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 | Hate to See You Go | Sonny Bell | 2025 |
Series | The Promised Land | Self - Narrator (voice) | 2025 |
Series | Rabbit Ears Productions | Unknown | 2025 |
Series | Smithsonian Channel's Sound Revolution | Unknown | 2025 |
Series | Mississippi Rising | Unknown | 2025 |
Movie | Gunner | Kendrick Ryker | 2024-06-06 |
Movie | A Good Person | Daniel | 2023-03-23 |
Series | Life on Our Planet | Self - Narrator (voice) | 2023-10-25 |
Movie | 57 Seconds | Anton Burrell | 2023-09-29 |
Series | Special Ops: Lioness | Edwin Mullins | 2023-07-23 |
Series | 100 Years of Warner Bros. | Self - Narrator (voice) | 2023-05-25 |
Movie | The Ritual Killer | Dr. Mackles | 2023-03-09 |
Movie | Sidney | Self | 2022-09-10 |
Movie | The Minute You Wake Up Dead | Sheriff Thurmond Fowler | 2022-11-04 |
Movie | Paradise Highway | Gerick | 2022-07-29 |
Movie | Betty White: A Celebration | Self | 2022-01-17 |
Movie | Coming 2 America | Morgan Freeman | 2021-03-04 |
Movie | Vanquish | Damon | 2021-04-16 |
Movie | Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It | Self | 2021-06-18 |
Series | Solos | Stuart | 2021-05-21 |
Movie | Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy | Self | 2021-09-09 |
Movie | Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking | Self | 2021-07-10 |
Movie | Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard | Senior | 2021-06-14 |
Movie | Meeting the Beatles in India | Narrator (voice) | 2020-09-09 |
Movie | The Comeback Trail | Reggie Fontaine | 2020-11-12 |
Movie | The Disney Family Singalong - Volume II | Self | 2020-05-10 |
Movie | Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize | Self | 2020-01-07 |
Movie | Brian Banks | Jerome Johnson (uncredited) | 2019-08-09 |
Movie | Angel Has Fallen | Alan Trumbull | 2019-08-21 |
Movie | The Poison Rose | Doc | 2019-05-23 |
Movie | The Nutcracker and the Four Realms | Drosselmeyer | 2018-10-26 |
Movie | Alpha | Narrator (voice) | 2018-08-17 |
Movie | America's Musical Journey | Narrator (voice) | 2018-05-17 |
Movie | Just Getting Started | Duke | 2017-12-01 |
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 | Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies | Self | 2017-11-12 |
Movie | The Words That Built America | Reader - Declaration of Independence | 2017-07-04 |
Movie | The C Word | Narrator (voice) | 2016-07-28 |
Movie | Ben-Hur | Sheik Ilderim | 2016-08-17 |
Movie | Now You See Me 2 | Thaddeus Bradley | 2016-06-02 |
Series | The Story of God with Morgan Freeman | Self - Host | 2016-04-03 |
Movie | London Has Fallen | Alan Trumbull | 2016-03-02 |
Movie | Last Knights | Bartok | 2015-04-03 |
Movie | Momentum | Senator | 2015-10-15 |
Movie | Ted 2 | Patrick Meighan | 2015-06-25 |
Movie | We the People | Narrator (voice) | 2014-01-06 |
Movie | The Lego Movie | Vitruvius (voice) | 2014-02-06 |
Movie | Wish Wizard | Maxwell Omni | 2014-04-29 |
Movie | Dolphin Tale 2 | Dr. Cameron McCarthy | 2014-09-11 |
Movie | Lennon or McCartney | Self (archive footage) | 2014-12-12 |
Movie | Island of Lemurs: Madagascar | Narrator (voice) | 2014-04-03 |
Movie | 5 Flights Up | Alex Carver | 2014-09-05 |
Movie | Lucy | Professor Samuel Norman | 2014-07-25 |
Movie | Transcendence | Joseph Tagger | 2014-04-16 |
Movie | The Editor and The Dragon: Horace Carter Fights the Klan | Narrator (voice) | 2013-01-01 |
Movie | Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot | Self | 2013-01-15 |
Movie | Now You See Me | Thaddeus Bradley | 2013-05-29 |
Movie | Last Vegas | Archibald 'Archie' Clayton | 2013-10-31 |
Movie | Olympus Has Fallen | Alan Trumbull | 2013-03-20 |
Movie | The Fire Rises: The Creation and Impact of The Dark Knight Trilogy | Self (archive footage) | 2013-09-24 |
Movie | Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story | Self | 2013-04-27 |
Movie | Oblivion | Beech | 2013-04-10 |
Movie | JFK: A President Betrayed | Narrator (voice) | 2013-11-23 |
Movie | Le frontiere dell'Astronomia - EP-7 Vite aliene nel cosmo | Narratore | 2012-03-21 |
Movie | Ending the Knight | Self | 2012-12-04 |
Movie | B.B. King: The Life of Riley | Narrator (voice) | 2012-10-15 |
Movie | The Dark Knight Rises | Lucius Fox | 2012-07-17 |
Movie | The Magic of Belle Isle | Monte Wildhorn | 2012-07-06 |
Movie | Betty White's 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America's Golden Girl | Self | 2012-01-16 |
Movie | Conan the Barbarian | Narrator (voice) | 2011-08-17 |
Movie | Dolphin Tale | Dr. McCarthy | 2011-09-22 |
Movie | Born to Be Wild | Narrator (voice) | 2011-04-08 |
Movie | Clint Eastwood's West | Self | 2011-07-06 |
Movie | Breaking the Taboo | Narrator (voice) | 2011-06-03 |
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 | RED | Joe Matheson | 2010-10-13 |
Series | Through the Wormhole | Self - Host | 2010-06-09 |
Movie | Wild Ride | 2010-06-01 | |
Movie | The Eastwood Factor | Narrator (voice) | 2010-02-16 |
Movie | Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy | Self (archive footage) | 2010-05-04 |
Movie | Thick as Thieves | Keith Ripley | 2009-01-09 |
Movie | Prom Night in Mississippi | Narrator (voice) | 2009-01-15 |
Series | 30 for 30 | Unknown | 2009-10-06 |
Movie | Invictus | Nelson Mandela | 2009-12-10 |
Movie | The Maiden Heist | Charles Peterson | 2009-05-09 |
Movie | The People Speak | Self | 2009-12-13 |
Series | Live from Studio Five | Unknown | 2009-09-14 |
Movie | The Dark Knight | Lucius Fox | 2008-07-16 |
Movie | The Love Guru | (Voice) | 2008-06-20 |
Movie | Wanted | Sloan | 2008-06-19 |
Movie | A Raisin in the Sun | Narrator (voice) (uncredited) | 2008-02-25 |
Movie | Gone Baby Gone | Jack Doyle | 2007-09-18 |
Movie | The Bucket List | Carter Chambers | 2007-12-25 |
Movie | All About Us | Self | 2007-10-01 |
Movie | Feast of Love | Harry Stevenson | 2007-09-28 |
Movie | AFI: 100 Years... 100 Movies... 10th Anniversary Edition | Self | 2007-06-20 |
Movie | Evan Almighty | God | 2007-06-09 |
Movie | 10 Items or Less | 'Him' | 2006-09-11 |
Movie | Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters | Self | 2006-06-13 |
Movie | The Electric Company's Greatest Hits & Bits | Self | 2006-11-25 |
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 Contract | Frank Carden | 2006-04-05 |
Movie | Blues Divas | Self | 2005-01-22 |
Movie | March of the Penguins | Narrator (English voice) | 2005-01-26 |
Movie | A Concert for Hurricane Relief | Self | 2005-09-02 |
Movie | Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon | Neil Armstrong (voice) | 2005-09-23 |
Movie | Batman Begins | Lucius Fox | 2005-06-10 |
Movie | War of the Worlds | Narrator (voice) | 2005-06-28 |
Movie | Unleashed | Sam | 2005-02-02 |
Series | Slavery and the Making of America | Self - Narrator (voice) | 2005-02-09 |
Movie | An Unfinished Life | Mitch Bradley | 2005-09-09 |
Movie | Edison | Ashford | 2005-07-29 |
Movie | The Big Bounce | Walter Crewes | 2004-01-30 |
Movie | Million Dollar Baby | Eddie 'Scrap-Iron' Dupris | 2004-12-15 |
Movie | Genius. A Night for Ray Charles | Self | 2004-10-07 |
Movie | The Hunting of the President | Narrator (voice) | 2004-04-27 |
Movie | Declaration of Independence | Self | 2003-06-10 |
Series | The Ellen DeGeneres Show | Unknown | 2003-09-08 |
Movie | Guilty by Association | Lt. Redding | 2003-07-22 |
Movie | Bruce Almighty | God | 2003-05-23 |
Movie | Dreamcatcher | Col. Abraham Curtis | 2003-03-21 |
Movie | Levity | Miles Evans | 2003-03-16 |
Series | The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius | Unknown | 2002-07-20 |
Movie | All on Accounta Pullin' a Trigger | Self | 2002-09-24 |
Movie | High Crimes | Charlie Grimes | 2002-04-05 |
Movie | The Sum of All Fears | DCI William Cabot | 2002-05-31 |
Movie | Partners of the Heart | Narrator (voice) | 2002-06-01 |
Movie | Eastwood & Co.: Making 'Unforgiven' | Self | 2002-09-24 |
Movie | Along Came a Spider | Alex Cross | 2001-04-06 |
Movie | Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows | Narrator (voice) | 2000-09-27 |
Movie | Under Suspicion | Captain Victor Benezet | 2000-08-24 |
Movie | Nurse Betty | Charlie | 2000-08-30 |
Movie | Stephen King: Shining in the Dark | Self | 1999-09-09 |
Movie | The Life Before This | Paper Boy | 1999-09-15 |
Movie | Water Damage | Tom Preedy | 1999-07-30 |
Movie | Deep Impact | President Tom Beck | 1998-05-08 |
Movie | Hard Rain | Jim | 1998-01-16 |
Movie | 54 | Angelic Boy | 1998-08-28 |
Movie | Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist | Self | 1998-01-01 |
Movie | Eastwood on Eastwood | Himself (archive footage) | 1997-11-01 |
Movie | Amistad | Theodore Joadson | 1997-12-10 |
Movie | The Long Way Home | Narrator (voice) | 1997-09-19 |
Series | The View | Unknown | 1997-08-11 |
Series | King of the Hill | Unknown | 1997-01-12 |
Movie | Kiss the Girls | Alex Cross | 1997-09-29 |
Movie | Inside the White House | Narrator (voice) | 1996-01-01 |
Movie | Cosmic Voyage | Narrator (voice) | 1996-08-09 |
Movie | Chain Reaction | Paul Shannon | 1996-08-02 |
Movie | Moll Flanders | Hibble | 1996-06-14 |
Movie | Se7en | Detective Lt. William Somerset | 1995-09-22 |
Movie | Outbreak | General Billy Ford | 1995-03-10 |
Movie | The Shawshank Redemption | Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding | 1994-09-23 |
Movie | A Century of Cinema | Self | 1994-01-01 |
Series | Inside the Actors Studio | Unknown | 1994-08-14 |
Series | Late Night with Conan O'Brien | Unknown | 1993-09-13 |
Movie | Unforgiven | Ned Logan | 1992-08-07 |
Series | The Tonight Show with Jay Leno | Unknown | 1992-05-25 |
Movie | The Power of One | Geel Piet | 1992-03-27 |
Series | Pebble Mill | Unknown | 1991-10-14 |
Movie | Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves | Azeem | 1991-06-14 |
Movie | The True Story of Glory Continues | Narrator (voice) | 1991-06-19 |
Series | The Civil War | Frederick Douglass | 1990-09-23 |
Movie | The Bonfire of the Vanities | Judge Leonard White | 1990-12-21 |
Movie | Night of 100 Stars III | Self | 1990-05-21 |
Movie | The Earth Day Special | Walter Samson | 1990-04-22 |
Movie | Lean On Me | Principal Joe Clark | 1989-03-03 |
Movie | Glory | Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins | 1989-12-15 |
Movie | Driving Miss Daisy | Hoke Colburn | 1989-12-13 |
Movie | Johnny Handsome | Lt. A.Z. Drones | 1989-09-12 |
Movie | Clinton and Nadine | Dorsey Pratt | 1988-05-04 |
Series | LIVE with Kelly and Mark | Unknown | 1988-09-05 |
Movie | Clean and Sober | Craig | 1988-08-10 |
Movie | Fight for Life | Dr. Sherard | 1987-03-23 |
Movie | Street Smart | Leo "Fast Black" Smalls, Jr. | 1987-03-20 |
Movie | Resting Place | Luther Johnson | 1986-04-27 |
Movie | That Was Then... This Is Now | Charlie Woods | 1985-11-08 |
Series | The Twilight Zone | Unknown | 1985-09-27 |
Movie | Marie | Charles Traughber | 1985-09-27 |
Movie | The Execution of Raymond Graham | Warden Pratt | 1985-11-17 |
Series | The Atlanta Child Murders | Ben Shelter | 1985-02-10 |
Movie | Teachers | Lewis | 1984-10-05 |
Movie | Harry and Son | Siemanowski | 1984-03-02 |
Movie | The Marva Collins Story | Clarence Collins | 1981-12-01 |
Movie | Death of a Prophet | Malcolm X | 1981-01-01 |
Movie | Eyewitness | Lieutenant Black | 1981-02-13 |
Series | Texas | Detective Michaels | 1980-08-04 |
Movie | Brubaker | Walter | 1980-06-20 |
Movie | Attica | Hap Richards | 1980-03-02 |
Movie | Coriolanus | Coriolanus | 1979-03-31 |
Movie | Hollow Image | Sweet Talk | 1979-06-24 |
Movie | Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry | Uncle Hammer | 1978-06-02 |
Series | The Kennedy Center Honors | Unknown | 1978-12-28 |
Series | Ryan's Hope | Cicero Murphy | 1975-07-07 |
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 | 1968-06-19 |
Movie | A Man Called Adam | Party Guest (Uncredited) | 1966-03-16 |
Series | Another World | 1964-05-04 | |
Movie | The Pawnbroker | Man on Street (Uncredited) | 1964-06-01 |
Series | The Oscars | Unknown | 1953-03-19 |
Series | Today | Unknown | 1952-01-14 |
Series | Hallmark Hall of Fame | Unknown | 1951-12-24 |