Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman became known nationally when he created the popular character Easy Reader on CTW's highly praised children's show The Electric Company. He then 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.

In 1984, Morgan won an additional Obie for his role as The Messenger in the acclaimed Brooklyn Academy of Music production of Lee Breuer's Gospel at Colonus. In 1985, he was awarded the Dramalogue Award for the same role. Then the role of Hoke Coleburn in Alfred Uhry's Pulitzer Prize-winning play Driving Miss Daisy won him his third Obie Award. 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.

Freeman's numerous television credits include The Atlanta Child Murders and The Execution of Raymond Graham. In 1993, Freeman made his film directorial debut with Bopha!, starring Danny Glover and Alfre Woodard, and soon after formed Revelations Entertainment, a production company developing entertainment product in all existing and emerging media that enlightens, inspires, and glorifies the human experience.

Other film acting credits include: Brubaker; Eyewitness; Harry & Sons; Teachers; Marie; That Was Then, This Is Now; Street Smart (for which Freeman won the LA, N.Y., and National Society of Film Critics Awards for best supporting actor of 1987, and was nominated for a Golden Globe award and an Academy Award); Clean & Sober; Johnny Handsome; Glory; Driving Miss Daisy (for which Freeman won his second Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe Award and The Silver Bear for best actor at the Berlin Film Festival); as well as Chain Reaction, Kiss the Girls, the Steven Spielberg production Amistad; Paramount productions Hard Rain, Deep Impact, Nurse Betty, Along Came a Spider, Kiss the Girls, High Crimes, The Sum of All Fears and Warner Bros’ Dreamcatcher and The Big Bounce.

Morgan’s latest success, the Warner Brothers Clint Eastwood-directed hit Million Dollar Baby, has earned him a Golden Globe nomination, a SAG award and an Oscar in the category Best Supporting Actor. Luc Besson’s film with Jet Li and Morgan, titled Unleashed will be released in May 2005, as will An Unfinished Life, Morgan’s turn with producer/actor Robert Redford and Jennifer Lopez.

And then, of course, there’s Morgan as Lucious Fox in Batman Begins, due in theaters in June 2005.