The Training Day actor has never bonded with any colleagues during his time in the spotlight, but insists he doesn’t feel lonely because he has such strong personal relationships away from the movie industry.
He tells Britain’s The Guardian newspaper, “Even within the industry, I don’t have any actor friends. My friends are old friends. One’s an ex-music guy, the other’s a restaurant owner and the other’s an ex pro ballplayer… I don’t make friends. Maybe I’m not a butt-kisser, maybe I’m not a schmoozer. I’m not about to go to a party to try to get a job. And then, when you have children, the other friends become other parents. We’d coach baseball or basketball. My wife and I were raised right. I don’t want movie star friends.”
Washington also concedes his skin colour made him feel like an outsider in Hollywood when he first started out in acting, adding, “Being African-American, there were no big movie stars to hang out with anyway, not when I was starting out, they were just the third guy from the back. For whatever reason, I never befriended any white actors.”
