Denzel Washington Pays Tribute to James Earl Jones: ‘He Was Who I Wanted to Be’

Denzel Washington is paying homage to the late actor James Earl Jones, who died this week at 93.

“He’s my hero,” Washington tells Variety. “My college theater career started because of ‘The Emperor Jones’ and ‘Othello’ with James Earl Jones.”

Jones starred in the stage adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s play “The Emperor Jones” in 1971 and played the titular “Othello” in Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival and later Off-Broadway production in 1964.

A larger-than-life titan in film, TV, and theater, Jones was most recognizable for his unmistakable baritone voice, which he used to portray the villainous Darth Vader in the “Star Wars” franchise and King Mufasa in the animated classic “The Lion King.”

Washington continues, “I wasn’t going to be as big as him. I wanted to sound like him. He was everything to me as a budding actor. He was who I wanted to be.”

In a 1998 interview, Washington said, “There weren’t a lot of serious Black actors for us to emulate, to follow, to admire. There was Sidney [Poitier]; it was James Earl Jones on stage. That’s what I remember.”

With Jones’ death, two of the performers who inspired the most decorated Black actor in Oscars history are gone.

Although Jones and Washington never worked together in film or television, their artistic legacies were spiritually adjacent. One of Jones’ career highlights was his Tony Award-winning performance as Troy Maxson in the 1987 Broadway production of August Wilson’s “Fences.” In 2016, Washington directed, produced, and starred in the film adaptation, which earned him Oscar nominations for best picture and actor, making him the first Black person to be nominated in both categories in the same year.

Washington is currently at the Toronto Film Festival promoting the new August Wilson film adaptation, “The Piano Lesson,” which he produced with Todd Black. It screens on Tuesday evening. The film, co-written and directed by Malcolm Washington, generated Oscar buzz after its premiere at Telluride. It stars John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, Ray Fisher, Michael Potts and Samuel L. Jackson.