Denzel Washington "bit his tongue almost half-off" and is struggling to speak

When asked how religion fits into his career, he told The New York Times: "That's why you pray every day. I'm like, OK, Lord, I'm here, I think this is what you wanted me to do. Now I'm not sure why, but one can say coincidence and serendipity and all those things. I bit my tongue almost half-off a few months ago. It's affecting my speech. It forces me to slow down. I have to use it. I have a line: "'Whither will you that I go to answer this your charge?' It's hard because my tongue is swollen. It has affected everything."

The 'Equalizer' star did not clarify how he came to cause himself the injury nor did he reveal whether he had received any medical treatment in the wake of it.

But the Academy Award-winning actor now applies a religious viewpoint to everything in life and has even found that the themes of "jealousy and envy" found in the Shakespearean play 'Othello' - which he is currently starring in on Broadway - have taken on a new meaning for him.

He said: "At this point, everything I'm doing is through the lens of what God thinks, not what they think. I don't know what they think. You go down that hole, you'll never come out of that. When people say, 'What do you want people to get from this movie?' or 'What do you want them to get from this play?' I always say, 'It depends upon what they bring to it.' "There's some interesting themes [in 'Othello'] of jealousy and envy and pain and death. And Kenny, the brilliant director, he's putting it in what he calls the near future. So all of those things - jealousy, envy - it takes on a whole new thing with the information age"