Morgan Freeman
Memphis, United States
Morgan Freeman became known nationally when he created the popular character Easy Reader on the highly praised public television children?s show The Electric Company, although he was already known in New York?s theater circles for the critical body of work and characters he had created there. Freeman won the Drama Desk Award, the Clarence Derwent Award and received a Tony Award Nomination for his outstanding performance in 'The Mighty Gents' in 1978, and received more acclaim and an Obie Award for his appearance as the Shakespearean anti-hero Coriolanus at the New York Shakespeare Festival.
He earned his second Oscar® nomination in 1989 for re-creating his award-winning Broadway role in "Driving Miss Daisy" and his third for Frank Darabont’s 1994 drama "The Shawshank Redemption".
Freeman’s recent film credits include Luc Besson’s "Unleashed" ; Robert Redford’s "An Unfinished Life" ; "Batman Begins" ; "Lucky Number Slevin" ; the comedy "Bruce Almighty" and its sequel, "Evan Almighty" ; Ben Affleck’s "Gone Baby Gone" ; Robert Benton’s "Feast of Love" ; the Academy Award®-winning documentary "March of the Penguins", for which he provided the narration ;Rob Reiner’s "The Bucket List", the next chapter in the Batman saga, "The Dark Knight".
The Memphis-born actor began his career on New York stages in the early 1960s, following a stint as a mechanic in the air force. A decade later, he became a nationally known television personality when he created the popular character Easy Reader on the popular children’s show The Electric Company. Throughout the 1970s, he continued his work on stage, winning the Drama Desk Award and the Clarence Derwent Award and receiving a Tony nomination for his outstanding performance in The Mighty Gents in 1978. He also won an Obie Award for his portrayal of Shakespearean antihero Coriolanus at the New York Shakespeare Festival.
In 1984, Freeman won another Obie for his role as The Messenger in the acclaimed Brooklyn Academy of Music production of Lee Breuer’s The Gospel at Colonus and, in 1985, he won the Drama-Logue Award for the same role. The part of Hoke Colburn in Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Driving Miss Daisy, brought him a third Obie. His last stage appearance was as Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew at the New York Shakespeare Festival’s Delacorte Theater with Tracey Ullman.
In 1993, Freeman made his film directorial debut with "Bopha!" and soon after formed Revelations Entertainment to develop entertainment products that enlighten, inspire and glorify the human experience. Its most recent production was the Brad Silberling comedy "10 Items or Less", in which Freeman starred with Paz Vega.
Freeman’s earlier acting credits also include roles in "Brubaker", "Harry & Son", "Teachers", "Marie", "That Was Then…This Is Now", "Clean and Sober", "Johnny Handsome", the multiple award-winning "Glory", "Chain Reaction", "Kiss the Girls", Steven Spielberg’s "Amistad", "Hard Rain", "Deep Impact", "Nurse Betty", "Along Came a Spider", "High Crimes" and "The Sum of All Fears".
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