Morgan Freeman

WHY IS HE FAMOUS

Morgan Freeman has been a familiar face to moviegoers since his explosive performance in 1987's Street Smart. His resume also includes prominent roles in Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Unforgiven(1992), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Se7en (1995), The Sum of All Fears (2002), Batman Begins (2005), The Bucket List(2007), and The Dark Knight (2008).

Morgan Freeman Quote

"I knew at an early age I wanted to act. Acting was always easy for me. I don't believe in predestination, but I do believe that once you get wherever it is you are going, that is where you were going to be."

75 MAGNETISM

Morgan Freeman once lamented in an interview that in the almost 40 years that he's been acting professionally, he has never had a romantic leading role, nor has he ever had an on-screen love interest.

We think that his smooth and sophisticated demeanor would make him a real charmer with those ladies who are into older gentlemen, something casting directors have overlooked up to now. We're sure that in real life, Morgan Freeman had his fun as a younger guy, but he has been a committed husband and family man since the mid-'80s.

84 SUCCESS

Morgan Freeman has won a host of acting awards for his work, both on stage and screen. His performance in the play Mighty Gents earned him the Clarence Derwent and Drama Desk Awards, as well as a Tony nomination in 1978. He's won a slew of OBIE Awards, beginning in 1979 for Coriolanus; since then he's received the prize for his work in Mother Courage and Her Children (1980), Gospel at Colonus (1984) and Street Smart(1987). His role in the latter also earned him the New York, Los Angeles and National Society of Film Critics Awards, the Independent Spirit Award, as well as his first Academy Award and Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actor.

Morgan Freeman picked up his second Oscar nod for 1989'sDriving Miss Daisy, which also earned him an OBIE, a Golden Globe, the National Board of Review Award, and the Silver Bear from the Berlin Film Festival. His performance in Lean on Memerited an NAACP Image Award in 1989, while his contribution to classical theater in America won him the William Shakespeare Award in 1993.

In 1995, Morgan Freeman was again nominated for an Oscar forThe Shawshank Redemption. He received the Hollywood Outstanding Achievement in Acting prize in 2000. In 2005, he finally won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor, for his role as Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris, a boxer turned janitor (and narrator) inMillion Dollar Baby.

Morgan Freeman is also a founding member of The Frank Silvera Writers' Workshop, and has his own production company, Revelation Entertainment, which seeks to develop projects that "enlighten, inspire and glorify the human experience."

MORGAN FREEMANBIOGRAPHY

Morgan Freeman was born on June 1, 1937, in Memphis, Tennessee. His parents migrated to Chicago when he was a young boy, while he and his five siblings relocated to their grandparents' home in Charleston, Mississippi.

In 1955, at 18, he signed up with the U.S. Air Force and worked as a mechanic until his five years ended in 1959. He then enrolled at Los Angeles Community College, and later learned the craft of acting at the Pasadena Playhouse.

In 1967, Morgan Freeman married Jeanette Adair Bradshaw, but the marriage didn't last and the couple divorced in 1979.

Morgan Freeman made his first big screen appearance in 1966, in an uncredited role in A Man Called Adam. Through the remainder of the '60s, he found work in New York theatrical productions ranging from Shakespeare, to musical comedy and contemporary drama, both on and off Broadway. Morgan Freeman made his Broadway debut in an all-African-American staging of Hello, Dolly!, in 1968.

Morgan Freeman On The Electric Company

1971 was an important year for Morgan Freeman's professional career. In addition to his first credited screen appearance in the children's film Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow?, Morgan Freeman also landed a regular gig on the PBS children's showThe Electric Company. Through to 1976, Morgan Freeman portrayed a number of characters on the series, including Mel Mounds the DJ, Mad Scientist, Count Dracula, and Easy Reader.

Morgan Freeman returned to the stage during the late '70s, and won prizes for his performances in The Mighty Gents (1978) andCoriolanus (1979). He appeared in the 1980 prison featureBrubaker, and as Hap Richards in another prison drama, the made-for-TV movie Attica.

In 1981, Morgan Freeman had parts in Eyewitness, The Marva Collins Story and Death of a Prophet, in which he portrayed Malcolm X.

Morgan Freeman In Soap Operas

That same year, Morgan Freeman landed a short-lived role as Cleete Murphy on the daytime drama Ryan's Hope. In 1982, he began a two-year engagement on another TV soap, playing Dr. Roy Bingham on Another World.

After five years as a single guy, Morgan Freeman got hitched for a second time, marrying Myrna Colley-Lee, a costume designer, in June 1984. That same year he appeared as the Messenger inGospel at Colonus at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, a role which won him an OBIE and the Dramalogue Award. He next appeared onscreen with Paul Newman in Harry and Son, and in the high school drama Teachers (both 1984).

Morgan Freeman was even busier in 1985, appearing on the big screen in Marie: A True Story and That Was Then... This Is Now, as well in the telefilm The Execution of Raymond Graham, the miniseries The Atlanta Child Murders, and an episode of The Twilight Zone.

More telefilm parts ensued, including 1986's Resting Place andFight for Life the following year.

1987 was the year things began to change dramatically for the 50-year-old actor, beginning with his stellar supporting role as a smooth yet ruthless pimp in Street Smart. Morgan Freeman earned several prestigious prizes, as well as his first Oscar nomination for his effort, and his profile began to increase as Hollywood began taking note of his talents.

Morgan Freeman Is Driving Miss Daisy

Morgan Freeman delivered another powerful performance inClean and Sober (1988), and in 1989, he played a Union sergeant in the Civil War feature Glory, high school Principal Joe Clark inLean on Me, Lt. A.Z. Drones in Johnny Handsome, and a Southern chauffeur in Driving Miss Daisy, which won him a Golden Globe, an OBIE, and his second Oscar nomination.

Following a decade that saw him rise from unknown soap opera actor to award-winning movie star, Morgan Freeman was now being offered major roles in big Hollywood pictures, including Brian De Palma's The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), The Power of One (1992), and Unforgiven (also 1992), starring Clint Eastwood.

Morgan Freeman returned to the stage for 1991's New York Shakespeare Festival, starring as Petruchio opposite Tracey Ullman, in The Taming of The Shrew. In 1993, he made his directorial debut with Bopha!, a drama set in South Africa during the era of apartheid. In 1994, he earned rave reviews for his portrayal of lifer "Red" in the prison film The Shawshank Redemption, which led to his third Oscar nod in 1995.

Morgan Freeman In Se7en

1995 found Morgan Freeman in two major theatrical thrillers,Outbreak and Se7en, followed by roles in Chain Reaction (1996),Amistad (1997) and Kiss the Girls (also 1997), where he debuted the role of detective Alex Cross.

In 1998, Morgan Freeman played U.S. President Tom Beck inDeep Impact, and costarred in the crime drama Hard Rain. He was executive producer, as well as star, of the TV movie Mutiny in 1999, and appeared in the features Nurse Betty and Under Suspicion in 2000.

In 2001, he reprised his role of Alex Cross in Along Came a Spider, and appeared in The Sum of All Fears and High Crimes in 2002.

In 2003, Morgan Freeman was busy playing God in Bruce Almighty. He was featured in Levity, which he also had a hand in producing, and Stephen King's Dreamcatcher. Morgan Freeman also received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Morgan Freeman In Batman Begins

Morgan Freeman's projects in 2004 included The Big Bounce andMillion Dollar Baby, for which he finally picked up an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor.

In 2005, he added Batman Begins, War of the Worlds, An Unfinished Life, Danny the Dog, and Edison, to his resume.

His '06 flicks included Lucky Number Slevin, 10 Items or Less andThe Contract.

Morgan Freeman In The Bucket List

In 2007, Morgan Freeman starred opposite Jack Nicholson inThe Bucket List. He also reprised his role as God in Evan Almightywith Steve Carell. The actor was hard at work that year, working on Gone, Baby Gone, which was written and directed by Ben Affleck.

His '08 movies were an impressive list of different movie genres and costars, and included the drama A Raisin in the Sun withSean Combs; the action/thriller Wanted with Angelina Jolie andJames McAvoy; The Dark Knight, which was the 2nd installment of the Batman franchise, with Christian Bale and Heath Ledger; the crime flick The Code with Antonio Banderas; and The Lonely Maiden with Christopher Walken.

2009 will see Morgan Freeman in The Human Factor, Rendezvous with Rama and The Last Full Measure.

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