Denzel Washington has a tip for making sure the faithful don't skip their morning prayers – put your shoes "way under the bed at night".

Doing that, he says, means you will have to get down on your knees each morning.

He was speaking what appeared to be trainee actors and his words of wisdom were captured in a video shared to Facebook by Fast & Furious actor Tyrese Gibson.

The students looked captivated as they listened to the Academy Award winner talk about his faith and how he stays thankful.

"I pray that you all put your shoes way under the bed at night so that you gotta get on your knees in the morning to find them.

"And while you're down there thank God for grace and mercy and understanding. We all fall short of the glory, we all got plenty.

"If you just start thinking of all the things you've got to say thank you for, that's a day. That's easily a day," he said.

Washington, who starred in Broadway production "A Raisin in the Sun" said he and the cast prayed before every show.

Another piece of advice he shared with the budding actors was to focus on using their gifts for something meaningful and not get carried away with amassing earthly riches.

"You'll never see a U-Haul behind a hearse," he said.

"Now I've been blessed to make hundreds of millions of dollars in my life. I can't take it with me and neither can you. It's not how much you have but what you do with what you have."

The actor has been a member of the West Angeles Church of God in Christ for over thirty years and has previously said he reads the Bible "every day".

He said in an interview with GQ magazine in 2012 that he experienced the Holy Spirit in a way that was so powerful it frightened him.

"It was too intense. It almost drove me away," Washington said. "I called my mother, and she said I was being filled with the Holy Spirit. I was like, 'Does that mean I can never have wine again?'"

Tyrese Gibson is also a Christian and has spoken powerfully of the solace he found in his faith in the aftermath of co-star Paul Walker's tragic death in a car accident.

He tweeted a petition for prayer soon after the crash and later told fans that filming of Fast & Furious 7 would start with prayers for their beloved co-star.

"God's grace is all we have. Before we start filming we are going to have a strong prayer. That will be the start, before we film anything," he told celebrity gossip site TooFab.

"That is what is needed for us to do Fast & Furious 7."