Denzel Washington credits career to late James Earl Jones: “He was everything to me”

Denzel Washington has paid tribute to James Earl Jones, saying he inspired his own career. “He was who I wanted to be,” he explained.

Jones, who is best known for his role as the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars franchise, passed away earlier this week at the age of 93.

A host of actors and celebrities have since come out to pay their respects to the late actor.

Now, Washington has offered his own condolences in a statement (via Variety). He said: “He’s my hero. My college theatre career started because of The Emperor Jones and Othello with James Earl Jones.”

He added: “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.”

Washington has spent the best part of four decades on the big screen and his next role is in Ridley Scott’s forthcoming epic Gladiator II, a sequel to the original 2000 film that also stars Paul Mescal and Pedro Pascal.

But he never worked with Jones on screen, despite portraying the same role of Troy Maxson in Fences in 2016, that Jones previously took on in a Broadway play in 1987.

Meanwhile, Jones’ appearance on The Big Bang Theory recently went viral following news of his death.

Elsewhere, Washington recently suggested he might soon step away from cinema.

“There are very few films left for me to make that I’m interested in, and I have to be inspired by the filmmaker, and I was tremendously inspired by Ridley,” Washington said of his experience working on Gladiator II. “We had a great go-round the first go-round [on 2007’s American Gangster], and here we are.”

Gladiator II comes to cinemas on November 22.

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