What is it that makes Denzel Washington one of the greatest actors of all time? His cool, authoritative gaze? His magnetic manner? The quick and incisive way he delivers dialogue, his voice skating along the surface of quietude? He’s confident the way a single flame is confident; one false move, and it’ll ripple up, reminding you it’s made of fire. He burns; he shines.

This fall, Washington returns to the screen in The Tragedy of Macbeth, playing the titular role alongside Frances McDormand as his Lady Macbeth. In anticipation of this upcoming release, here’s a list of essential films to watch from the the two-time Oscar-winner’s canon. The list is presented in chronological order, and is not meant to be comprehensive; rather, it’s a guide, highlighting some of Washington’s most important, most beloved, and most consequential works. There are Denzel Washington movies for all moods, for all tastes, for all occasions. Here are a few suggestions for how to navigate his decades-long career. 

Glory (1989)

In this historical war drama, Washington plays Private Trip, a brash, mocking soldier training to fight for the Union in the Civil War. Washington’s instinct is to play the character as a volcanic force, quiet and menacing, prone to glaring eyeball to eyeball at his enemies in unblinking staredowns. The movie itself has issues, namely its trope-y Hollywood decision to focus the narrative on the good white guys rather than the Black soldiers at the heart of the story—but when he’s onscreen, you can’t take your eyes from Washington. Though he was still a nascent film star at the time of Glory’s release, it was a consequential performance, earning the actor his first Oscar win just one year after his first nomination, for the biopic Cry Freedom (another worthwhile Washington watch).

Mississippi Masala (1991)

Directed by Mira Nair, this film features Washington in pure heartthrob mode. In it, he plays Demetrius, a tender-hearted Mississippi carpet cleaner who falls for Meena (Sarita Choudhury), an Indian girl whose family runs a nearby motel. Washington flirts sensuously and swoons in kind, each frame practically aglow with his and Choudhury’s easy chemistry. 

Malcolm X (1992) 

If there is a crown jewel among Denzel Washington movies, it’s this Spike Lee–helmed epic about the life and loss of Malcolm X. Washington plays the minister over the course of his adult life, from his early days running crimes in Harlem through his life-altering time in prison to his fateful induction into the upper ranks of the Nation of Islam. Washington is sublime, getting under the skin of X and creating a rich, layered portrait of a beloved, complicated historical figure. Many Washington acolytes rightly think he should have earned a second Oscar statuette for this performance; he was nominated in the best-lead-actor category, a first in his career, but lost to Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman. 

Regardless, the film is a classic in Washington’s canon. It’s also the best film he made with Lee, though every other project they made together—Mo’ Better Blues, He Got Game, Inside Man—is also well worth watching and debating. (Mo’ Better Blues when you’re in the mood for artsy, musical, womanizing Denzel; He Got Game when you crave more drama; Inside Man for a big, cleverly constructed action thrill.) For the sake of brevity, those films will stay right here on this list. But they’re all must-sees as well, each containing vastly different Washington performances. 

Crimson Tide (1995)

Speaking of Washington’s favorite directors: no scan of his filmography would be complete without director Tony Scott. This macho drama marked Washington and Scott’s first collaboration, starring the actor as tactical U.S. Navy officer Ron Hunter, who’s aboard a submarine caught in a nuclear dance with Russian forces. Hunter is immediately at odds with the submarine’s leader, Captain Frank Ramsey (a smirking, cigar-chewing Gene Hackman). Crimson Tide is worth a watch just to see Hackman and Washington go toe to toe, clashing over their differing views of war. Washington would go on to work with Scott on several more films before the director’s death in 2012, including the standout two-hander Unstoppable, one of the best films of the 2010s.

Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)

Washington tackles the neo-noir genre in this thriller, playing Easy Rawlins, a man who loses his job and is gently muscled into private eye work. Rawlins is reluctant, but desperate to pay his mortgage (he loves his house!). He’s got a knack for the work, but as he gets deeper into the underworld, he needs some extra muscle, calling on his unhinged old friend Mouse (Don Cheadle). Come for Washington’s cool performance; stay for Cheadle’s scene-stealing turn as the hotheaded henchman. 

The Preacher’s Wife (1996) 

Light-hearted and saccharine…are not words often deployed to describe Washington’s films. And yet that’s the perfection application for The Preacher’s Wife, a beloved holiday classic (with an equally beloved soundtrack) that stars Washington as Dudley, an angel sent down to help a struggling preacher (Courtney B. Vance). Along the way, Dudley falls for the preacher’s wife (title drop), played by the dazzling Whitney Houston. It’s really her vehicle, but Washington charms throughout in this superbly stacked movie. 

The Hurricane (1999)

The first few minutes of this searing biopic alone show why Washington notched yet another Oscar nomination for his performance as Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. The first scene flashes between Carter in his past glory days as a boxer and in his present-day stint in prison. (The boxer was wrongfully imprisoned for murder and released after 20 years.) In his cell, Carter is gearing up to fight a furious gang of correctional officers. He’s gritty and wild-eyed, an intense man with nothing left to lose. It’s masterful work from Washington, who navigates the rest of the epic, winding drama with equal parts cockiness and grace. 

Training Day (2001)

In many circles, this is Washington’s best-known performance. The film and its subsequent reception have a complicated legacy, but that’s separate from Washington’s irresistible, Oscar-winning turn as a crooked cop who flies too close to the sun. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, Washington plays dangerous detective Alonzo Harris, who takes naive Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke) out for a series of increasingly nefarious escapades. He’s funny and terrifying and doomed, with Washington imbuing the character with egoistic magnetism. 

The fact that Washington’s wicked turn earned him an Oscar and is among his most beloved roles has been a thorn in the side of Training Day critics, who wonder why the Black icon’s more noble roles were overlooked by the Academy and beyond. But for better or worse, the film’s legacy is essentially sealed. King Kong ain’t got—well, you know the rest. 

Flight (2012) 

From the crackling first scene of this film, it’s clear Washington is notching another searing career-best turn. In the thrilling, Robert Zemeckis-helmed drama, Washington plays the snappily named Whip Whitaker. He’s a rakish, reckless pilot who spends his downtime sniffing up lines of coke and choking down bottles of booze. He gets a wakeup call in the form of a particularly turbulent rainstorm during a flight that sends his plane to the ground, forcing him to confront his substance problems (for reasons both spiritual and extremely legal). Washington layers the performance as only he can, going deep into Whitaker’s soul and, subsequently, picking up yet another Oscar nomination along the way.

Fences (2016)

Washington’s first love is theater, a fact that clearly shines through in his painstakingly crafted adaptation of this August Wilson play. Fences is his most finely wrought directorial effort—obligatory nod to Antwone Fisher, worth a watch for Washington’s cool demeanor opposite Derek Luke’s hotheaded breakout performance—and one of his finest recent acting performances to boot. Washington stars as Troy, a minatory garbage collector whose failed dreams turn him into an abusive father and philandering husband to his wife Rose (Viola Davis, who won an Oscar for her performance). He is so worn down by life that he lashes out at everyone in his own, with Washington imbuing the character with a haunting fury. 

It’s no surprise that the actor wears Troy so well: he previously played the part in a 2009 Broadway run of the play, alongside Davis. Both actors won Tonys for their portrayals. Thus Washington’s decision to direct the feature version and hew as closely to Wilson’s story as possible—part of his longer project of adapting all of the playwright’s works—is almost like a return to form, and a deferential nod to the craft that made him.

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