Morgan Freeman 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.
6.31
Popularity207
Credits6.5
Rating71.8M
Budget244M
RevenueActing
Primarily2025 Now You See Me: Now You Don't as Thaddeus Bradley
2025 Rendezvous with Rama Producer
2025 CLINT as Narrator (voice)
2025 Hate to See You Go as Sonny Bell Producer
2025 The Blues Live On! The Delta Blues Museum as Narrator (voice)
2025 The Little Bedroom
2025 Last Meals Producer
2025 Sniff as Joe Mulwray
2025 Clint Eastwood : la légende as Self
2024 SBALKANU as (narrator)
2024 Gunner as Kendrick Ryker
2024 In Our Blood Executive Producer
2024 How to Rob a Bank as Azeem (archive footage)
2024 My Dead Friend Zoe as Dr. Cole
2024 Odysseus Returns as Narrator
2023 57 Seconds as Anton Burrell
2023 761st Tank Battalion: The Original Black Panthers as Self Executive Producer
2023 Lioness as Secretary of State Edwin Mullins
2023 A Good Person as Daniel
2023 The Ritual Killer as Dr. Mackles
2022 Clint Eastwood: The Last Legend as Self (archive footage)
2022 The Minute You Wake Up Dead as Sheriff Thurmond Fowler
2022 Ogun Óla: War is Coming Producer
2022 Sidney as Self
2022 Paradise Highway as Gerick
2022 Betty White: A Celebration as Self
2022 Power of Chi as Narrator (voice)
2021 The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain Executive Producer
2021 Oscar Micheaux: The Superhero of Black Filmmaking as Self
2021 Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It as Self
2021 Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard as Senior
2021 Vanquish as Damon
2021 Coming 2 America as Morgan Freeman
2021 Morgan Freeman: Breaking Barriers as Self
2020 The Comeback Trail as Reggie Fontaine
2020 Meeting the Beatles in India as Narrator (voice)
2020 The Disney Family Singalong - Volume II as Self
2020 Into Nature's Wild as Narrator (voice)
2020 Dave Chappelle: The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize as Self
2019 Angel Has Fallen as Alan Trumbull
2019 Brian Banks as Jerome Johnson (uncredited)
2019 The Poison Rose as Doc
2019 Panama Canal in 3D a Land Divided a World United as Self
2018 The Nutcracker and the Four Realms as Drosselmeyer
2018 America's Musical Journey as Narrator (voice)
2018 Die Clint Eastwood Story as Self
2017 Just Getting Started as Duke
2017 Laddie: The Man Behind the Movies as Self
2017 John G. Avildsen: King of the Underdogs as Self
2017 The Words That Built America as Self - Reader: Declaration of Independence
2017 Going in Style as Willie Davis
2017 March of the Penguins 2: The Next Step as Narrator (English voice)
2016 Ben-Hur as Sheik Ilderim
2016 The C Word as Narrator (voice)
2016 Now You See Me 2 as Thaddeus Bradley
2016 London Has Fallen as Alan Trumbull
2015 Momentum as Senator
2015 JFK & LBJ: A Time for Greatness as Narrator (voice)
2015 Ted 2 as Patrick Meighan
2015 Last Knights as Bartok
2014 Dolphin Tale 2 as Dr. Cameron McCarthy
2014 Lucy as Professor Norman
2014 5 Flights Up as Alex Carver Producer
2014 Wish Wizard as Maxwell Omni
2014 Transcendence as Joseph Tagger
2014 Island of Lemurs: Madagascar as Narrator (voice)
2014 The Lego Movie as Vitruvius (voice)
2014 We the People as Narrator (voice)
2013 JFK: A President Betrayed as Narrator (voice)
2013 Last Vegas as Archibald 'Archie' Clayton
2013 The Fire Rises: The Creation and Impact of The Dark Knight Trilogy as Self (archive footage)
2013 Now You See Me as Thaddeus Bradley
2013 Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story as Self
2013 Oblivion as Beech
2013 Olympus Has Fallen as Alan Trumbull
2013 Tales from the Warner Bros. Lot as Self
2013 The Editor and The Dragon: Horace Carter Fights the Klan as Narrator (voice)
2012 Ending the Knight as Self
2012 B.B. King: The Life of Riley as Narrator (voice)
2012 The Dark Knight Rises as Fox
2012 The Magic of Belle Isle as Monte Wildhorn
2012 Le frontiere dell'Astronomia - EP-7 Vite aliene nel cosmo as Narratore
2012 Echoes 'Cross the Tracks as Self
2012 Betty White's 90th Birthday: A Tribute to America's Golden Girl as Self
2011 Dolphin Tale as Dr. McCarthy
2011 Conan the Barbarian as Narrator (voice)
2011 Clint Eastwood's West as Self
2011 Breaking the Taboo as Narrator (voice)
2011 Born to Be Wild as Narrator (voice)
2010 The President's Photographer: Fifty Years Inside the Oval Office as Narrator (voice)
2010 RED as Joe Matheson
2010 The 16th Man as Narrator (voice) Producer
2010 Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy as Self (archive footage)
2010 The Eastwood Factor as Self - Narrator (voice)
2010 For Love of Liberty: The Story of America's Black Patriots as Self (voice)
2009 The People Speak as Self
2009 Invictus as Nelson Mandela Executive Producer
2009 The Maiden Heist as Charles Peterson
2009 Prom Night in Mississippi as Narrator (voice)
2009 Thick as Thieves as Keith Ripley
2008 The Dark Knight as Lucius Fox
2008 Wanted as Sloan
2008 Where the Water Meets the Sky
2008 A Raisin in the Sun as Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
2007 The Bucket List as Carter Chambers
2007 All About Us as Self
2007 Feast of Love as Harry Stevenson
2007 Gone Baby Gone as Jack Doyle
2007 AFI: 100 Years... 100 Movies... 10th Anniversary Edition as Self
2007 Evan Almighty as God
2006 The Electric Company's Greatest Hits & Bits as Self
2006 10 Items or Less as 'Him'
2006 Boffo! Tinseltown's Bombs and Blockbusters as Self
2006 The Best of The Tony Awards: The Plays as Jaques (segment "As You Like It")
2006 The Contract as Frank Carden
2006 Lucky Number Slevin as The Boss
2005 Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon as Neil Armstrong (voice)
2005 An Unfinished Life as Mitch Bradley
2005 Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast as Self
2005 Edison as Ashford
2005 James Lipton Takes on Three as Self
2005 Born to Fight as Self
2005 War of the Worlds as Narrator (voice)
2005 Batman Begins as Lucius Fox
2005 Nos Bastidores de Hollywood as Self
2005 Unleashed as Sam
2005 Blues Divas as Self
2004 Million Dollar Baby as Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris
2004 Genius. A Night for Ray Charles as Self
2004 The Hunting of the President as Narrator (voice)
2004 Survivors of the Shoah: Visual History Foundation
2004 The Big Bounce as Walter Crewes
2003 Guilty by Association as Lt. Redding
2003 Declaration of Independence as Self
2003 Bruce Almighty as God
2003 Dreamcatcher as Col. Abraham Curtis
2003 Levity as Miles Evans Executive Producer
2002 Eastwood & Co.: Making 'Unforgiven' as Self
2002 All on Accounta Pullin' a Trigger as Self
2002 Partners of the Heart as Narrator (voice)
2002 The Sum of All Fears as DCI William Cabot
2002 High Crimes as Charlie Grimes
2001 Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature as Self
2001 Along Came a Spider as Alex Cross Executive Producer
2000 Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows as Narrator (voice)
2000 Nurse Betty as Charlie
2000 Under Suspicion as Captain Victor Benezet Executive Producer
1999 Stephen King: Shining in the Dark as Self
1999 Mutiny Executive Producer
1998 Deep Impact as President Tom Beck
1998 Hard Rain as Jim
1998 Scandalize My Name: Stories from the Blacklist as Self Thanks
1997 Amistad as Theodore Joadson
1997 Kiss the Girls as Det. Alex Cross
1997 The Long Way Home as Narrator (voice)
1997 The Making of Se7en as Self
1996 Cosmic Voyage as Narrator (voice)
1996 Chain Reaction as Paul Shannon
1996 Moll Flanders as Hibble
1996 Blacklist: Hollywood on Trial as Edward G. Robinson
1996 Inside the White House as Narrator (voice)
1995 Se7en as Somerset
1995 Outbreak as General Billy Ford
1994 The Shawshank Redemption as Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding
1993 Bopha! Director
1992 Eastwood & Co.: Making 'Unforgiven' as Self
1992 Unforgiven as Ned Logan
1992 The Power of One as Geel Piet
1991 The True Story of Glory Continues as Narrator (voice)
1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves as Azeem
1991 Robin Hood: The Myth, the Man, the Movie as Self
1991 The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry as Narrator (voice)
1990 The Bonfire of the Vanities as Judge Leonard White
1990 Follow the Drinking Gourd as Narrator (voice)
1990 Rabbit Ears - The Savior is Born as Narrator (voice)
1990 Night of 100 Stars III as Self
1990 The Earth Day Special as Walter Samson
1989 Glory as Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins
1989 Driving Miss Daisy as Hoke Colburn
1989 Johnny Handsome as Lt. A.Z. Drones
1989 Lean On Me as Principal Joe Clark
1988 Clean and Sober as Craig
1988 Clinton and Nadine as Dorsey Pratt
1987 Fight for Life as Dr. Sherard
1987 Street Smart as Leo "Fast Black" Smalls, Jr.
1986 Resting Place as Luther Johnson
1985 The Execution of Raymond Graham as Warden Pratt
1985 The Gospel at Colonus as Messenger
1985 That Was Then... This Is Now as Charlie Woods
1985 Marie: A True Story as Charles Traughber
1984 Teachers as Lewis
1984 Harry & Son as Siemanowski
1981 The Marva Collins Story as Clarence Collins
1981 Eyewitness as Lieutenant Black
1981 Death of a Prophet as Malcolm X
1980 Brubaker as Walter
1980 Attica as Hap Richards
1979 Hollow Image as Sweet Talk
1978 Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry as Uncle Hammer
1974 Out to Lunch as Self / Croupier
1974 Energy Crisis as Self
1973 Blade as Chris
1971 Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow! as Afro
1970 Caught in the Middle
1968 Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? as Grand Central Commuter (uncredited), Grand Central Commuter
1966 A Man Called Adam as Party Guest (uncredited)
1965 The Pawnbroker as Man on Street (Uncredited)
8.02 Unknown 1
7.56 Western 2
7.40 Animation 1
6.71 Mystery 12
6.58 History 13
6.57 Documentary 66
6.52 War 5
6.43 Crime 37
6.41 Adventure 12
6.36 Drama 74
6.28 Family 9
6.22 Science Fiction 9
6.14 Comedy 26
6.13 Thriller 42
6.10 Action 34
6.00 Fantasy 9
5.75 TV Movie 16
5.72 Music 10
5.50 Horror 2
5.28 Romance 5