Morgan Freeman on screen and stage

Morgan Freeman is an American actor and producer who has had a prolific career on stage and screen. He is known for his deep resonant voice and the gravitas he has lent to his roles. Since making his film debut in 1964, Freeman is known for his roles in genres ranging from dramas, historical epics, thrillers, action adventure, science fiction, and comedies. In a 2022 readers' poll by Empire, he was voted one of the 50 greatest actors of all time.^[1]

At Deauville American Film Festival in September 2018

His film debut was as an uncredited character in the Sidney Lumet–directed drama The Pawnbroker in 1964. Freeman also made his stage debut in the same year by appearing in the musical Hello, Dolly! He followed this with further stage appearances in The Niggerlovers (1967), The Dozens (1969), Exhibition (1969), and the musical Purlie (1970–1971). He played various characters on the children's television series The Electric Company (1971–1977). Freeman subsequently appeared in the films Teachers in 1984, and Marie in 1985 before making his breakthrough with 1987's Street Smart.^[2][3] His role earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[4] Two years later he appeared in war film Glory (1989), and starred as Hoke Coleburn in the comedy-drama Driving Miss Daisy (1989).^[a] Freeman won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his performance in the latter and also earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.^[6][7]

In the 1990s, he was cast in numerous films, including the adventure film Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) opposite Kevin Costner, drama The Shawshank Redemption (1994) with Tim Robbins, psychological thriller Seven (1995), historical drama Amistad (1997), crime thriller Kiss the Girls (1997), and science fiction disaster film Deep Impact (1998). His role in The Shawshank Redemption earned him a second nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor.^[8] In 2003, he played God in the comedy Bruce Almighty opposite Jim Carrey.^[b] The following year Freeman played Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris in Clint Eastwood's film Million Dollar Baby (2004), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.^[10]

Freeman played Lucius Fox in a trilogy of Batman films: Batman Begins (2005), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). During that time, Freeman also appeared in The Bucket List (2007) opposite Jack Nicholson, Wanted (2008) with Angelina Jolie, and Invictus (2009) with Matt Damon. In 2011, Freeman received the AFI Life Achievement Award from the American Film Institute.^[2] Two years later he starred in action thriller Olympus Has Fallen (2013), science fiction film Oblivion (2013), caper Now You See Me (2013), and comedy Last Vegas. In 2014, Freeman appeared in the science fiction films Transcendence and Lucy.

Freeman has also narrated several documentaries and television series, including Cosmic Voyage (1996), Slavery and the Making of America (2004), March of the Penguins (2005), and Breaking the Taboo (2011). He was also the host and narrator for the series Through the Wormhole from 2010 to 2017.

Acting credits

Film

At the 62nd Annual Academy Awards in March 1990

At the 2005 Cannes Film Festival

At a conference in Los Angeles, October 2006

Morgan Freeman in 2022

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1964	The Pawnbroker	Man on Street	Uncredited	[11]
1966	A Man Called Adam	Party guest		[12]
1968	Where Were You When the Lights Went Out?	Grand Central Commuter		[13]
1971	Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow!	Afro		[14]
1973	Blade	Chris		[15]
1980	Brubaker	Walter		[16]
1981	Eyewitness	Lieutenant Black		[17]
1984	Teachers	Lewis		[18]
	Harry & Son	Siemanowski		[19]
1985	Marie	Charles Traughber		[20]
	That Was Then... This Is Now	Charlie		[21]
1987	Street Smart	Fast Black		[22]
1988	Clean and Sober	Craig		[23]
1989	Glory	John Rawlins		[24]
	Driving Miss Daisy	Hoke Colburn		[25]
	Lean on Me	Joe Louis Clark		[26]
	Johnny Handsome	Lt. Drones		[27]
1990	The Civil War	Frederick Douglass	Voice	[28]
	The Bonfire of the Vanities	Judge White		[29]
1991	Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves	Azeem Edin Bashir Al Bakir		[30]
1992	Unforgiven	Ned Logan		[31]
	The Power of One	Geel Piet		[32]
1993	Bopha!	—	Director only	[33]
1994	The Shawshank Redemption	Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding, Narrator		[34]
1995	Outbreak	General Billy Ford		[35]
	Seven	Detective Lieutenant William Somerset		[36]
1996	Chain Reaction	Paul Shannon		[37]
	Moll Flanders	Hibble		[38]
1997	Amistad	Theodore Joadson		[39]
	Kiss the Girls	Alex Cross		[40]
1998	Deep Impact	President Beck		[41]
	Hard Rain	Jim		[42]
2000	Nurse Betty	Charlie		[43]
	Under Suspicion	Victor Benezet	Also executive producer	[44][45]
2001	Along Came a Spider	Alex Cross		[46]
2002	The Sum of All Fears	DCI William Cabot		[47]
	High Crimes	Charlie Grimes		[48]
2003	Bruce Almighty	God		[49]
	Dreamcatcher	Col. Abraham Curtis		[50]
	Levity	Pastor Miles Evans	Also executive producer	[51]
	Guilty by Association	Lt. Redding		[52]
2004	The Big Bounce	Walter Crewes		[53]
	Million Dollar Baby	Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris		[54]
2005	An Unfinished Life	Mitch		[55]
	Batman Begins	Lucius Fox		[56]
	Unleashed	Sam		[57]
	Edison	Ashford		[58]
	Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D	Neil Armstrong	Documentary	[59]
2006	The Contract	Frank Carden		[60]
	Lucky Number Slevin	The Boss		[61]
	10 Items or Less	Himself	Also executive producer	[62]
2007	Evan Almighty	God		[9]
	Feast of Love	Harry Stevenson		[63]
	Gone Baby Gone	Jack Doyle		[64]
	The Bucket List	Carter Chambers		[65]
2008	Wanted	Sloan		[66]
	The Dark Knight	Lucius Fox		[67]
2009	Thick as Thieves	Keith Ripley	Also known as The Code	[68]
	The Maiden Heist	Charles Peterson		[69]
	Invictus	Nelson Mandela	Also executive producer	[70]
2010	RED	Joe Matheson		[71]
2011	Dolphin Tale	Dr. McCarthy		[72]
2012	The Magic of Belle Isle	Monte Wildhorn		[73]
	The Dark Knight Rises	Lucius Fox		[74]
2013	Olympus Has Fallen	Allan Trumbull, Speaker of the House		[75]
	Oblivion	Beech		[76]
	Now You See Me	Thaddeus Bradley		[77]
	Last Vegas	Archie		[78]
2014	The Lego Movie	Vitruvius	Voice	[79]
	Transcendence	Joseph Tagger		[80]
	Lucy	Professor Norman		[81]
	Dolphin Tale 2	Dr. McCarthy		[72]
	5 Flights Up	Alex	Also executive producer	[82]
	Lennon or McCartney	Himself	Short documentary film; interview clip	[83]
2015	Last Knights	Bartok		[84]
	Ted 2	Patrick Meighan		[85]
	Momentum	Senator		[86]
2016	London Has Fallen	Vice President Allan Trumbull		[87][88]
	Now You See Me 2	Thaddeus Bradley		[89]
	Ben-Hur	Sheikh Ilderim		[90]
2017	Going in Style	Willie		[91]
	Just Getting Started	Duke Diver		[92]
2018	The Nutcracker and the Four Realms	Drosselmeyer		[93]
	Brian Banks	Jerome Johnson	Uncredited	[94]
2019	Princess of the Row	—	Executive producer only	[95]
	The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain	—	Executive producer only	[96]
	The Poison Rose	Doc		[97]
	Angel Has Fallen	President Allan Trumbull		[98]
2020	The Comeback Trail	Reggie Fontaine		[99]
2021	Coming 2 America	Himself		[100]
	Vanquish	Damon		[101]
	Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard	Michael Bryce Sr./Senior		[102]
2022	Paradise Highway	Gerick		[103]
	The Minute You Wake Up Dead	Sheriff Thurmond Fowler		[104]
2023	The Ritual Killer	Dr. Mackles		[105]
	A Good Person	Daniel		[106]
	57 Seconds	Anton Burrell		[107]
2024	My Dead Friend Zoe	Dr. Cole		[108]
	In Our Blood	—	Executive producer only	[109]
	Gunner	Kendrick Ryker		[110]
2025	Now You See Me: Now You Don't †	Thaddeus Bradley	Post-production	[111]

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1971–1977	The Electric Company	Easy Reader / Mel Mounds / Dracula / Vincent the Vegetable Vampire / Mark	Main role	[2][112][113]
1978	Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry	Uncle Hammer Logan	Television film	[114][115]
1979	Hollow Image	Ralph Simmons "Sweet Talk"		[116]
1980	Attica	Hap Richards		[117]
1981	Ryan's Hope	Cicero Murphy	2 episodes	[118]
	The Marva Collins Story	Clarence Collins	Television film	[119]
	Death of a Prophet	Malcolm X		[120]
1983	Another World	Dr. Roy Bingham	5 episodes	[113]
1985	The Atlanta Child Murders	Ben Shelter	Miniseries	[121]
	The Twilight Zone	Tony	Episode: "Dealer's Choice"	[122]
1986	Resting Place	Luther Johnson	Television film	[123]
1987	Fight For Life	Dr. Sherard		[124]
1988	Clinton and Nadine	Dorsey Pratt		[125]
1990	The Earth Day Special	Walter Samson	TV special	[126]
2008	Smithsonian Channel's Sound Revolution	Himself (host)	TV documentary	[127]
	Stephen Fry in America	Himself	Episode: "Mississippi"	[128]
2010	Saturday Night Live	Himself (cameo)	Episode: "Bryan Cranston/Kanye West"	[129]
2014–2019	Madam Secretary	Chief Justice Frawley	3 episodes; also executive producer	[130]
2016	2017 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony	Himself (host)	TV special	[131]
2016–2019	The Story of God with Morgan Freeman		Also executive producer	[132]
2017	The Story of Us with Morgan Freeman			[133]
	2018 Breakthrough Prize Ceremony		TV special	[134]
2020	Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?	Himself	Episode: "The Last Inmate!"	[135]
2021	Solos	Stuart	1 episode	[136]
	The Kominsky Method	Himself	2 episodes	[137]
2023	The Muppets Mayhem	Himself	Cameo	[138]
2023–present	Special Ops: Lioness	Edwin Mullins	Main role	[139]

Key

†	Denotes series that have not yet been released

Theater

Year	Title	Role	Venue	Ref.
1964–1970	Hello, Dolly!	Rudolph	St. James Theatre	[140][141][142]
1967	The Niggerlovers	Creampuff	Orpheum Theatre	[143]
1969	The Dozens	Kgaravu	Booth Theatre	[144][145]
1969	Exhibition	David	Actors' Playhouse	[146][147]
1970–1971	Purlie	Purlie	Broadway Theatre / Winter Garden Theatre / August Wilson Theatre	[148][149]
1978	The Mighty Gents	Zeke	Ambassador Theatre	[150][151]
1978	White Pelicans	Winston	Lucille Lortel Theatre	[152][153]
1979	Coriolanus	Caius Martius / Coriolanus	Joseph Papp Public Theater/Anspacher Theater/Delacorte Theater	[154][155][156]
1979	Julius Caesar	Casca	Joseph Papp Public Theater/Anspacher Theater	[157][158]
1980	Mother Courage and Her Children	Chaplain	Joseph Papp Public Theater/Newman Theater	[159][160]
1983	Buck	Fred Milly	American Place Theatre	[161][162]
1984	Medea and the Doll	Dr. Winston Crews	Samuel Beckett Theatre	[163][164]
1987–1990	Driving Miss Daisy	Hoke Coleburn	John Houseman Theatre	[5][165]
1988	The Gospel at Colonus	Messenger	Lunt-Fontanne Theatre	[166][167]
1990	The Taming of the Shrew	Petruchio	Delacorte Theater	[168][169]
2008	The Country Girl	Frank Elgin	Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre	[170][171]
2011	8	David Boies	Eugene O'Neill Theatre	[172]

Narrator

Year	Title	Notes	Ref.
1994	Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories	Segment: "Amos, the Story of an Old Dog and His Couch"	[173]
1996	Cosmic Voyage	Documentary	[174]
1997	The Long Way Home	Documentary	[150]
2003	A Tale of Two Schools	Documentary	[175]
2004	The Hunting of the President	Documentary	[176]
2004	A Remarkable Promise	Short film	[177]
2004	Slavery and the Making of America	Documentary	[178]
2005	March of the Penguins	Documentary	[150]
2005	War of the Worlds	Narrative Feature	[179]
2008	The Love Guru	Narrative Feature	[180]
2008	A New Birth of Freedom	Documentary	[181]
2009	Prom Night in Mississippi	Documentary	[182]
2010–2017	Through the Wormhole	TV series (62 episodes)	[183]
2011	Curiosity	Episode: "Is There a Parallel Universe?"	[184]
2011	Born to Be Wild	Documentary	[185]
2011	Breaking the Taboo	Documentary	[186]
2011	Conan the Barbarian	Narrative Feature	[187]
2014	Island of Lemurs: Madagascar	Documentary	[188]
2014	The Mona Lisa Myth	Documentary	[189]
2016–2019	The Story of God with Morgan Freeman	TV series (15 episodes)	[190]
2017	The Age of Spin: Dave Chappelle Live at the Hollywood Palladium	Stand-up special	[191]
2017	Deep in the Heart of Texas: Dave Chappelle Live at Austin City Limits	Stand-up special	[191]
2018	Alpha	Narrative Feature	[192]
2020	Savage Mode II	Album (& album trailer)	[193][194]
2021	Great Escapes with Morgan Freeman	TV documentary	[195]
2022	Our Universe	Documentary	[196]
2023	100 Years of Warner Bros	Television documentary	[197]
2023	Life on Our Planet	Documentary	[198]

Music videos

Year	Title	Artist	Role	Ref.
2002	"Waitin' on Joe"	Steve Azar	Narrator	[199][200]

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role	Ref.
2005	Batman Begins	Lucius Fox	[201]
2009	Wanted: Weapons of Fate	Sloan	[202][203]

See also

• List of awards and nominations received by Morgan Freeman

Notes

1. Freeman had previously played the same character in the play of the same name from 1987 to 1990.^[5]
2. Freeman also reprised this role in the 2007 sequel Evan Almighty.^[9]