Denzel Washington Gets Baptized and Becomes a Minister During Live Streamed Ceremony: ‘It Took a While but I’m Here’

The Oscar-winning actor posed for photos with his certificate of baptism just weeks after saying religion in Hollywood is “not fashionable”

By Gil Macias

Published on December 22, 2024 09:37PM EST

Denzel Washington receiving his certificate of baptism. PHOTO: 

ORIGINAL PHOTOS BY ESTHER PULLINGS/ REV. DR. CHRISTOPHER BRYANT AUTHOR

Denzel Washington just got baptized and became a minister — and no, it wasn’t in preparation for a movie role. 

On Saturday, Dec. 21, the Gladiator II star, 69, was baptized at the Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ, located in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City. He also was presented with a minister license, which will allow him to be ordained in the future.

During the ceremony, which was live streamed via Facebook by the First Jurisdiction Church of God in Christ Eastern New York, Denzel — who was casually dressed in a gray T-shirt and black sweat pants — opened up to the congregation about embracing his faith just days ahead of his milestone 70th birthday. 

“In one week I turn 70,” he said, according to Archbishop Christopher Bryant, per Page Six. “It took a while but I’m here.”

“If [God] can do this for me, there’s nothing He can’t do for you. The sky literally is the limit,” he added. 

Denzel’s wife, Pauletta Washington, was also in attendance for the special moment and tearfully talked about her husband’s spiritual journey and how proud she was to witness him taking this next step with his faith. 

“Forty-six years later, here I’m still standing next to him as only God will have it,” Pauletta said. “So I’m very proud of you. You are the head of our house and you have set a great example for our children, who are now adult children who know the difference because we have shown them the difference.”Denzel Washington gets baptized on Dec. 21, 2024.

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Following the ceremony, which involved Denzel being immersed in baptismal water, the actor also posed for photos with his minister license and certificate of baptism.

The news of Denzel’s baptism comes just over a month after the Oscar winner opened up about religion in Hollywood, calling it “unfashionable” in a first-person essay for Esquire, published on Nov. 19.

In the essay, the actor recalled a life-changing first visit he took to the Pentecostal West Angeleschurch in Los Angeles at the suggestion of actor and director Robert Townsend. He referred to the experience as “the biggest moment of my life” when “I was filled with the Holy Spirit.”

The actor also noted that being outspoken about your religion is somewhat frowned upon among his peers in the entertainment industry.

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SAMIR HUSSEIN/WIREIMAGE

“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,” he 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,” he continued. “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.”

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