Morgan Freeman (born 1 June 1937) is an American actor, producer and narrator whose career spans six decades. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Million Dollar Baby (2004) and was nominated for four other Oscars, and his voice has narrated documentaries such as March of the Penguins. This biography follows his life and career up to November 2026.
Morgan Freeman at a Glance
| Full name | Morgan Porterfield Freeman Jr. |
| Born | 1 June 1937, Memphis, Tennessee, United States |
| Age | 79 (as of November 2026) |
| Profession | Actor, producer and narrator |
| Education | Pasadena Playhouse; Los Angeles City College |
| Academy Award | Best Supporting Actor, Million Dollar Baby (2004) |
| Other Oscar nominations | Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption, Invictus |
| Honours | Kennedy Center Honor (2008); AFI Life Achievement Award (2011); Cecil B. DeMille Award (2012); SAG Life Achievement Award (2018) |
| Production company | Revelations Entertainment (founded 1996 with Lori McCreary) |
| Children | Alfonso, Deena, Morgana and Saifoulaye |
Early Life and Education
Morgan Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Mamie Edna Freeman, a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, a barber who died in 1961. He has three older siblings. As an infant he was sent to live with his paternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi, and he moved frequently as a child, living in Greenwood, Mississippi, Gary, Indiana, and finally Chicago. He made his acting debut at nine, playing the lead in a school play, and at 12 he won a statewide drama competition.
He graduated from high school in 1955 and turned down a partial drama scholarship to Jackson State University to join the United States Air Force, where he served from 1955 to 1959 as an automatic tracking radar repairman and rose to the rank of airman first class. He then moved to Los Angeles and took acting classes at the Pasadena Playhouse, and he studied theatre arts at Los Angeles City College.
Early Career
Freeman appeared in stage productions early in his career, and from 1971 he starred in the PBS children's series The Electric Company, which gave him financial stability and recognition with American audiences. He quit the show in 1975. He appeared in Shakespeare's Coriolanus and Julius Caesar, and the former won 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 Mighty Gents.
Film Career
Freeman earned his first Oscar nomination for Street Smart (1987), followed by nominations for Driving Miss Daisy (1989) and The Shawshank Redemption (1994). He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for playing a former boxer in Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby, and he was nominated again for playing Nelson Mandela in Invictus (2009). His other notable films include Glory, Lean on Me, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Unforgiven, Se7en, Amistad, Deep Impact, Gone Baby Gone and The Bucket List. He played Lucius Fox in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy (2005 to 2012) and appeared in the Now You See Me films, including Now You See Me: Now You Don't, released in November 2025.
Narration and Producing
Freeman's calm, distinctive voice has made him one of the best-known narrators in film and television. He narrated The Long Way Home (1997), March of the Penguins (2005), Through the Wormhole (2010 to 2017), The Story of God with Morgan Freeman (2016 to 2019), Our Universe (2022) and Life on Our Planet (2023). He made his directorial debut with the drama Bopha! (1993). In 1996 he founded Revelations Entertainment with Lori McCreary, which produced the CBS political drama Madam Secretary (2014 to 2019).
Honours
Alongside his Oscar and a Golden Globe Award, Freeman received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2008, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2011, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2012 and the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2018. In 2022 readers of Empire magazine voted him one of the 50 greatest actors of all time.
Personal Life
Freeman was married to Jeanette Adair Bradshaw from 1967 to 1979, and to Myrna Colley-Lee from 1984, with a divorce in 2010. He has four children. He lives in Charleston, Mississippi, and keeps a home in New York City. He earned a private pilot's licence at the age of 65. In 2004 he helped form the Grenada Relief Fund to help people affected by Hurricane Ivan, which later became the organisation PLANIT NOW.
Legacy
Freeman has become a household name for both his screen roles and his voice. His career shows how an actor who started in children's television and on stage late in life can become one of the most trusted presences in cinema. This biography draws on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Freeman) and [Wikipedia's awards list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_awards_and_nominations_received_by_Morgan_Freeman).
