Laurence Fishburne is an American-born actor, director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his role as Morpheus in The Matrix. Winner of Saturn and Emmy awards, and was also nominated for an Academy Award in 1994 for Best Actor.
Biography
Laurence Fishburne was born in a town called Augusta, Georgia. The parents of the future actor collapsed soon after his birth, and he and his mother moved to the city of Brooklyn. Now Lawrence considers him his homeland.
Soon, his mother married another man, and he became the first to discern acting talent in Laurence Fishburne. It is likely that if this had not happened, the world would never have known such a wonderful actor as Fishburne. The boy was sent to a theater studio, and he performed in theaters in the city for a long time.
Career
Already at the age of 14, Lawrence made his big-screen debut in the movie Grain, Earl, and Me. There he played the role of a boy in front of whom murder was committed.
Fishburne’s acting career was greatly influenced by his acquaintance with the famous director Francis Ford Coppola. In his film Apocalypse Now, a 15-year-old boy played the supporting role of a 17-year-old sailor named Tyrone Miller. To get the role, he had to hide his real age, but, as time has shown, this was a lie for the good – the film received the Cannes Palm, and the long-awaited success came to the young actor.
Then Fishburne also starred in films directed by Coppola such as Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club, and Rock Gardens. Over the next few years, Lawrence was taken to play in many famous films, and, even though he most often got the role of the second character, this allowed him to be noticed and move up the career ladder.
So, already in 1992, Fishburne won the Tony (the main US theater award) and Emmy awards, and in 1994 he was even nominated for an Oscar for his role in the film What Love Can Do.
Fishburne got the main role in 1995, and he immediately made a splash, becoming the first black actor who got the role of Othello in the film of the same name. Also this year, Lawrence made his first appearance as a theater director and directed the drama “Riff Ruff”, which tells the story of the relationship between a white drug addict and an African American.
1999 was the peak of Lawrence Fishburne’s popularity after his role in the cult film The Matrix. He played Morpheus, the liberator of Neo, an all-knowing and wise mentor, who asked him to make the most important choice – blissful ignorance or painful truth. Of course, no one would be a better candidate for this role than Fishburne. He perfectly got used to the image of Morpheus and was able to convey his mystery, fortitude and charisma. Lawrence played him in the sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolution.
In 2000, he made his directorial debut. He made a film called Once in a Lifetime.
After 2003, when the last sequel to The Matrix was released, Laurence Fishburne did not appear in any particularly significant films until 2008. The only exceptions were the likes of Mysterious River – a film directed by Clint Eastwood and which later won an Oscar – and the action movie Settled. In 2008, the excellent film “Twenty-One” was released, where Lawrence played one of the roles, and in 2009 the critically-loved “Black Water Transit”. In 2013, Laurence Fishburne began acting in the excellent TV series “Hannibal”, in 2016 he played in the acclaimed film “Passengers”.
Personal life
Fishburne married twice: his first wife was actress Haryana O. Moss, with whom they married in the 80s and divorced in the late 90s, and the second was Gina Torres, also an actress with whom he married in September 2002. Lawrence has a son and a daughter from Haryana O. Moss. Gina Torres 2007 gave birth to a girl named Delilah, with whom they now live in Hollywood.
Interesting fact: February 24 in the city of Cambridge is considered Laurence Fishburne Day.
