Who is Laurence John Fishburne III? The entertainment and acting world knows Laurence Fishburne as an American film and stage actor, playwright,
director, and producer. He is perhaps best known f or his roles as
Morpheus in the
Matrix science fiction film trilogy, as
Cowboy Curtis on the 1980s television show
Pee-wee's Playhouse, and as singer-musician
Ike Turner in the
Tina Turner biopic What's Love Got to Do With It. He became the first African American to portray
Othello in a motion picture by a major studio when he appeared in
Oliver Parker's
1995 film adaptation of the
Shakespeare play. From 2008 to 2011, he starred as
Dr. Raymond Langston on the
CBS crime drama
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
Fishburne has won a
Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in
Two Trains Running (1992) and an
Emmy Award for Drama Series Guest Actor for his performance in
TriBeCa (1993).
Early years
Fishburne was born July 30, 1961 in
Augusta, Georgia,
the son of Hattie Bell (née Crawford), a junior high school mathematics
and science teacher, and Laurence John Fishburne, Jr., a juvenile
corrections officer.
[2] His parents divorced during his childhood, and he moved with his mother to
Brooklyn, New York, where he was raised. Fishburne's father saw him once a month.
[3][4] He is a graduate of Lincoln Square Academy in New York, which closed in the 1980s.
Career
1970s
 |
| Fishburne on One Life to Live |
Fishburne started acting at age eleven (according to his January 13,
2012 interview on The View which commemorated One Life to Live) getting
his first job in 1973 as a short-lived member of the
Mod Squad followed by 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
seventeen upon its completion. Fishburne was also a guest star on Mash
as "Corporal Dorsey" in "The Tooth Shall Set You Free" (episode 1014).
1980s
 |
| Fishburne in The Color Purple |
Fishburne spent much of the 1980s in and out of television and
periodically on stage. In the early 1980s, he worked as a bouncer at
punk rock clubs.
[5] He had a minor role in the critically acclaimed Steven Spielberg film
The Color Purple. He also had a role in the 1984 movie The Cotton Club. Fishburne had a recurring role as
Cowboy Curtis on
Paul Reubens'
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 (billed as Larry Fishburne in the credits). In
Spenser: For Hire, he was a guest star for the 2nd season episode "Personal Demons". He appeared as a thug named Cutter in
Death Wish 2 (1982). He also appeared alongside
Kevin Bacon in
Quicksilver. His stage work during the 1980s included
Short Eyes (1984), and
Loose Ends (1987), both produced at
Second Stage Theatre in New York City. Also in 1987 he played a part in the third
Nightmare On Elm Street film as a hospital orderly. Fishburne played as Lt. Charlie Stobbs (under Larry Fishburne) in
Red Heat (1988) beside Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Belushi. Fishburne also starred as "Dap" in
Spike Lee's
School Daze (1988). Fishburne's character was the depiction of an African American, culturally inclined college student at an
HBCU (Historically Black College/University).
1990s
 |
| Fishburne in Boyz n the Hood |
In 1990, he played Jimmy Jump in the controversial
King of New York, and 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[6] for his performance in the opening episode, "The Box," of the short-lived
anthology series television drama
TriBeCa. He also starred in "Deep Cover" along side Jeff Goldblum.
 |
| Fishburne & Angela Basset in What's Love Got to Do With It |
 |
| Fishburne in The Matrix. |
In 1993, he received his first
Oscar nomination for his portrayal of
Ike Turner in
What's Love Got to Do With It.
In an 1995 American drama film, starring an ensemble cast, Laurence
Fishburne won an Image Award for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a
Motion Picture" for his performance in
Higher Learning as West Indian Professor Maurice Phipps. He played the title role in
Othello,
the second African American actor, behind Paul Robeson to be so cast.
In 1997, Fishburne starred in the science fiction horror
Event Horizon alongside
Sam Neill. 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.
2000s – 2010s
Fishburne provided the voice of Thrax in Osmosis Jones in 2001. Fishburne reprised his role as Morpheus in the Matrix sequels,
The Matrix Reloaded, and
The Matrix Revolutions in 2003. He briefly featured as a stretcher-bearer in one version of the video for
The Spooks' song "Things I've Seen" (2000) and appeared with
Tom Cruise as Theodore Brassell,
IMF superior of Cruise's character in
Mission: Impossible III.
Fishburne has worked with actress
Angela Bassett
on four projects. He said that "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."
[cite this quote] In 2006, they appeared onstage in a
Pasadena Playhouse production of
August Wilson's
Fences.
[7]
He provided the voice of the narrator in the
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) movie, which was released on March 23, 2007.
[8] The same year, he provided the voice of the
Silver Surfer in 2007 film
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
On February 24, 2007, Fishburne was honored with the Harvard
Foundation's Artist of the Year award at the annual show Cultural
Rhythms. He received this honor for his prowess as an actor and
entertainer and for his humanitarian pursuits. Fishburne is a
UNICEF ambassador.
[9] The mayor of
Cambridge, Massachusetts, Mayor
Kenneth Reeves awarded him the key to the city and declared February 24 "Laurence Fishburne" day in the city of
Cambridge.
[10]
 |
| Fishburne in Thurgood |
In April 2008, Fishburne returned to the stage in the Broadway production of
Thurgood, a new play by George Stevens, Jr.
Thurgood opened at the Booth Theatre on April 30, 2008.
[11] He won the
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show for his performance. On February 24, 2011,
HBO screened a filmed version of the play performed at the
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
[12][13] On February 16, 2011, the
White House hosted a screening of the film as part of its celebrations of
Black History Month.
[14]
 |
| Fishburne on CSI |
On August 18, 2008, it was reported that Laurence Fishburne would join the cast of
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation after
William Petersen (aka
Gil Grissom) left the series.
John Malkovich was also considered for the role prior to the announcement.
[15]
Fishburne joined the show on the ninth episode of the 9th season as a
college professor and former pathologist whose area of expertise
involves some criminals' predisposition to commit acts of violence.
[16] The character was introduced as a consultant on a case ("19 Down"), who winds up joining the CSI team ("One to Go").
In May 2009, Fishburne performed on-stage in the
National Memorial Day Concert on the Mall in Washington, D.C.
[17]
Fishburne starred in 2010's
Predators.
[18] He co-starred with
Jude Law,
Gwyneth Paltrow,
Matt Damon, and
Marion Cotillard in
Steven Soderbergh's
Contagion (2011).
[19]
On June 7, 2011, Fishburne announced that he was leaving C.S.I. to
return to movies and theatre, opting not to renew his contract and would
not appear in Season 12.
On August 2, 2011 it was announced that Fishburne had been cast in the role of
Perry White in the
Christopher Nolan produced,
Zack Snyder directed
Superman reboot
Man of Steel.
[20] This will mark the first time that the character has been played by an African American actor.
Personal life
 |
| Montana Fishburne |
 |
| Hajna O. Moss | |
Fishburne married actress Hajna O. Moss in 1985, in New York. They have two children together: a son, Langston, born in 1987,
and a daughter,
Montana,
born in 1991. Hajna and Laurence divorced in the 1990s. In 2010, it was
reported that Fishburne had cut ties with his daughter
Montana Fishburne after she started starring in hardcore pornographic films.
[21][22][23]
 |
| Gina Torres |
Fishburne met actress
Gina Torres while filming
The Matrix Reloaded. He and Torres were engaged in February 2001 and married on September 22, 2002,
[24] at
The Cloisters museum in
New York City. On January 8, 2007, Fishburne's spokesman Alan Nierob announced the couple were expecting their first child together.
[25][26] A daughter, Delilah, was born to the couple in June 2007.
[27]
Fishburne lives in Hollywood
[28] and also maintains a residence in New York City, in the
Castle Village Co-Op in the
Hudson Heights section of
Washington Heights.
[29] He is a big fan of
Paulo Coelho and plans to produce a movie based on the novel
The Alchemist.
[30]
Stage and screen credits
Stage
Awards and nominations
Film
Television
Theatre
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