Denzel Washington is now a licensed minister.
The iconic actor was baptized at Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ in New York City on Saturday (Dec. 21).
In an emotional speech to the congregation, Washington opened up about his faith. "In one week I turn 70," he said, per Today. "It took a while, but I'm here."
Washington also recalled a fateful meeting with a woman named Ruth Green when he was a child.
“She said, ‘Boy, you are going to travel the world and preach to millions of people,’” Washington recounted. “She wouldn’t even spell the word prophecy. My mother wrote the word prophecy...50 years later, look at God. If He can do this for me, there’s nothing He can’t do for you. The sky literally is the limit and there’s no limit to the sky.”
Washington recently made waves after a conversation with Steven Weintraub of Collider in which he spoke about the fact that he didn’t really watch movies until early adulthood.
When asked to name his favorite film from legendary director Stanley Kubrick, Washington chose not to give a specific answer — instead reflecting on his lack of movie-watching experience when he was younger.
“I’m not a movie buff,” Washington said. “No, I’m not a big movie fan. I was in the street when he was making movies. … I’d be the one outside looking to rob you when you came out of a Kubrick movie, okay? So I wasn’t a real film buff. I didn’t start acting until I was 20 years old and didn’t start really going to the movies until I was 22, 23.”
“That’s not true,” Washington added. “As a teenager, I went to see movies like Shaft and Super Fly, you know.”
Washington’s currently in theaters in Gladiator 2 as the character Macrinus — but if you want to see more of him in the future, you’ll be able to catch him in the third installment of Black Panther. Last month, he let it slip that he would be in the next film.
