He was born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis (Tennessee). His parents were Maymi Edna (born Rever; 1912-2000), a cleaner, and Morgan Portfield Freeman, a hairdresser (died in 1961 from cirrhosis of the liver). The Freeman family often moved, they lived in Greenwood, Mississippi, Gary, Indiana and finally settled in Chicago, Illinois. Morgan made his stage debut at the age of 8, playing the lead role in a school play. At that time he attended Greenwood High School in Mississippi. By the age of 12, he already took part in a radio show in Nashville, Tennessee. When Freeman was 16 years old, he almost died of pneumonia. In 1955, he graduated from Greenwood High, but, refusing a partial scholarship to Jackson State University, he preferred to serve as a mechanic in the US Air Force. He served in the military from 1955 to 1959 and was awarded a medal for impeccable service[5].
Freeman moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s and worked as a clerk at Los Angeles Community College. During this period, he also lived in New York, working as a dancer at the 1964 World’s Fair and in San Francisco, as a member of the Opera Ring music group.
In the early 1970s, Freeman became known to a large audience of viewers thanks to his participation in the popular television series «Electric Company». The actor’s film debut took place in 1971 in the film «Who said I can’t walk on the rainbow?». 9 years passed before Freeman was invited to participate in his next film — the prison drama «Brubaker». After that, the actor spent quite a lot of time in obscurity, until in 1987 he was nominated for an Oscar for the best male supporting role in the film «Street Guy».
The second Oscar nomination, but now for the main male role, and the belated status of the leading actor came to Freeman in 1989 after the role of a driver in the film «Driver Miss Daisy». In 1991, Freeman starred in the film «Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves» together with Kevin Costner. This is a rare case when a black actor plays a role originally written for an actor with European appearance.
In 1992, the actor starred together with Clint Eastwood in the film «Unforgiven», which received the «Oscar» award in the «Best Film of the Year» nomination. 1994 brings Freeman another nomination for the «Oscar» award in the «Best Actor of the Year» category for his role in the drama based on Stephen King’s story «The Shawshank Redemption». The role of a policeman tracking a serial killer in the film «Seven», in which he starred with Brad Pitt, brought the actor great success. In 1997, Freeman starred in the role of detective Alex Cross in the adaptation of James Patterson’s novel «The Kiss of Girls». The film is unexpectedly popular for its creators, and the actor got a role in Steven Spielberg’s film «Amistad» in the same year.