Sexy Male Celebrities - Morgan Freeman- Movies, Music, Books, Posters, Memorabilia, Biography, Pictures, Reviews & Gossip

By the time he was legendary, it seemed as though artist Morgan Freeman had previously had an extensive and esteemed profession. While Freeman worked vigorously for years in small productions in New York City and on public television’s early morning children’s show “The Electric Company” (PBS 1971-1977) which, to Freeman's embarrassment, was his most commonly known role, Morgan would not achieve well-known publicity until he landed the Oscar nominated part of the hot-blooded pimp Fast Black in “Street Smart” (1987). Due to that role, Freeman rocketed into national celebrity, swiftly becoming a household name, and one of Hollywood’s most notable entertainers.

He was nominated yet again just two years later for his interpretation of Hoke Coleburn in “Driving Miss Daisy” (1989), a role reworked from an earlier off-Broadway production. A third nomination for “The Shawshank Redemption” (1994) firmed up Freeman’s already admired charm as a superior actor. While it took another ten years to actually win an Academy Award, his part in Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby” (2004) ultimately won Morgan Freeman the golden statue, Freeman was by then decisively established as one of the best and most admired performers of his genre.

Born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis, TN, Freeman jumped around with his family, making extended layovers in Charleston, MS and Chicago, IL before ultimately settling in Greenwood, MS. His years spent studying a myriad of movies, in particular ones with horses and somebody carrying a revolver, provoked Freeman to want to be an actor. Encouraged by teachers at Greenwood High School from where he graduated in 1955, Freeman followed acting only after his attempt to become a fighter pilot in the Air Force.

But since it was the mid 1950's, he found a military indisposed to allowing African Americans to fly aircraft. The only job accessible to him was radar mechanic. Though discrimination certainly discouraged Freeman from his ambition, his awareness that flying combat planes meant probably killing other humans was the foremost reason he refocused his sights on acting. After his departure from the Air Force in 1961, Freeman headed to Los Angeles, where he signed up at the Los Angeles City College and started his drama work in earnest.

At LACC, Freeman polished his now-famous harsh speaking manner with the help of speech lessons. For the time being, he accepted whatever small jobs crossed his path, including dancer at the 1962 World’s Fair in Seattle. Back in New York, Freeman received his first wide introduction in 1967 in an off-Broadway creation of George Tabori’s “The Niggerlovers,” followed by a role as Rudolph in an all Negro translation of “Hello, Dolly!” But the roles in those days were scarce for Freeman, a lack of wide-ranging associations required him to bounce from coast to coast to seek out of roles and an assortment of odd jobs. In 1971, Freeman created "Easy Reader" on “The Electric Company”, a hip and classy reading expert who performed song and dance routines to educate children about reading.

Although anticipating only doing the series for a few seasons, Freeman managed to hang around for seven seasons. He returned to the theater after “The Electric Company,” winning numerous awards, including a Drama Desk Award and the Clarence Derwent Award, for his portrayal as the unruly drunk Zeke in “The Mighty Gents” in 1978. He also won a Tony Award nomination for the same role.

Despite the great media accolades, “The Mighty Gents” closed after only two weeks. Freeman's next job was the dazzling role of The Bard’s exiled Roman general Coriolanus at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He won another Obie, this time for “Mother Courage”, but found himself in the center of a three year stall-out brought on by his reputation at the time for being challenging to work with. But Morgan Freeman surfaced again in 1984 with an added Obie winning act, playing The Messenger in Lee Breuer’s “Gospel at Colonus” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The same part won him a Dramalogue Award in 1985. Still another Obie was added to his award shelf with an outstanding performance as Hoke Colburn in the stage translation of “Driving Miss Daisy,” a role he would bring back three years later in Bruce Beresford’s Oscar winning film.

Though Freeman made his big screen debut in "Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow?" (1971), the actor was missing from movies for another nine years when he played a crazy prisoner in the jail house drama, "Brubaker" (1980). While succeeding on stage, Freeman stumbled in everyday roles in middle-of-the-road movies, including "Teachers" (1985) and "MARIE: A True Story" (1985). Nevertheless, his first Oscar nominated performance in "Street Smart” forever changed his fortunes. After receiving second Oscar nomination for his comeback as Hoke Colburn in "Driving Miss Daisy" (1989), Freeman gave a knock out rendition in "Glory" (1989) with Denzel Washington, the mind bending tale of the first unit of African American servicemen to serve for the United States through the Civil War.

Freeman followed with an appearance as the compassionate Judge White in “The Bonfire of the Vanities” starring Tom Hanks and Bruce Willis in 1990, before returning to character with a substantial role as the mysterious, yet honest Moor Azeem in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" (1991) with Kevin Costner and Christian Slater. Already an admired actor of significant sway, Freeman had so far failed to reach his high point.

Generally cast in supporting roles, Freeman usually outshined his leading co-stars, as was the case in "Unforgiven" (1992), the Oscar winning rebellious Western directed by old acquaintance Clint Eastwood. Morgan Freeman played Ned Logan, past gunslinger turned righteous who is swayed by a former desperado (Clint Eastwood) to help right the wrongs piled onto a prostitute. Freeman’s roles in both “Unforgiven” and “Robin Hood” permitted him to play characters not usually conceived as African American; a tendency he repeated when playing the roles of President of the United States and God later in his career.

Freeman made his directorial debut with the chronicle of a black South African detective and his son separated by apartheid in "Bopha!" (1993), the apprehension and pressure of which made him promise to never direct again. In 1994, Freeman won a third Oscar nomination for his representation of Red, a man serving a life sentence in prison has access to everything in the joint except for hope, in the heartbreaking tragedy "The Shawshank Redemption” about two imprisoned men who bond over a number of years, finding solace and eventual redemption through acts of common decency.

As Freeman earned significant admiration and recognition, he was able to wave off years of hard work, though never his portrayal of Easy Reader on “The Electric Company.” He won more acclaim for his role as a faded and worn out cop tracking a serial killer with trainee partner (Brad Pitt) in "Se7en" (1995) featuring Gwyneth Paltrow. Freeman then appeared as the perplexing Hibble, a character not in the original story, in the screen variation of "Moll Flanders" (1996), and as the unfriendly supporter of a university's research project in "Chain Reaction" (1996) starring Keanu Reeves. The next year, Freeman had the chance to showcase a film, playing police detective and psychiatric specialist Alex Cross in the well received thriller "Kiss the Girls" (1997) about police hunting for a serial killer who are helped when a victim manages to escape for the first time.

Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg used the actor's inborn honest decency for the role of a former slave turned abolitionist in "Amistad" (1997), while director Mimi Leder viewed Freeman as the spot on celebrity to give honor and direction to a world in turmoil as the United States president dealing with an approaching meteor crash in "Deep Impact" (1998).

Freeman added a producer credit to his resume with the non-fiction television production "Mutiny" (NBC, 1999), which detailed the closed door actions that led to the revolutionary decision to integrate the U.S. military. Both Freeman and actor Gene Hackman worked as as co-producers and co-stars in the cops and robbers car chase drama "Under Suspicion" (2000), about a lawyer who is asked to come to the police station to clear up a few loose ends in his witness report of a foul murder.

Later that same year, Freeman presented a great performance as a hit man who obsesses over the woman (Rene Zellweger) he has targeted to murder in "Nurse Betty," one of the most touching and original roles of Freeman's career. Following his role of police man Alex Cross in the prequel "Along Came a Spider" (2001) opposite Monica Potter, about a congressman's daughter under Secret Service protection who is kidnapped from a private school by an insider who calls Det. Alex Cross, sucking him into the case even though he's recovering from the loss of his partner. The actor then worked with "Kiss the Girls" co-star Ashley Judd in the middle-of-the-road thriller "High Crimes" (2002), then played the director of the CIA in "The Sum of All Fears" (2002). Freeman offered an otherwise good performance as the guru to a young Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) in a to-slow-to-enjoy variation of the Tom Clancy bestseller.

During 2003, Freeman was hired and cast as a fanatical space invader fighting armed forces officer in the mystical thriller "Dreamcatcher" (2003). The actor was next seen as an amiable God in the smash comedy "Bruce Almighty," starring Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston (2003), then as a Hawaiian cop in the winding Elmore Leonard original adventure "The Big Bounce" (2004) with Owen Wilson. Freeman next appeared in the smash hit “Million Dollar Baby” (2004) with Hilary Swank, an outstanding and sensitive film directed by Clint Eastwood. As Scraps, an old boxer full of regret and sadness and blind in one eye, Freeman gave a exceptional performance that earned him a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor.

Freeman continued with a steady output of work after his Oscar win for "Million Dollar baby". He followed with a role in “Unleashed” (2005) as a blind piano tuner who helps a trained boxer (Jet Li) escape from his teacher’s confined basement to begin a new life. The balance of martial arts and candid sappiness earned the action adventure loads of applause.

The admired actor elated comic book fans when he played Bruce Wayne's sidekick Lucius Fox, the character with the keys to all of the Dark Knight's mysterious, high-tech apparatus, in "Batman Begins" (2005) with Christian Bale, a prequel to the loved film franchise that focused on the superhero's murky beginning. Freeman also lent his famous voice to a pair of unrelated projects: "March of the Penguins" (2005), the Americanized version of the graceful French nature documentary "La Marche de L'empereur," and Steven Spielberg's fascinating remake of the science fiction classic "War of the Worlds" (2005) starring Tom Cruise.

Freeman's next release, director Lasse Hallstrom's overdue "An Unfinished Life" (2005) with Jennifer Lopez, cast the actor in a role that echoed his "Million Dollar Baby" part despite being filmed first, playing the easy going best friend of a irritable rancher (Robert Redford).

Freeman did take a break playing the good guy to play the sporadic scoundrel. In “Lucky Number Slevin” (2006) with Bruce Willis and Lucy Liu, a thriller about a case of mistaken identity, Freeman plays a New York City mafia boss waging war against his next door adversary (Ben Kingsley) while trying to get an innocent man (Josh Hartnett) to pay on an unsettled debt. After serving as executive producer and starring in “10 Items or Less” (2007), a sad comedy about an aging Hollywood star who starts an unlikely friendship with a sarcastic checkout clerk (Paz Vega), Freeman revisited his role as God in “Evan Almighty” (2007). Next was the crime drama "Gone Baby Gone" (2007) about two Boston area detectives who investigate a little girl's kidnapping,

Also that year, Morgan was hired and cast in the romantic comedy "Feast Of Love" (2007) before ending the year with the comedy adventure "The Bucket List" (2007) starring Jack Nicholson, about two terminally ill men who escape from a cancer ward and head off on a road trip with a wish list of to-dos before they die. Freeman's big flick in 2008 was the action thriller "The Dark Knight" (2008) with Christian Bale and Heath Ledger, where Batman and James Gordon join forces with Gotham's new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, to take on a psychotic bank robber known as The Joker, whilst other forces plot against them, and Joker's crimes grow more and more deadly. Next was the action thriller "Wanted" (2008) that tells the tale of one apathetic nobody's transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice.

Finishing up the year, Freeman starred with Antonio Banderas in the crime film "The Code" (2008) about a veteran thief who recruits a younger crook to help him pull off one final job in order to repay his debt to the Russian mob. Freeman wrapped up the year with the crime comedy "The Lonely Maiden" (2008), a comedy centered on three museum security guards who devise a plan to steal back the artworks to which they have become attached after they are transferred to another museum.

Morgan Freeman had two films for 2009 including the strange science fiction film "Rendezvous with Rama" (2009) about a team of astronauts who are sent on a mission to explore a giant interstellar spaceship hurtling toward the sun. Based on the novel by Arthur C. Clarke. Morgan ended the year with the war drama "The Last Full Measure" (2009) starring Bruce Willis, about an ambitious government bureaucrat who is given an unwelcome assignment that could harm his carefully orchestrated career.

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