Laurence Fishburne

Laurence Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an Academy Award-nominated American film and occasional stage actor.

Biography

Early life

Fishburne was born in Augusta, Georgia to African American parents Laurence Fishburne II, who worked in the Bronx, and Hattie, a junior high school math teacher. His parents divorced during his childhood and his mother moved him to Brooklyn where he was raised. Fishburne's father saw him once a month.^*

Career

Fishburne started acting at the age of 12, getting his big break portraying Joshua Hall on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live in 1973. Fishburne later earned a supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, as well as a recurring role as "Cowboy Curtis" alongside Pee Wee Herman (Paul Reubens) in the CBS children's television show, Pee-Wee's Playhouse. However, it was his 1991 role in Boyz N The Hood that gained him lasting recognition as an outstanding actor. The next year, Fishburne won a Tony Award for his stage performance in August Wilson's Two Trains Running, which was followed by an Oscar nomination one year later for his portrayal of Ike Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It?. Also in 1992 he received an Emmy Award for an episode of the short-lived TV series Tribeca. Nowadays Fishburne is best known for his role as Morpheus, the hacker-mentor of Neo (Keanu Reeves) in the blockbuster science fiction movie series The Matrix.

He has recently appeared alongside Tom Cruise as his IMF superior in Impossible III.

Personal life

Fishburne married actress Hajna O. Moss in 1985 and had two children with her, a son named Langston (born 1987) and a daughter named Montana (born 1991); however, the couple divorced in the 1990s, and on September 20 2002, Fishburne married another actress, Gina Torres. Fishburne is a notable graduate of Lincoln Square Academy in New York which closed in the 1980s.

Fishburne lives in New Rochelle, New York.

Filmography

Actor

Impossible III (2006)
Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
New York City (Video Game, 2005)
Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
Mystic River (2003)
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
Biker Boyz (2003)
Deep Cover / Chill Factor (2001)
Osmosis Jones (2001)
Once in the Life (2000)
The Matrix (1999)
Event Horizon (1997)
Hoodlum (1997)
Miss Evers' Boys (1997)
Fled (1996)
The Tuskegee Airmen (1996)
Bad Company (1995)
Just Cause (1995)
Othello (1995)
Alien Warrior (1994)
Higher Learning (1994)
Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
What's Love Got to Do with It? (1993)
Deep Cover (1992)
Boyz N the Hood (1991)
Class Action (1991)
Decoration Day (1990)
King of New York (1990) (as Larry Fishburne)
Cadence (1990) (as Larry Fishburne)
Red Heat (1988) (as Larry Fishburne)
Gardens of Stone (1987)
Dream Warriors (1987)
Pee-wee's Playhouse - Vols. 1-4 (1987)
Pee-wee's Playhouse - Vols. 5-8 (1987)
School Daze (1987)
Quicksilver (1986)
The Color Purple (1985)
The Cotton Club (1984)
For Us, the Living - The Story of Medgar Evers (1983)
Rumble Fish (1983)
Death Wish II (1981) (as Laurence Fishburne III)
Willie & Phil (1980)
Apocalypse Now (1979) (as Larry Fishburne)
Fast Break (1979)
Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975)
One Life to Live (TV) (1973-1976)

Producer

Akeelah and the Bee (2006)
Once in the Life (2000)
Hoodlum (1997)

Screenwriter

Once in the Life (2000)

External links

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