Morgan Freeman was born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee. His father, Morgan Porterfield Freeman was a barber who died in 1961. His mother Mayme Edna was a cleaner. Morgan is the youngest of four children.

Growing up, the Freeman family moved around quite a bit between Greenwood, Mississippi, Gary, Indiana, and Chicago, Illinois. Morgan got into acting at a young age after he starred in a school play when he was eight. Then, at the age of 12 he won a state-wide drama competition.

Although Morgan had the chance to attend college on a drama scholarship offered by Jackson State University, he decided to work for the U.S. Air Force as a mechanic instead. After his stint in the Air Force he moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960’s.

Before he made it big in Hollywood, Freeman held down a job as a transcript clerk at Los Angeles Community College. He also worked as a dancer at the World’s Fair in New York City and sang in a music group in San Francisco. Freeman’s first break into acting started out with off-Broadway plays like The Niggerlovers. His debut on Broadway quickly followed in Hello, Dolly! (1968).

Freeman has two sons from previous relationships, Alphonso and Saifoulaye. In 1967, Morgan married Jeanette Adair Bradshaw. He adopted her daughter, Deena, from a previous relationship. They also had a child of their own, Morgana. The couple divorced in 1979. He then married Myrna Colley-Lee in 1984, and their marriage lasts to this day. He currently lives in Charleston, Mississippi.   

Morgan’s first stint on TV was on the PBS kid’s show, The Electric Company. This was followed by a role on the soap opera, Another World. His first film was, Who Says I Can’t Ride a Rainbow? (1971). Freeman’s role as a leading actor did not begin until the early 1980’s. Two of his early performances include Driving Miss Daisy (1989) starring Dan Aykroyd, and The Shawshank Redemption (1994) co-starring Tim Robbins, Bob Gunton, and Clancy Brown.

Other films he has been a part of include his Academy Award winning performance in Million Dollar Baby (2004) co-starring Hilary Swank and Clint Eastwood, Se7en (1995) co-starring Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow, Chain Reaction (1996) opposite Keanu Reeves, and Along Came a Spider (2001) co-starring Monica Potter and Michael Wincott in which he played the character Dr. Alex Cross. Freeman played the same character in 1997 in the film Kiss the Girls, co-starring Ashley Judd.

Freeman has multiple businesses on top of acting, including a movie production company established in 1997 called Revelations Entertainment. Freeman co-owns the company  with Lori McCreary. He also co-owns and operates two restaurants, Madidi and Ground Zero Blues Club. Both are located in Clarksdale, Mississippi. 

Morgan Freeman has taken a pubic stand against the idea of celebrating Black History Month. He has stated that the only way to end racism in America is to stop talking about it.

He is also quick to point out that there is no “white history month.” He believes that Black history should be considered American history.

On August 4th 2008 Morgan was involved in a serious car crash in his home state of Mississippi and was hospitalized along with a fellow passenger who was also injured when the car they were traveling in flipped off the highway.