Denzel Washington adds new job to resume after being baptised in live-streamed ceremony

Denzel Washington can now add a new job to his resume after he was baptised and received his minister’s license in a ceremony in Harlem on Saturday (22 December).

The 69-year-old Gladiator II star was baptised at the Kelly Temple Church of God in Christ in New York City, where he was also presented with a minister’s license, which will allow him to be ordained in the future.

During the ceremony, which was live-streamed by the church on Facebook, Washington opened up to the congregation about embracing his faith just days before his 70th birthday on 28 December.

“In one week I turn 70,” he said, according toPage 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.

Washington’s wife, Pauletta, was also in attendance at the ceremony and spoke about how proud she was of her husband’s spiritual journey. The pair married in 1983 after meeting on the set of the film Wilma. They share four children together.

“46 years later, here I’m still standing next to him as only God will have it,” Pauletta said to Washington before the congregation. “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.”

Washington was pictured being baptised with three ministers surrounding him in the water. At the end of the ceremony, he posed with his minister’s license and certificate of baptism, wearing a grey T-shirt and black trousers.

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While Washington isn’t yet ordained, if he does choose to be, he will join a long list of celebrities who are ordained, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Adele and Ian McKellen.

The news comes after Washington recently opened up about his relationship with religion in a first-person essay for Esquire.

The actor recalled a life-altering visit to Pentecostal West Angeles church in Los Angeles, as recommended by the actor and director Robert Townsend. Washington said it was the “biggest moment” of his life, and said he came away from the experience “filled with the Holy Spirit”.

However, Washington remarked that religion is “unfashionable” working in the entertainment industry in Hollywood.

“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.”

The actor recently revealed that he plans to retire in the near future, with one of his final roles being in the third Black Panther film.

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The Training Day star name checked both Steve McQueen and Ryan Coogler as directors he hopes to work with, and also mentioned an adaptation of King Lear and a film about Carthaginian military leader Hannibal.

“After that, I am playing Hannibal. After that, I’ve been talking to Steve McQueen about a film,” said Washington. “After that, Ryan Coogler is writing a part for me in the next Black Panther. After that, I’m going to do the film Othello. After that, I’m going to do King Lear. After that, I’m going to retire.”

Aside from the Hannibal film, which is being directed by Antoine Fuqua for Netflix, none of the other film projects Washington mentioned have been officially confirmed.