Morgan Freeman Early Life:
Morgan Freeman, 83, (born June 1, 1937), is an American actor, Film producer, Television producer, Voice Actor, Presenter, Film director, and Businessman. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee. His mother, Mayme Edna was a teacher, and his father, Morgan Porterfield Freeman was a barber, who passed away due to Cirrhosis. Morgan has four siblings and he’s the youngest. He was the one who was raised by his grandmother in Mississippi. He almost died of pneumonia when he was just 16 years old.
As soon as he turned six, Morgan’s paternal grandmother, who raised him, died. After that, he moved in with his mother back in Chicago. He joined the United States Air Force after graduating from Broad Street High school in 1955 and served there for over four years, but he was more into acting so he left the military after four years and joined acting classes to pursue his dream of becoming an actor.
He is, to date, Hollywood’s biggest actor and a legend who gave many outstanding performances and worked in many blockbuster movies. Freeman also directed and produced a number of hit movies and won an Oscar for one of his biggest hits, Million Dollar Baby.
Career:
Freeman worked hard to achieve what he has now. He struggled non-stop to get recognized and gain popularity. He started off with very small roles.
MORGAN’S EARLY WORK AND STRUGGLE:
Morgan Freeman was into acting from a very young age. He wanted to become an actor since he was nine. And for that, he joined the acting school as soon as he left the military and his struggle began from there. In the beginning, he started off as a dancer and also worked at the Opera. He did many side/extra roles at the start of his acting career, including The Royal Hunt of the Sun. In 1967, he made his first debut after Hello, Dolly!, in The Nigger Lovers. He received Obie awards in the ‘80s for his brilliant performances in theatre and films.
He starred in another famous film, Who Says I Can’t Ride A Rainbow!, in 1971. But this movie was not the turning point of his acting career. Morgan Freeman gained all the fame and became popular when he played a role in a kids’ show called, The Electric Company. Freeman, to this date, isn’t really fond of the roles he played in that show and considers his Street Smart (1987) role, as his breakthrough role rather than the characters he played in The Electric Company.
MORGAN’S CAREER BREAKTHROUGH:
Freeman’s career hit the peak when he starred in Frank Darabont’s film, The Shawshank Redemption, in 1994. He won a couple of awards for that movie and gained a lot of popularity after that. He starred in many hit projects later on, like Unforgiven, Seven, Amistad, etc. and sure enough, all of his roles were praised by the fans and audience.
Oscar – Million Dollar Baby (2005):
2005 proved to be a lucky year for Freeman as he won his first Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, for his role in Client’s Eastwood’s film, Million Dollar Baby, at the 77th Academy Awards.
He continued to win the hearts of people by his performance in Bruce Almighty and Christopher Nolan’s, Dark Knight, in 2005. Both movies were blockbuster and became the highest-grossing films of all time.
In 2007, Morgan Freeman returned to the stage with his outstanding performance in The Country Girl, which was a Broadway hit. Later on, in 2009 he starred in Clint Eastwood’s film, Invictus, in which he played the character of Nelson Mandela, and was nominated for Best Actor by Academy Award for his role.
He made an appearance in the blockbuster films, Olympus Has Fallen and Oblivion, in 2013.
Morgan Freeman MOVIES AND AWARDS:
Some of his movies and awards are;
Movies:
- Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
- The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
- Seven (1995)
- Nurse Betty (2000)
- Million Dollar Baby (2004)
- Batman Begins (2005)
- Gone, Baby, Gone (2007)
- Now You See Me (2013)
- Lucy (2014)
- Ted 2 (2015)
- Angel Has Fallen (2018)
Awards and Nominations:
- Oscar Nomination (Street Smart, 1987)
- Golden Globe Awards (Driving Miss Daisy, Best Actor, 1989)
- NAACP Image Awards (Seven, Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, 1995)
- Film Critics Award (The Shawshank Redemption, Best Actor, 1994)
- Academy Award (Million Dollar Baby, Best Supporting Actor, 2004)
- Black Reel Awards (Invictus, Best Actor, 2009)
SOME OTHER WORK BY MORGAN FREEMAN:
Apart from his brilliant acting, he has also done a lot of other impressive work. He is for sure an all-rounder who narrated a bunch of documentaries like War of the Worlds and some movies like Lego. Morgan was prioritized for this job due to his deep voice. He narrated some commercials and a news show, CBS News Evening in 2010.
PERSONAL LIFE:
Morgan Freeman’s first wife, whom he was married to, from 1967 to 1979, was Jeanette Adair Bradshaw. He moved on with his life and married Myrna Colley-Lee, in 1984. Things didn’t work out between the two of them, so they got divorced in September 2010.
Freeman is the father of four children. His stepdaughter, who was 33 years old, was murdered in 2015. The actor himself got into a deadly car accident on August 3, 2008, but he was lucky enough to live.
Morgan was allegedly accused of harassment by eight women in May 2018. Also, a number of other women came forward and confirmed that. As a result of this accusation, Morgan’s lifetime achievement award, which he got a chance to win back in 2018.
MORGAN FREEMAN’S NET WORTH:
The estimated net worth of Morgan Freeman is $250 million. As he is one of the most famous and demanded actors of the Hollywood, his net worth was expected to increase by the time but unfortunately, it hasn’t increased much because he had to pay a divorce settlement money of about $100 – $200 million to his ex-wife in 2010
He has a number of prized possessions like luxurious cars, lands, etc. He owns a 124-acre farm, which he recently turned into a bee sanctuary.
