Morgan Freeman, an actor, director, and narrator is well-known for his distinctively deep voice and for playing a variety of roles in a wide range of film genres.
Morgan was born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee, to Mayme Edna (Revere), a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, a barber. Freeman was raised in Mississippi, where he began acting in school plays in his hometown of Greenwood, Mississippi when he was just 9 years old. When Freeman made his acting debut as the main character in a school play at the age of twelve, he won a statewide drama competition and while settling into school, he also discovered music and theater.
Morgan Freeman served several years in the US Air Force as a mechanic between 1955 and 1959.
The young Freeman attended Los Angeles City College to study Theatre Arts where a teacher pushed him to pursue a dancing career. He appeared in stage productions in his early career. His first dramatic arts exposure was on the stage including appearing in an all-African American production of the exuberant musical Hello, Dolly!.
He rose to fame in the 1970s for his role in the children’s television series The Electric Company which gave him financial stability and recognition among American audiences. Freeman then appeared in the Shakespearean plays Coriolanus and Julius Caesar, the former of which earned him an Obie Award. In 1978, he was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role as Zeke in the Richard Wesley play The Mighty Gents.
His breakout role was in Street Smart (1987), playing a hustler, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor and he achieved further stardom in Glory (1989), the biographical drama Lean on Me in which Freeman portrays a school principal at an under-performing and drug- and crime-ridden New Jersey high school.
He also starred in the comedy drama Driving Miss Daisy (1989), the latter of which garnered him his first Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. He has won several other awards throughout his career spanning over five decades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
In addition to acting, Freeman directed the drama Bopha in 1993 and he also founded a 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.
Freeman is still an incredibly busy actor, with multiple films in theaters even today in 2025 and most recently starred in A Good Person alongside Florence Pugh.
He has also embarked on several ventures outside of acting, including environmental and political activism and was a huge advocate of the COVID-19 vaccine. He earned a Private Pilot license at the age of 65.
He also owns and operates Ground Zero, a Blues club in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and is the former co-owner of Madidi, a fine dining restaurant in the same city. He received a trademark on his name from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on September 19, 2006.
In 2021, Freeman donated $1 million to the University of Mississippi to launch its Center for Evidence-Based Policing and Reform.
Freeman has been awarded several honorary degrees for his incredible contributions to the arts, culture and major charitable endeavors. He received an honorary Doctor of Arts and Letters degree from Delta State University in 2006, an honorary degree from Howard University in 2015 and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Boston University in 2016.
In addition to his on-camera work, he’s also created a name for himself as a voice actor due to his distinctive tone. His iconic voice has narrated Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, March of the Penguins and more.
So what was left for Freeman to do ……..besides be the voice of God? He did just that in Bruce Almighty and its sequel Evan Almighty.