Denzel Washington

Washington was recently awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He spoke to Fresh Air in 2008, about the film The Great Debaters, which he directed and starred in.

Denzel Washington and LaTanya Richardson Jackson star in the latest production of the play, which debuted in 1959. The revival's run is nearing its end — and Jackson says she's "in tears."

The Robert Zemeckis film, out now on DVD, stars Denzel Washington as a pilot with a secret substance-abuse problem who successfully crash-lands an airplane while high on drugs and alcohol. He must then ask himself tough questions about whether his heroism is undermined by his addiction.