Morgan Freeman is an American actor who was Born in Memphis, Tennessee, on June 1, 1937. He is highly regarded among artists of his generation for his emotional depth, subtle humor, and versatility.
One of the few African American actors who has regularly played parts not intended for Black actors is Freeman, who has had a career filled with many memorable performances on stage, screen, and television.
Early Life
Freeman dreamed of becoming a fighter pilot as a young man. After a disappointing assignment in the U.S. Air Force (1955–1959), he focused on acting. In 1967, he made his Broadway debut in an all-Black Hello Dolly! production.
He continued to work on stage throughout the 1970s and also appeared in the children’s educational television show The Electric Company as the character Easy Reader. Freeman appeared in the film Brubaker (1980) and the soap opera Another World (1982-1984) and also became more in demand as his theater work in the early 1980s received some rave reviews. I ended up playing a role in an expensive movie.
Movies and TV Shows
Freeman received his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a dangerous hustler in Street Smart (1987). He was later nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for Driving Miss Daisy (1989), reprising his first stage role as Hawke.
Morgan Freeman plays a disciplinary commissioner in Lean on Me (1989), a ruthless Civil War soldier in Glory (1989), and an aging man in Unforgiven (1992). He made his directorial debut with his anti-apartheid film Bopha (1993). He received his third Oscar nomination for his emotional role as a prisoner in The Shawshank Redemption (1994).
Freeman went on to appear in several crime films, including Se7en (1995), Kiss the Girls (1997), and Along Came a Spider (2001). Two of the latter are based on novels by James Patterson. Also, The Sum of All Fears (2002). He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a former boxer in Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby” (2004) and later won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a former boxer in Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” (2005). He played the role of Lucius Fox.
Freeman played the latter role in the sequels The Dark Knight (2008) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). In Rob Reiner’s The Bucket List (2007), he and Jack Nicholson made the most of their remaining time playing terminally ill cancer patients.
Awards
Freeman has received numerous awards, including the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors and the 2012 Cecil B. DeMille Award (Golden Globe Lifetime Achievement Award). In 2018 he also received his Lifetime Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild.