Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Jr. is an American actor, film director, and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby. He has also won a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. Morgan Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Mayme Edna (née Revere) and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Sr., a barber who died in 1961 from liver cirrhosis. Freeman was sent as an infant to his paternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi. He has three older siblings. Freeman's family moved frequently during his childhood, living in Greenwood, Mississippi; Gary, Indiana; and finally Chicago, Illinois. Freeman made his acting debut at age 9, playing the lead role in a school play. He then attended Broad Street High School, currently Threadgill Elementary School, in Mississippi. At age 12, he won a statewide drama competition, and while still at Broad Street High School, he performed in a radio show based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1955, he graduated from Broad Street High School, but turned down a partial drama scholarship from Jackson State University, opting instead to work as a mechanic in the United States Air Force. Freeman moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s and worked as a transcript clerk at Los Angeles Community College. During this period, 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 acted 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 (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. Freeman was married to Jeanette Adair Bradshaw from October 22, 1967, until 1979. He married Myrna Colley-Lee on June 16, 1984. The couple separated in December 2007. Freeman's attorney and business partner, Bill Luckett, announced in August 2008 that Freeman and his wife are in the process of divorce. He has two sons from previous relationships. He adopted his first wife's daughter and the couple also had a fourth child. Freeman lives in Charleston, Mississippi, and New York City. He has a private pilot's license, which he earned at age 65, and co-owns and operates Madidi, a fine dining restaurant, and Ground Zero, a blues club, both located in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He officially opened his second Ground Zero in Memphis, Tennessee on April 24, 2008. Freeman has publicly criticized the celebration of Black History Month and does not participate in any related events, saying, "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.
Movie | Now You See Me 3 | Thaddeus Bradley | 2025-11-13 |
Movie | My Dead Friend Zoe | Dr. Cole | 2025-02-28 |
Movie | How to Rob a Bank | Azeem (archive footage) | 2024-06-04 |
Movie | Gunner | Kendrick Ryker | 2024-08-16 |
Movie | The Ritual Killer | Dr. Mackles | 2023-03-09 |
Movie | A Good Person | Daniel | 2023-03-23 |
Movie | 57 Seconds | Anton Burrell | 2023-09-29 |
Series | 100 Years of Warner Bros. | Self - Narrator (voice) | 2023-05-25 |
Series | Lioness | Secretary of State Edwin Mullins | 2023-07-23 |
Movie | The Minute You Wake Up Dead | Sheriff Thurmond Fowler | 2022-11-04 |
Movie | Paradise Highway | Gerick | 2022-07-29 |
Movie | Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend | Self (archive footage) | 2022-11-13 |
Movie | Coming 2 America | Morgan Freeman | 2021-03-04 |
Series | Solos | Stuart | 2021-05-21 |
Movie | Vanquish | Damon | 2021-04-16 |
Movie | Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard | Senior | 2021-06-14 |
Movie | Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It | Self | 2021-06-18 |
Movie | Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking | Self | 2021-07-10 |
Movie | Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize | Self | 2020-01-07 |
Movie | The Disney Family Singalong - Volume II | Self | 2020-05-10 |
Movie | The Comeback Trail | Reggie Fontaine | 2020-11-12 |
Movie | Meeting the Beatles in India | Narrator (voice) | 2020-09-09 |
Movie | The Poison Rose | Doc | 2019-05-23 |
Movie | Angel Has Fallen | Alan Trumbull | 2019-08-21 |
Movie | Brian Banks | Jerome Johnson (uncredited) | 2019-08-09 |
Movie | America's Musical Journey | Narrator (voice) | 2018-05-17 |
Movie | The Nutcracker and the Four Realms | Drosselmeyer | 2018-10-26 |
Movie | Going in Style | Willie Davis | 2017-04-06 |
Movie | March of the Penguins 2: The Next Step | Narrator (english voice) | 2017-02-15 |
Movie | The Words That Built America | Self - Reader - Declaration of Independence | 2017-07-04 |
Series | The Story of Us with Morgan Freeman | Self - Host | 2017-10-11 |
Movie | Just Getting Started | Duke | 2017-12-01 |
Movie | Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies | Self | 2017-11-12 |
Series | The Story of God with Morgan Freeman | Self - Host | 2016-04-03 |
Movie | London Has Fallen | Alan Trumbull | 2016-03-02 |
Movie | The C Word | Narrator (voice) | 2016-07-28 |
Movie | Now You See Me 2 | Thaddeus Bradley | 2016-06-02 |
Movie | Ben-Hur | Sheik Ilderim | 2016-08-17 |
Movie | Ted 2 | Patrick Meighan | 2015-06-25 |
Movie | Last Knights | Bartok | 2015-04-03 |
Movie | Momentum | Senator | 2015-10-15 |
Movie | Transcendence | Joseph Tagger | 2014-04-16 |
Movie | Island of Lemurs: Madagascar | Narrator (voice) | 2014-04-03 |
Movie | The Lego Movie | Vitruvius (voice) | 2014-02-06 |
Movie | Wish Wizard | Maxwell Omni | 2014-04-29 |
Movie | We the People | Narrator (voice) | 2014-01-06 |
Movie | 5 Flights Up | Alex Carver | 2014-05-10 |
Movie | Dolphin Tale 2 | Dr. Cameron McCarthy | 2014-09-11 |
Movie | Lennon or McCartney | Himself (archive footage) | 2014-12-12 |
Movie | Lucy | Professor Samuel Norman | 2014-07-25 |
Movie | Olympus Has Fallen | Alan Trumbull | 2013-03-20 |
Movie | Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot | Self | 2013-01-15 |
Movie | The Editor and The Dragon: Horace Carter Fights the Klan | Narrator (voice) | 2013-01-01 |
Movie | Oblivion | Beech | 2013-04-10 |
Movie | Now You See Me | Thaddeus Bradley | 2013-05-29 |
Movie | JFK: A President Betrayed | Narrator (voice) | 2013-11-23 |
Movie | Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story | Self | 2013-04-27 |
Movie | Last Vegas | Archibald 'Archie' Clayton | 2013-10-31 |
Movie | The Fire Rises: The Creation and Impact of The Dark Knight Trilogy | Self (archive footage) | 2013-09-24 |
Movie | Echoes 'Cross the Tracks | Self | 2012-03-01 |
Movie | Le frontiere dell'Astronomia - EP-7 Vite aliene nel cosmo | Narratore | 2012-03-21 |
Movie | Betty White's 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America's Golden Girl | Self | 2012-01-16 |
Movie | B.B. King: The Life of Riley | Narrator (voice) | 2012-10-15 |
Movie | The Magic of Belle Isle | Monte Wildhorn | 2012-07-06 |
Movie | Ending the Knight | Self | 2012-12-04 |
Movie | The Dark Knight Rises | Lucius Fox | 2012-07-17 |
Movie | Breaking the Taboo | Narrator (voice) | 2011-06-03 |
Movie | Born to Be Wild | Narrator (voice) | 2011-04-08 |
Movie | Clint Eastwood's West | Self | 2011-07-06 |
Series | Curiosity | Self - Narrator (voice) | 2011-08-07 |
Movie | Conan the Barbarian | Narrator (voice) | 2011-08-17 |
Movie | Dolphin Tale | Dr. McCarthy | 2011-09-22 |
Movie | The Eastwood Factor | Narrator (voice) | 2010-02-16 |
Movie | Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy | Self (archive footage) | 2010-05-04 |
Movie | For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots | Self (voice) | 2010-01-01 |
Movie | The President's Photographer: Fifty Years Inside the Oval Office | Narrator (voice) | 2010-11-24 |
Movie | Wild Ride | 2010-06-01 | |
Movie | RED | Joe Matheson | 2010-10-13 |
Series | Through the Wormhole | Self - Host | 2010-06-09 |
Movie | Prom Night in Mississippi | Narrator (voice) | 2009-01-15 |
Movie | Thick as Thieves | Keith Ripley | 2009-01-09 |
Movie | The Maiden Heist | Charles Peterson | 2009-05-09 |
Series | 30 for 30 | Unknown | 2009-10-06 |
Movie | The People Speak | Self | 2009-12-13 |
Series | Live from Studio Five | Unknown | 2009-09-14 |
Movie | Invictus | Nelson Mandela | 2009-12-11 |
Movie | Wanted | Sloan | 2008-06-19 |
Movie | A Raisin in the Sun | Narrator (voice) (uncredited) | 2008-02-25 |
Movie | The Love Guru | (Voice) | 2008-06-20 |
Movie | The Dark Knight | Lucius Fox | 2008-07-16 |
Movie | AFI: 100 Years... 100 Movies... 10th Anniversary Edition | Self | 2007-06-20 |
Series | The Graham Norton Show | Himself | 2007-02-22 |
Movie | Evan Almighty | God | 2007-06-09 |
Movie | Gone Baby Gone | Jack Doyle | 2007-09-18 |
Movie | Feast of Love | Harry Stevenson | 2007-09-28 |
Movie | The Bucket List | Carter Chambers | 2007-12-25 |
Movie | All About Us | Self | 2007-10-01 |
Movie | The Contract | Frank Carden | 2006-04-05 |
Movie | Lucky Number Slevin | The Boss | 2006-02-24 |
Movie | The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays | Jaques (segment "As You Like It") | 2006-05-02 |
Movie | The Electric Company's Greatest Hits & Bits | Self | 2006-11-25 |
Movie | Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters | Self | 2006-06-13 |
Movie | 10 Items or Less | 'Him' | 2006-09-11 |
Series | Slavery and the Making of America | Self - Narrator (voice) | 2005-02-09 |
Movie | Unleashed | Sam | 2005-02-02 |
Movie | March of the Penguins | Narrator (English voice) | 2005-01-26 |
Movie | Batman Begins | Lucius Fox | 2005-06-10 |
Movie | Blues Divas | Self | 2005-01-22 |
Movie | Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon | Neil Armstrong (voice) | 2005-09-23 |
Movie | War of the Worlds | Narrator (voice) | 2005-06-28 |
Movie | An Unfinished Life | Mitch Bradley | 2005-09-09 |
Movie | A Concert for Hurricane Relief | Self | 2005-09-02 |
Movie | Edison | Ashford | 2005-07-29 |
Movie | The Hunting of the President | Narrator (voice) | 2004-04-27 |
Movie | The Big Bounce | Walter Crewes | 2004-01-30 |
Movie | Genius. A Night for Ray Charles | Self | 2004-10-07 |
Movie | Million Dollar Baby | Eddie 'Scrap-Iron' Dupris | 2004-12-15 |
Movie | Dreamcatcher | Col. Abraham Curtis | 2003-03-21 |
Movie | Levity | Miles Evans | 2003-03-16 |
Movie | Bruce Almighty | God | 2003-05-23 |
Movie | Declaration of Independence | Self | 2003-06-10 |
Movie | Guilty by Association | Lt. Redding | 2003-07-22 |
Series | The Ellen DeGeneres Show | Unknown | 2003-09-08 |
Movie | The Sum of All Fears | DCI William Cabot | 2002-05-31 |
Movie | High Crimes | Charlie Grimes | 2002-04-05 |
Series | The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius | Unknown | 2002-07-20 |
Movie | Eastwood & Co.: Making 'Unforgiven' | Self | 2002-09-24 |
Movie | Along Came a Spider | Alex Cross | 2001-04-06 |
Movie | Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature | Self | 2001-09-08 |
Movie | Nurse Betty | Charlie | 2000-08-30 |
Movie | Under Suspicion | Captain Victor Benezet | 2000-08-24 |
Movie | Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows | Narrator (voice) | 2000-09-27 |
Series | Family Guy | Unknown | 1999-01-31 |
Movie | Water Damage | Tom Preedy | 1999-07-30 |
Movie | The Life Before This | Paper Boy | 1999-09-15 |
Movie | Stephen King: Shining in the Dark | Self | 1999-09-09 |
Movie | Hard Rain | Jim | 1998-01-16 |
Movie | Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist | Self | 1998-01-01 |
Movie | Deep Impact | President Tom Beck | 1998-05-08 |
Movie | 54 | Angelic Boy | 1998-08-28 |
Series | King of the Hill | Unknown | 1997-01-12 |
Movie | The Long Way Home | Narrator (voice) | 1997-09-19 |
Series | The View | Unknown | 1997-08-11 |
Movie | Kiss the Girls | Alex Cross | 1997-09-29 |
Movie | Amistad | Theodore Joadson | 1997-12-10 |
Movie | Inside the White House | Narrator (voice) | 1996-01-01 |
Movie | Moll Flanders | Hibble | 1996-06-14 |
Movie | Cosmic Voyage | Narrator (voice) | 1996-08-09 |
Movie | Chain Reaction | Paul Shannon | 1996-08-02 |
Movie | Outbreak | General Billy Ford | 1995-03-10 |
Movie | Se7en | Somerset | 1995-09-22 |
Series | Inside the Actors Studio | Unknown | 1994-08-14 |
Movie | The Shawshank Redemption | Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding | 1994-09-23 |
Series | Late Night with Conan O'Brien | Unknown | 1993-09-13 |
Series | The Tonight Show with Jay Leno | Unknown | 1992-05-25 |
Movie | The Power of One | Geel Piet | 1992-03-27 |
Movie | Unforgiven | Ned Logan | 1992-08-07 |
Movie | The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry | Narrator (voice) | 1991-01-01 |
Movie | Robin Hood: The Myth, the Man, the Movie | Self | 1991-06-13 |
Movie | Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves | Azeem | 1991-06-14 |
Series | Pebble Mill | Unknown | 1991-10-14 |
Movie | The True Story of Glory Continues | Narrator (voice) | 1991-06-19 |
Movie | The Earth Day Special | Walter Samson | 1990-04-22 |
Movie | Night of 100 Stars III | Self | 1990-05-21 |
Movie | The Bonfire of the Vanities | Judge Leonard White | 1990-12-21 |
Series | The Civil War | Frederick Douglass | 1990-09-23 |
Movie | Johnny Handsome | Lt. A.Z. Drones | 1989-09-12 |
Movie | Lean On Me | Principal Joe Clark | 1989-03-03 |
Movie | Driving Miss Daisy | Hoke Colburn | 1989-12-13 |
Movie | Glory | Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins | 1989-12-15 |
Movie | Clinton and Nadine | Dorsey Pratt | 1988-05-04 |
Movie | Clean and Sober | Craig | 1988-08-10 |
Series | LIVE with Kelly and Mark | Unknown | 1988-09-05 |
Movie | Street Smart | Leo "Fast Black" Smalls, Jr. | 1987-03-20 |
Movie | Fight for Life | Dr. Sherard | 1987-03-23 |
Movie | Resting Place | Luther Johnson | 1986-04-27 |
Series | The Atlanta Child Murders | Ben Shelter | 1985-02-10 |
Movie | The Execution of Raymond Graham | Warden Pratt | 1985-11-17 |
Movie | Marie: A True Story | Charles Traughber | 1985-09-27 |
Series | The Twilight Zone | Unknown | 1985-09-27 |
Movie | That Was Then... This Is Now | Charlie Woods | 1985-11-08 |
Movie | Harry & Son | Siemanowski | 1984-03-02 |
Movie | Teachers | Lewis | 1984-10-05 |
Movie | Death of a Prophet | Malcolm X | 1981-01-01 |
Movie | Eyewitness | Lieutenant Black | 1981-02-13 |
Movie | The Marva Collins Story | Clarence Collins | 1981-12-01 |
Movie | Brubaker | Walter | 1980-06-20 |
Movie | Attica | Hap Richards | 1980-03-02 |
Series | Texas | Detective Michaels | 1980-08-04 |
Movie | Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry | Uncle Hammer | 1978-06-02 |
Series | The Kennedy Center Honors | Unknown | 1978-12-28 |
Movie | Out to Lunch | Self / Croupier | 1974-12-10 |
Movie | Blade | Chris | 1973-12-01 |
Series | The Electric Company | Easy Reader | 1971-10-25 |
Movie | Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow! | Afro | 1971-11-18 |
Movie | Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? | Grand Central Commuter (uncredited) | 1968-06-19 |
Movie | A Man Called Adam | Party Guest (uncredited) | 1966-03-16 |
Movie | The Pawnbroker | Man on Street (Uncredited) | 1965-04-20 |
Series | Another World | 1964-05-04 | |
Series | The Oscars | Morgan Freeman | 1953-03-19 |
Series | Today | Unknown | 1952-01-14 |
Series | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Unknown | 1951-12-24 |