John David Washington Used To Hide His Father, Denzel Washington’s, Identity To Get His Own Acting Jobs: I Would Lie & Say My Dad Was In Jail

John David Washington, Denzel Washington

John David Washington Used To Hide His Father, Denzel Washington’s, Identity To Get His Own Acting Jobs: I Would Lie & Say My Dad Was In Jail

John David Washington recently shared that he had to get a little creative so people would take his acting seriously. The 36-year-old actor revealed in a new interview that he would hide his father, Denzel Washington’s identity, and tell people his dad was in jail in order to get acting roles on his own. He admitted: 

“I used to lie, saying he was a construction worker or in jail, just to have some sense of normalcy.”

John David Washington felt that people wouldn’t take him seriously as an actor if they knew that his father was Academy Award-winning Denzel Washington.

“They would always judge me. So I hid who my father was. I guess I was protecting myself.”

This isn’t the first time that the ‘Blackkklansman’ actor has shared personal aspects regarding his career and father.

As previously reported, this past May John David Washington shared that he didn’t initially tell his dad about his acting dreams until he landed his first major role. 

Before pursuing an acting career John David Washington was in the NFL and played for a few different teams prior to retiring due to a torn Achilles tendon. After retiring from football he decided to give acting a try. However, he didn’t tell his father about his new career until he landed his first roll in the HBO series ‘Ballers’.

“[My dad] kept asking questions like ‘For HBO? Like Home Box Office Entertainment? Who? Really? But what’s it called? The Rock?’ He just kept asking questions like ‘Is this real?’ I guess he had to check it with his agents to make sure it was real, and he was happy for me, and then he said exactly what I was going to do anyway. ‘As soon as this is over, you gotta go learn. You gotta go learn how to do this.’”

What are your thoughts on John David Washington keeping his dad’s profession a secret? Let us know in the comments.