At four years old, Lorice Washington was already singing in her father’s church. Years later, her ministry profile introduced her as an evangelist and author. Many readers first hear her name because she is Denzel Washington’s sister. Her writing and church work tell another part of her story. She has written about prayer and fasting, spoken about her family and spent time researching its history. Public records answer some questions about her life, while other personal details remain unclear.
Personal Details of Lorice Washington
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Lorice Annette Washington |
| Known for | Christian ministry, singing, writing and family history research |
| Father | Rev. Denzel H. Washington Sr. |
| Mother | Lennis Washington |
| Brothers | Denzel Washington Jr. and David Washington |
| Family position | Older sister of Denzel and eldest of three children |
| Childhood home | Mount Vernon, New York |
| Early interest | Singing in her father’s church |
| Education | Her ministry profile lists a psychology degree from Briarcliff College and advanced degrees in spiritual nutrition |
| Public roles | Evangelist, singer, author and speaker, as described in her ministry profile |
| Book | The Anointing, Prayer, Fasting, and the Spirit-Filled Diet |
| Other documented work | Research into the Washington family’s history |
| Birth date | Not clearly documented in public sources |
A Childhood Shaped by Family, Church and Work
Lorice Washington grew up in Mount Vernon, New York, with her brothers Denzel and David. Their mother, Lennis, had moved north from Georgia with her family when she was young. She later worked as a beautician and ran beauty salons in Mount Vernon. Their father, Denzel Washington Sr., was a minister who also held other jobs. Both parents had demanding work lives, and their household had strong ties to church. Lennis’s obituary names all three children and describes the family’s move to Mount Vernon after her marriage in 1949.
In a 1995 Vanity Fair profile, Lorice said she and Denzel went to boarding schools. She suggested their mother may have wanted to shield them from problems at home during their parents’ separation. That reason was Lorice’s interpretation, not a direct explanation from Lennis. Her mother’s obituary says the salon business helped pay for her children’s education. Together, these accounts show both the work that supported their schooling and the limits of what we know about a difficult family decision.
How Singing Became Part of Her Ministry
According to her ministry profile, Lorice Washington started singing in her father’s church when she was four years old. That is the earliest specific detail the profile gives about her work. It says she later travelled across the United States, Europe and the Middle East while developing her musical and spiritual interests. The page does not give performance dates or a list of places she visited, so the travel details are best understood as her own account.
Her profile identifies her as a singer as well as an evangelist and author. There is little public information about recordings or a commercial music career, so the church remains the clearest setting for her singing. Music can carry a religious message to a congregation as directly as a speech. In her case, it also connects a childhood activity with the roles she later named on her ministry page. Singing was a meaningful part of her work without becoming a career in the entertainment industry.
What Her Education Tells Us
The ministry page for Lorice Washington says she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Briarcliff College. It also lists a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in spiritual nutrition. These are details supplied in a profile about her ministry. Public information does not give dates for the degrees or enough detail to describe the courses she took. The profile is an account of how she presents her education, though it does not establish a medical qualification or a particular type of clinical practice.
Psychology and spiritual nutrition appear together in the profile, but they are not the same subject. Psychology studies behaviour and the mind. In her writing, spiritual nutrition relates to the religious meaning she gives to food, fasting and prayer. This difference matters because a discussion of diet may sound like health advice when read out of context. The available information describes her interests and stated education. It does not show that she treated patients, ran a medical practice or developed a tested health programme.
Lorice Washington Ministries and Public Speaking
Her public ministry page presents her as an evangelist, a singer and an author. It also uses religious titles and language to describe her beliefs and work. The page invites churches to ask her to speak, which shows that speaking engagements were part of the way she presented her ministry. It does not provide a dated list of events. For that reason, the page describes her stated role, but it cannot confirm where she has spoken recently or how often she still travels.
For readers unfamiliar with the term, an evangelist is someone who shares Christian beliefs with others. In Lorice’s case, the description of her work brings together speaking, song and writing. Her profile also refers to prayer and the religious practice of laying on of hands. These are descriptions of her faith tradition, not proof that any claimed healing took place. She appears in public records mainly through this religious work, so understanding the ministry page helps explain why people search for her name.
Her Book on Prayer, Fasting and Food
Lorice Washington is listed as the author of The Anointing, Prayer, Fasting, and the Spirit-Filled Diet. Her ministry profile presents the book as a guide to religious prayer and fasting, including her views about food during a period of spiritual devotion. She brings together practices that people often discuss separately: what they eat, how they pray and why they fast. The subject follows the religious interests described throughout her public profile.
The same profile says Bishop Ithiel Clemmons wrote the introduction and that Bishop Samuel L. Green Jr. and Denzel Washington provided forewords. It does not supply a reliable publication date or detailed publishing history, so there is no reason to guess either one. Its descriptions of fasting and food reflect the author’s religious ideas. They should not be presented as medical findings. What the book adds to her biography is a concrete example of how she put her beliefs into writing and sought to speak to readers beyond a church gathering.
What Denzel Washington Has Said About His Sister
Her connection with Denzel Washington is more than a shared surname in online biographies. The family obituary names them both as children of Lennis Washington, and Lorice’s ministry profile identifies Denzel as her brother. In a 1995 interview with Vanity Fair, Lorice also spoke about their father’s preaching. She noticed parts of their father’s gestures and speaking rhythm in Denzel’s performance as Malcolm X. This is a rare published example of her own view of their family and of the way their father influenced his son’s acting.
In a 2012 interview with GQ, Denzel spoke about growing up in his father’s church. He said those Sundays could feel long to him as a child, yet he remembered the sound and style of his father’s preaching. Read alongside Lorice’s comments, his account shows that both siblings remembered that voice, even if they later worked in different fields. It does not establish a full account of their relationship today. What we can say is that their shared upbringing appears in their public words, while the details of their day-to-day family life remain theirs to tell.
The Family History She Researched
There is another part of Lorice Washington’s work that has nothing to do with a stage or a church service. In a 2024 Esquire interview, Denzel said his sister had researched the family’s genealogy over a long period. He praised the care she had put into tracing their past. Family history work often means following names through older records, checking how people are related and trying to understand where a family lived. His account gives readers a specific reason to see her as a researcher as well as a religious writer.
Denzel also described what he believed the research showed about their ancestry, including a connection to George Washington. The interview does not display the records behind that claim, so it is more accurate to report it as his account than to present a family tree as settled fact. The important point for this biography is her role in doing the research. It suggests a sustained interest in names, places and the lives of earlier generations. It also adds a part of her public story that is easy to miss if she is introduced only as someone’s sister.
Which Personal Details Are Public?
There is enough reliable information to describe Lorice Washington’s family, the work listed in her ministry profile and the memories she shared in an interview. There is much less firm information about her birth date, marriage, children or present routine. Some websites fill those spaces with numbers and personal claims, but a repeated claim is not the same as a documented fact. The ministry profile also has no clear date for its most recent update. An address or invitation printed there should not be treated as proof of where she lives or works today.
Readers may also wonder whether she has stopped speaking or writing. The sources discussed here do not establish her current schedule, so the honest answer is that it is not clear. Her early singing, stated studies, ministry page, book, remarks about her parents and family history research give a substantial account of the parts of her life that have entered the public record. They allow us to answer the main question while respecting the details she has not made public.
Conclusion
Lorice Washington is Denzel Washington’s older sister, and her public story has its own direction. She began singing at church, later described her work as Christian ministry, wrote about prayer and fasting, and researched her family’s history. Her mother’s obituary and interviews with both siblings help place that work within the life of their Mount Vernon family. A few personal questions still have no clear public answer. Her ministry, writing and family research are the strongest documented parts of her story.
(FAQ’s)
1. Is Lorice Washington Denzel Washington’s sister?
Yes. Their mother’s obituary names Lorice, Denzel and David as her three children.
2. What does she do?
Her ministry profile describes her as an evangelist, singer and author. It also invites churches to contact her about speaking.
3. What book did she write?
Her ministry profile names The Anointing, Prayer, Fasting, and the Spirit-Filled Diet.
4. Did she research her family’s history?
Yes. Denzel said in a 2024 interview that his sister spent a long time researching their genealogy.
5. How old is she?
A reliable public birth date is not available in the sources used for this article. She is Denzel’s older sister.
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