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  (Photo: MGM Distribution Company)
  Denzel Washington stars in The Weinstein Company's 'The Great Debaters.' The movie opens nationwide on Dec. 25.

Denzel Washington is giving back to his alma mater Fordham University, to the tune of $2.25 million.

Fordham University announced Wednesday afternoon that the Academy Award winner gave $2 million to endow the new Denzel Washington Chair in Theater.

In addition, Fordham announced that Denzel donated $250,000 for the addition of a minority scholarship for a theater undergraduate student.

The brand new scholarship will be given to the first students during the fall of 2012.

"The Cosby Show” actress Phylicia Rashad, who played Clair Huxtable, will serve as the first head of the Denzel Washington Chair.

Washington attended the university before graduating in 1977 with a Bachelor’s of Art in Drama and Journalism. He played collegiate basketball while attending Fordham.

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In 1991 he was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Fordham for “having impressively succeeded in exploring the edge of his multifaceted talent."

Denzel famously won an Academy Award in 2001 for his role in the critically acclaimed “Training Day.”

Washington has cited the late Bob Stone, who was a theater professor at Fordham, for inspiring him to become an actor.