn’t escape headlines that referred to him as “Denzel’s son.”
“I realized then it was inescapable,” he said.
“I have to understand I could have the best game, career … the headline’s always going to be what it is,” Washington told Sanneh. “So to try to prove something to somebody is a fool’s errand.”
Washington is set to make his Broadway debut in August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson” opposite Samuel L. Jackson. He can also be seen in Director David O. Russell’s upcoming period piece “Amsterdam.” The mystery comedy thriller stars Christian Bale, Robert De Niro, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Margot Robbie, Rami Malek, Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Zoe Saldaña and Taylor Swift.
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