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Denzel then... and Denzel now.

Denzel Washington is one of todays most respected actors.  With numerous awards and accolades from his peers, one would never guess that in college he would have rather played basketball than act.  He started as a freshman at Fordham University playing on their basketball team.  He planned on studying journalism and medicine, but found he was not driven by those areas.  During a brief absense from school, Washington worked as a counselor at a summer camp called Camp Sloane YMCA in Connecticut. After participating in a staff talent show for the campers, a colleague suggested he try acting. Returning to Fordham that fall, he enrolled at the Lincoln Center campus to study acting, getting cast in the title roles in both Eugene O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones, and William Shakespeare’s Othello, where he earned rave reviews.  These experienes must have really impacted Denzel because he ended up earning a Bachelor of Arts, double majoring in Drama and Journalism in 1977. Upon graduation, he was given a scholarship to attend graduate school at the prestigious American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, where he stayed for one year before deciding to return to New York to begin a professional acting career.

I bet Denzel is quite thankful for the encouragement from his fellow camp counselor.  I wonder if they are still in touch?