Denzel Washington, Two-Time Oscar Winner, 'Not That Interested' in Academy Awards: 'I Don't Care'

Don’t get it twisted. Denzel Washington, no doubt one of the most widely acclaimed actors of his generation, or any generation for that matter, is by no means a trophy chaser. Instead, as the Highest 2 Lowest star reaffirmed during a recent interview, he’s in pursuit of something deeper.

Speaking with Jake Hamilton for Jake’s Takes this week alongside fellow Highest 2 Lowest star Jeffrey Wright, Washington, who has two Oscars to his name (for Glory and Training Day), shared some candid wisdom on the topic that could easily be applied to any artistic field.

“I don’t do it for Oscars,” he said, as seen below. “I really don’t care about that kind of stuff. I’ve been at this a long time. There’s times when I won and shouldn’t have won, and shouldn’t have won and won. Man gives the award. God gives the reward.”

Washington has 10 total Oscar nominations to his name, starting with his work in 1987’s Cry Freedom and leading up to his performance in Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth in 2021. But win or lose, the actor has a decidedly grounded perspective on the true value of such distinctions in the context of his life.

“I’m not that interested in Oscars,” he said on Jake’s Takes. “You know, people will ask me, well, where do you keep it? I say, next to the other one. I’m not bragging. I’m just telling you how I feel about it. On my last day, it ain’t gon’ do me a bit of good.”

For his latest collaboration with Spike Lee, himself an Oscar winner, Washington is again garnering acclaim. Film critic Robert Daniels, for example, highlighted the actor’s “unmatched sense of timing” in his Cannes review of the film earlier this year.

Highest 2 Lowest is in theaters Friday.