when the league abruptly folded that October. Acting career Washington began acting in 2015 in the role of Ricky Jerret in the HBO drama series Ballers. The series was well received by critics, and continued on for five seasons through 2019. In September 2017, Washington was cast in the lead role of detective Ron Stallworth in Spike Lee's thriller BlacKkKlansman, which was based on Stallworth's memoir. The film premiered on May 14, 2018, at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or. BlacKkKlansman did not win the Palme d'Or, but was awarded the Grand Prix by the festival jury. The film began a U.S. theatrical release on August 10, 2018, a date chosen to coincide with the one year anniversary of the Charlottesville rally. The film was a commercial success, earning Washington both Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. In 2018, Washington also starred in the films Monsters and Men and Monster, both of which screened in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival. He also appeared in The Old Man & the Gun, which was released on September 28, 2018, by Fox Searchlight Pictures. After seeing Washington's work in BlacKkKlansman, director Christopher Nolan hand-picked him to anchor his thriller film Tenet. Nolan said of the actor, "[He's] just one of the greatest collaborators I've worked with: extraordinarily hard-working, very, very thoughtful, and very considerate of everybody around him in the most wonderful way." Released in September 2020, Tenet received mixed reviews. Peter Travers of Rolling Stone praised Washington's "star-in-the-making" performance, writing, "A former football running back, the actor brings a natural athletic grace to the stunts and hand-to-hand combat that forge a visceral bond between his character and the audience." For his performance, Washington won the Saturn Award for Best Actor. Washington starred alongside Zendaya as the titular characters in the drama film Malcolm & Marie (2021), which had been filmed in secret during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film was released to mixed reviews but Washington’s performance received praise. He is set to appear in the period film Amsterdam, directed by David O. Russell and scheduled for a November 2022 release. Washington is set to perform in a Broadway revival of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson beginning in September 2022 and reprise his role in a film adaptation of the play. He is attached to appear in Gareth Edwards'