Actor · Acting

Morgan Freeman

Born 1937-06-01

📍 Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. Noted for his distinctive deep voice, Freeman is known for his various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award.

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

In 1992, Freeman starred alongside Clint Eastwood in the western revenge film Unforgiven; this would be the first of several collaborations with Eastwood. In 1994, he starred 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). Freeman won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Clint Eastwood's 2004 sports drama Million Dollar Baby. In 2009, he received his fifth Oscar nomination for playing former South African President Nelson Mandela in Eastwood's Invictus. Freeman is also known for his performance as Lucius Fox in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012).

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

Filmography 259

as Self - Narrator (voice)

The American Revolution

Now You See Me: Now You Don't

as Thaddeus Bradley

Number One on the Call Sheet

The Power of Chi

From the Balkans

as Kendrick Ryker

How to Rob a Bank

as Azeem (archive footage)

My Dead Friend Zoe

Odysseus Returns

Life on Our Planet

as Self - Narrator (voice)

as Anton Burrell

761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers

as Secretary of State Edwin Mullins

100 Years of Warner Bros.

as Self - Narrator (voice)

The Muppets Mayhem

as Morgan Freeman

The Ritual Killer

Metro Boomin: Heroes & Villains

as Self - Narrator (voice)

Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend

as Self (archive footage)

The Minute You Wake Up Dead

as Sheriff Thurmond Fowler

The Jennifer Hudson Show

as Self - Guest

Paradise Highway

Betty White: A Celebration

as Narrator (voice)

History's Greatest Escapes with Morgan Freeman

Clint Eastwood: A Cinematic Legacy

Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking

Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It

Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

as Narrator (voice)

Coming 2 America

as Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman: Breaking Barriers

The Comeback Trail

as Reggie Fontaine

Meeting the Beatles in India

as Narrator (voice)

The Disney Family Singalong - Volume II

Into Nature's Wild

as Narrator (voice)

Angel Has Fallen

as Alan Trumbull

as Jerome Johnson (uncredited)

Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?

as Morgan Freeman (voice)

The Poison Rose

Panama Canal in 3D a Land Divided a World United

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms

as Drosselmeyer

America's Musical Journey

as Narrator (voice)

Die Clint Eastwood Story

Just Getting Started

Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies

The Story of Us with Morgan Freeman

John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs

The Words That Built America

as Self - Reader: Declaration of Independence

as Willie Davis

March of the Penguins 2: The Next Step

as Narrator (English voice)

Monochrome: Black, White & Blue

as Sheik Ilderim

as Narrator (voice)

Now You See Me 2

as Thaddeus Bradley

The Story of God with Morgan Freeman

London Has Fallen

as Alan Trumbull

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

JFK & LBJ: A Time for Greatness

as Narrator (voice)

as Patrick Meighan

Madam Secretary

as Chief Justice Frawley

Madam Secretary

as Chief Justice Wilbourne (uncredited)

as Dr. Cameron McCarthy

as Professor Norman

as Maxwell Omni

as Joseph Tagger

Island of Lemurs: Madagascar

as Narrator (voice)

Late Night with Seth Meyers

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

as Self - Guest

as Vitruvius (voice)

as Narrator (voice)

JFK: A President Betrayed

as Narrator (voice)

as Archibald 'Archie' Clayton

as Thaddeus Bradley

Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story

Olympus Has Fallen

as Alan Trumbull

Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot

Ending the Knight

B.B. King: The Life of Riley

as Narrator (voice)

The Dark Knight Rises

The Magic of Belle Isle

as Monte Wildhorn

Echoes 'Cross the Tracks

as Dr. McCarthy

Conan the Barbarian

as Narrator (voice)

as Self - Narrator (voice)

Breaking the Taboo

as Narrator (voice)

Born to Be Wild

as Narrator (voice)

The President's Photographer: Fifty Years Inside the Oval Office

as Narrator (voice)

as Joe Matheson

Through the Wormhole

as Narrator (voice)

The Eastwood Factor

as Self - Narrator (voice)

The People Speak

as Nelson Mandela

The Jay Leno Show

Live from Studio Five

The Maiden Heist

as Charles Peterson

Prom Night in Mississippi

as Narrator (voice)

Thick as Thieves

as Keith Ripley

The Dark Knight

as Morgan Freemann (voice only) (uncredited)

Where the Water Meets the Sky

A Raisin in the Sun

as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)

The Bucket List

as Carter Chambers

as Harry Stevenson

AFI: 100 Years... 100 Movies... 10th Anniversary Edition

The Graham Norton Show

The Electric Company's Greatest Hits & Bits

10 Items or Less

Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters

The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays

as Jaques (segment "As You Like It")

as Frank Carden

Lucky Number Slevin

The Reichen Show

as Self - Guest

Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon

as Neil Armstrong (voice)

An Unfinished Life

as Mitch Bradley

Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast

War of the Worlds

as Narrator (voice)

Nos Bastidores de Hollywood

as Self (archive footage)

Slavery and the Making of America

as Self - Narrator (voice)

March of the Penguins

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

Million Dollar Baby

as Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris

Genius. A Night for Ray Charles

The Hunting of the President

as Narrator (voice)

Survivors of the Shoah: Visual History Foundation

America Beyond the Color Line

as Walter Crewes

The Ellen DeGeneres Show

Guilty by Association

Declaration of Independence

as Col. Abraham Curtis

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

as Self - Guest

All on Accounta Pullin' a Trigger

Eastwood & Co.: Making 'Unforgiven'

Partners of the Heart

as Narrator (voice)

The Sum of All Fears

as DCI William Cabot

as Charlie Grimes

Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature

Along Came a Spider

Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows

as Narrator (voice)

Under Suspicion

as Captain Victor Benezet

Stephen King: Shining in the Dark

Mark Twain Prize

as President Tom Beck

Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist

as Theodore Joadson

as Det. Alex Cross

The Long Way Home

as Narrator (voice)

The Chris Rock Show

as Narrator (voice)

as Paul Shannon

Blacklist: Hollywood on Trial

as Edward G. Robinson

Inside the White House

as Narrator (voice)

as General Billy Ford

The Shawshank Redemption

as Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding

Inside the Actors Studio

Late Night with Conan O'Brien

as Self - Guest

Eastwood & Co.: Making 'Unforgiven'

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories

as Narrator (voice)

The Power of One

The True Story of Glory Continues

as Narrator (voice)

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Robin Hood: The Myth, the Man, the Movie

The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry

as Narrator (voice)

The Bonfire of the Vanities

as Judge Leonard White

as Frederick Douglass

Follow the Drinking Gourd

as Narrator (voice)

Night of 100 Stars III

The Earth Day Special

as Walter Samson

as Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins

Driving Miss Daisy

as Hoke Colburn

Johnny Handsome

as Lt. A.Z. Drones

as Principal Joe Clark

American Experience

as Narrator (voice)

LIVE with Kelly and Mark

Clean and Sober

Clinton and Nadine

as Dorsey Pratt

as Leo "Fast Black" Smalls, Jr.

American Masters

as Narrator (voice)

as Luther Johnson

The Execution of Raymond Graham

as Warden Pratt

That Was Then... This Is Now

as Charlie Woods

The Gospel at Colonus

Marie: A True Story

as Charles Traughber

The Twilight Zone

as Tony (segment "Dealer's Choice")

The Atlanta Child Murders

The Marva Collins Story

as Clarence Collins

as Lieutenant Black

Death of a Prophet

as Hap Richards

CBS News Sunday Morning

The Kennedy Center Honors

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

as Uncle Hammer

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

as Uncle Hammer

Saturday Night Live

as Self - Cameo (uncredited)

as Self / Croupier

Spidey Super Stories

as Count Dracula

Spidey Super Stories

Spidey Super Stories

as Police officer

Spidey Super Stories

The American Film Institute Salute to ...

Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow!

The Electric Company

as Mark /Easy Reader /Mel Mounds /Count Dracula /Mad Scientist /The Cop /Marcello

Great Performances

Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?

as Grand Central Commuter (uncredited)

Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?

as Grand Central Commuter

A Man Called Adam

as Party Guest (uncredited)

as Man on Street (Uncredited)

as Self - Performer

as Self - Presenter

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Hallmark Hall of Fame

Golden Globe Awards

as Self - Presenter

Golden Globe Awards

as Self - Nominee

Golden Globe Awards

Golden Globe Awards

as Self - Cecil B. DeMille Award Recipient

as Narrator (voice)