Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. Known for his distinctive deep voice, Freeman has played a wide range of roles across multiple film genres over a career spanning more than five decades. He has received numerous awards, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award.

Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and raised in Mississippi, where he began acting in school plays. He studied theatre arts in Los Angeles and performed in stage productions during his early career. He gained prominence in the 1970s for his role on the children's television series *The Electric Company*. Freeman also appeared in the Shakespearean plays *Coriolanus* and *Julius Caesar*, with the former earning him an Obie Award. His breakout role came in *Street Smart* (1987), where he played a hustler, earning him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He achieved further recognition in *Glory*, the biographical drama *Lean on Me*, and the comedy-drama *Driving Miss Daisy* (all 1989), the latter of which earned him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

In 1992, Freeman starred alongside Clint Eastwood in the western revenge film *Unforgiven*, the first of several collaborations with Eastwood. In 1994, he appeared in the prison drama *The Shawshank Redemption*, for which he received another Academy Award nomination. Freeman also starred in David Fincher's crime thriller *Se7en* (1995) and Steven Spielberg's historical drama *Amistad* (1997). He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Clint Eastwood's 2004 sports drama *Million Dollar Baby*. In 2009, he received his fifth Oscar nomination for portraying former South African President Nelson Mandela in Eastwood's *Invictus*. Freeman is also known for his role as Lucius Fox in Christopher Nolan's *The Dark Knight Trilogy* (2005–2012).

In addition to acting, Freeman directed the drama *Bopha!* (1993). He co-founded the film production company Revelations Entertainment with business partner Lori McCreary. He has received the Kennedy Center Honor, the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. For his stage performances, he has won three Obie Awards, one of the most prestigious honors in theatre.