Freeman, Morgan (1937– )

US stage and screen actor. He made his Broadway debut in 1967 in an all-black production of Hello, Dolly. Known for his prolific output in a range of films, he has received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor three times, for his performances in Street Smart (1987), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), and The Shawshank Redemption (1994). He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Clint Eastwood's boxing film Million Dollar Baby (2004).

Other films include the Western Unforgiven (1992); the crime thrillers Seven (1995), Kiss the Girls (1997) and its prequel Along Came a Spider (2001), The Sum of All Fears (2002), and Gone Baby Gone (2007); the historical dramas Glory (1989) and Amistad (1997); the science fiction thriller Deep Impact (1998); and the comedies Nurse Betty (2000), Bruce Almighty (2003), and its prequel Evan Almighty (2007). He was cast as Nelson Mandela in Long Walk to Freedom (2004) and narrated the French documentary March of the Penguins (2005).

Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, served in the air force, and attended Los Angeles City College, California.