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Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an Academy Award-winning American actor, film director, and regular film narrator. He became known during the 1990s, after having appeared in a series of successful Hollywood films.

Biography

Early life

Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee to Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Sr., a barber who died in 1961 from liver cirrhosis, and Mayme Edna Revere, a cleaner.^[1] He has three older siblings. Freeman's family moved frequently during his childhood, and had lived in Greenwood, Mississippi; Gary, Indiana; and finally Chicago, Illinois. Freeman made his acting debut at the age of eight, playing the lead role in a school play. At the age of twelve, he won a state-wide drama competition and while in high school he performed in a radio show based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1955, he turned down a partial drama scholarship from Jackson State University, choosing instead to work as a mechanic in the United States Air Force.

Morgan Freeman is God. For all those who wish to be saved by his holiness hear this! He is the Lord and will strike down upon non-believers with a mighty and terrible anger. Freemaniacs gather and rejoice!

Freeman moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s, and worked as a transcript clerk at Los Angeles Community College. During this time, he also lived in New York City, working as a dancer at the 1964 World's Fair, and in San Francisco, where he was a member of the Opera Ring music group. Freeman made his acting debut in a touring company version of The Royal Hunt of the Sun, and also appeared as an extra in the 1965 film, The Pawnbroker. He made his off-Broadway debut in 1967, opposite Viveca Lindfors in The Nigger Lovers^[2]^[3] (about the civil-rights era "Freedom Riders"), before debuting on Broadway in 1968's all-black version of Hello, Dolly!, which also starred Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway.

Career

Although his first credited film appearance was in 1971's Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow?, Freeman first became known in the American media through roles on the soap opera Another World and the PBS kids' show The Electric Company, (notably as Easy Reader and Dracula) which he claimed he should have left earlier than planned.

It was my idea to just do The Electric Company for a couple of years and go on. But, you get trapped by that money thing. It's golden handcuffs. It gets a lot of people, including soap opera actors and commercial actors. Then, they don't want to see you in serious work. That was going to be me, having people come up to me saying "My kids love you!". I was there three years too long.

Beginning in the mid-1980s, Freeman began playing prominent supporting roles in many feature films, earning him a reputation for depicting wise and fatherly characters. As he gained fame, he went on to bigger roles in films such as the chauffeur Hoke in Driving Miss Daisy, and Sergeant Major Rawlins in Glory (both 1989). In 1994 he portrayed Red, the redeemed convict in the acclaimed The Shawshank Redemption. His star power was already confirmed as he starred in some of the biggest films of the 1990s, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Se7en, and Deep Impact. In 1997, Freeman, together with Lori McCreary, founded the movie production company Revelations Entertainment, and the two head its sister online movie distribution company ClickStar. Freeman also hosts the channel "Our Space" on Clickstar, with specially crafted film clips where he shares his love for the sciences, especially space exploration and flight.

Freeman is recognized for his distinctive voice, making him a frequent choice for narration. In 2005 alone, he provided narration for two of the most successful films of the year, War of the Worlds and the Academy Award-winning documentary film, March of the Penguins. After three previous nominations (a supporting actor nomination for Street Smart, 1987, and leading actor nominations for Driving Miss Daisy, 1989, and The Shawshank Redemption, 1994), he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Million Dollar Baby at the 77th Academy Awards.

In 2006, Freeman began filming Rob Reiner's The Bucket List, opposite Jack Nicholson, playing dying men who must fulfill their list of goals. The film is scheduled to be released in 2007.

Personal life

Freeman was married to Jeanette Adair Bradshaw from October 22, 1967 until 1979. He has been married to Myrna Colley-Lee since June 16, 1984. He has two sons, Alphonso and Saifoulaye, from previous relationships. He adopted his first wife's daughter, Deena, and the couple also had a fourth child, Morgana. Freeman lives in Charleston, Mississippi and New York City. He has a private pilot's license, and co-owns and operates Madidi, a fine dining restaurant, and Ground Zero, a blues club, both located in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Freeman has come out publicly against the celebration of Black History Month and does not participate in any related events, saying that "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history." He says the only way to end racism is to stop talking about it, and he notes that there is no "white history month." Freeman once said on an interview with 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace: "I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man".^[4]

On Saturday October 28, 2006, Freeman was honored at the 1st Mississippi's Best Awards in Jackson, Mississippi with the Lifetime Achievement Award award for his tireless works on and off the big screen. "He's been like a father figure to me," related C. A. Webb, the event's founder. "Mr. Freeman is one of those men who you cannot help but respect, no matter what role he plays".^{[citation needed]}

Freeman received an honorary degree of Doctor of Arts and Letters from Delta State University during the school's commencement exercises on May 13, 2006.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	The Electric Company		television series
1978	Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry	Uncle Hammer	made-for-television
1980	Brubaker	Walter
1981	The Marva Collins Story	Clarence Collins	made-for-television
1984	Teachers	Al Lewis
1985	Marie	Charles Traughber
1987	Street Smart	Fast Black	Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor
1987	Fight For Life	Dr. Sherard	made-for-television
1989	Glory	Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins
	Driving Miss Daisy	Hoke Colburn	Academy Award nominee for Best Actor
	Lean on Me	Principal Joe Clark
1990	The Bonfire of the Vanities	Judge Leonard White
1991	Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves	Azeem
1992	Unforgiven	Ned Logan
1992	The Power of One	Geel Piet
1993	Bopha!		director only
1994	The Shawshank Redemption	Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding	Academy Award nominee for Best Actor
1995	Se7en	Detective Lt. William Somerset
1995	Outbreak	Brig. Gen. Billy Ford
1996	Chain Reaction	Paul Shannon
1996	Moll Flanders	Hibble
1997	Amistad	Theodore Joadson
1997	Kiss The Girls	Dr. Alex Cross
1998	Deep Impact	President Tom Beck
1998	Hard Rain	Jim
2000	Nurse Betty	Charlie
2000	Under Suspicion	Victor Benzet
2001	Along Came a Spider	Dr. Alex Cross
2002	The Sum of All Fears	DCI William Cabot
2002	High Crimes	Charlie Grimes
2003	Bruce Almighty	God
2003	Dreamcatcher	Col. Abraham Kurtz
2004	Million Dollar Baby	Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris	Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor
	The Hunting of the President	(Narrator)	limited release
	The Big Bounce	Walter Crewes
2005	An Unfinished Life	Mitch Bradley
	War of the Worlds	(Narrator)
	March of the Penguins	(Narrator)
	Batman Begins	Lucius Fox
	Unleashed	Sam
2006	Edison Force	Ashford
	Lucky Number Slevin	The Boss
	10 Items or Less	Him	Limited release. Became the first film to be legally available via digital download while still in general release (via ClickStar [1].)
2007	Evan Almighty	God
2007	The Bucket List
2008	Wanted	Sloan
2008	The Dark Knight	Lucius Fox

Awards

1987 Nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, in Street Smart.
1989 Nominated for Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as a chauffeur, in Driving Miss Daisy.
1994 Nominated for Academy Award for Best Actor, in The Shawshank Redemption.
2003 Received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.
2005 Won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, in Million Dollar Baby.
2006 guest of honor at the Cairo International Film Festival

Preceded by Tom Hanks for Big	Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy 1990 for Driving Miss Daisy	Succeeded by Gérard Depardieu for Green Card
Preceded by Tim Robbins for Mystic River	Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor 2004 for Million Dollar Baby	Succeeded by George Clooney for Syriana
Preceded by Tim Robbins for Mystic River	Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture 2004 for Million Dollar Baby	Succeeded by Paul Giamatti for Cinderella Man

Footnotes

^ http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/morganfreeman/
^ Biography for Morgan Freeman, IMDB.com database, retrieved 16 Mar 2007
^ Morgan Freeman Biography, tiscali.co.uk Film & TV, retrieved 16 Mar 2007]
^ http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10482634/

External links

Morgan Freeman at IMDb
ClickStar headed by Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary
Morgan Freeman at All Movie Guide
Revelations Entertainment Production company co-founded by Freeman
A detailed biography of his history as an actor

Template:Persondata

[1] ttp://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/morganfreeman/

[2] Biography for Morgan Freeman, IMDB.com database, retrieved 16 Mar 2007

[3] Morgan Freeman Biography, tiscali.co.uk Film & TV, retrieved 16 Mar 2007]

[4] ttp://msnbc.msn.com/id/10482634/

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@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 ===Early life===
 Freeman was born in [[Memphis, Tennessee]] to Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Sr., a barber who died in 1961 from liver [[cirrhosis]], and Mayme Edna Revere, a cleaner.<ref>http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/morganfreeman/</ref> He has three older siblings. Freeman's family moved frequently during his childhood, and had lived in [[Greenwood, Mississippi]]; [[Gary, Indiana]]; and finally [[Chicago|Chicago, Illinois]]. Freeman made his acting debut at the age of eight, playing the lead role in a school play. At the age of twelve, he won a state-wide drama competition and while in high school he performed in a radio show based in [[Nashville, Tennessee]]. In 1955, he turned down a partial drama scholarship from [[Jackson State University]], choosing instead to work as a mechanic in the [[United States Air Force]].
+Morgan Freeman is God. For all those who wish to be saved by his holiness hear this! He is the Lord and will strike down upon non-believers with a mighty and terrible anger. Freemaniacs gather and rejoice!
 Freeman moved to [[Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles]] in the early [[1960s]], and worked as a transcript clerk at Los Angeles Community College. During this time, he also lived in [[New York City]], working as a dancer at the [[1964 World's Fair]], and in [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], where he was a member of the Opera Ring music group. Freeman made his acting debut in a touring company version of ''[[The Royal Hunt of the Sun]],'' and also appeared as an extra in the 1965 film, ''[[The Pawnbroker]].'' He made his [[off-Broadway]] debut in 1967, opposite [[Viveca Lindfors]] in ''The Nigger Lovers''<ref>[http://imdb.com/name/nm0000151/bio Biography for Morgan Freeman], IMDB.com database, retrieved 16 Mar 2007</ref><ref>[http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/biographies/morgan_freeman_biog/3 Morgan Freeman Biography], tiscali.co.uk Film & TV, retrieved 16 Mar 2007]</ref> (about the [[American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)|civil-rights era]] "[[Freedom Ride]]rs"), before debuting on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in 1968's all-black version of ''[[Hello, Dolly! (musical)|Hello, Dolly!]],'' which also starred [[Pearl Bailey]] and [[Cab Calloway]].