Laurence Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor of screen and stage, playwright, director, and producer.
Fishburne was born in Augusta, Georgia to Laurence Fishburne II, a corrections officer, and Hattie, a junior high school math and science teacher. His parents divorced during his childhood and his mother moved with him to Brooklyn, New York where he was raised. Fishburne's father saw him once a month. He is a graduate of Lincoln Square Academy in New York which closed in the 1980s.
Fishburne started acting at age twelve getting his big break in 1973 portraying Joshua Hall on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live. He was initially cast in the hit television series Good Times, but the role was eventually given to Ralph Carter. Fishburne's most memorable childhood role was in Cornbread, Earl and Me in which he played a young boy who witnessed the police shooting of a popular high school basketball star. Fishburne later earned a supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, in which he played a 17-year-old sailor nicknamed 'Mr. Clean'. When production began in March 1976 he was just fourteen, apparently lying about his age to get the part. Filming took so long that he was already seventeen upon its completion.
Fishburne spent much of the 1980s in and out of television and periodically on stage. Fishburne had a recurring role as Cowboy Curtis with Paul Reubens' character, Pee Wee Herman in the CBS children's television show, Pee-Wee's Playhouse. He also appeared in the M*A*S*H episode, "The Tooth Shall Set You Free", as Corporal Dorsey. His stage work during the 1980s included Short Eyes in 1984 , and Loose Ends in 1987 . Both were produced at Second Stage Theatre in New York City.
In 1991, Fishburne starred in Boyz N The Hood. The following year, in 1992, he won a Tony Award for his stage performance in the August Wilson play, Two Trains Running and an Emmy Award for an episode of the short-lived TV series Tribeca. In 1993, he received his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Ike Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It?. Today, Fishburne is perhaps best known for his role as Morpheus, the hacker-mentor of Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, in the 1999 blockbuster science fiction film, The Matrix. He briefly appears as a stretcher-bearer in one version of the video for The Spooks' song "Things I've Seen" (2000).
Fishburne reprised his role as Morpheus in the Matrix sequels, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Matrix Revolutions in 2003. He has appeared with Tom Cruise as Theodore Brassell, IMF superior of Cruise's character in Mission: Impossible III. In 2006 he appeared on stage with Angela Bassett in a Pasadena production of the August Wilson masterpiece, Fences. Most recently, he provided the voice of the narrator in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) movie, released March 23rd, 2007.
Fishburne has worked with actress Angela Bassett in a four projects. He says "An electrifying thing happens when the two of us work together. I haven’t experienced it with anyone else. A freedom happens when we work together". They both plan to work with each other in the future.[citation needed]
On February 24, 2007, Fishburne was honored with the Harvard Foundation's Artist of the Year award at the annual show Cultural Rythms. He received this honor for his prowess as an actor and entertainer and for his humanitarian pursuits. Fishburne is a UNICEF ambassador. The mayor of the city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mayor Kenneth Reeves awarded him the key to the city and declared the twenty-fourth of February, “Lawrence Fishburne� day in the city of Cambridge.[citation needed]
Fishburne was married to actress Hajna Moss in 1985. They have two children together: a son, Langston, born in 1987, and a daughter, Montana, born in 1991. Fishburne's current wife is actress Gina Torres, whom he wedded on September 20, 2002. She is expecting their first child in the summer of 2007.
Fishburne is a big fan of Paulo Coelho and plans to produce a movie based on the novel The Alchemist.
