Who played Malcolm X in the 1992 film directed by Spike Lee?

Denzel Washington played Malcolm X in Spike Lee’s 1992 film Malcolm X. The epic biographical drama follows the activist’s transformation from a troubled young man into one of the most influential figures in the American civil-rights movement.

The film was directed and co-written by Spike Lee and draws heavily on The Autobiography of Malcolm X, which Malcolm X developed with writer Alex Haley. Washington portrays several stages of Malcolm’s life, including his years in prison, his conversion to Islam, his leadership in the Nation of Islam, and his later international outlook after traveling to Mecca.

Washington’s performance earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor at the 65th Academy Awards. Although he did not win, he received the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor in 1992. Angela Bassett played Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X’s wife.

The film is sometimes confused with other civil-rights biographies, such as Selma or The Butler. Malcolm X is distinctive because it covers one central figure’s entire ideological evolution and was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry in 2010.