LAURENCE FISHBURNE BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:
Laurence Fishburne was born July 30, 1961 in Augusta, Georgia. When he was young his parents divorced, causing him to move with his mother to Brooklyn, New York, where he was raised. At age ten, Fishburne appeared in his first play, "In Many Names and Days", at a small Manhattan theater. By age twelve, he had moved onto the screen with a recurring role on the daytime soap "One Life to Live" (1973-76). During his stay on the show, he made his film debut in the coming of age drama "Cornbread, Earl and Me" (1975). At fourteen years old, the actor was sent to the Philippines for eighteen months to be in director Francis Ford Coppola's war drama "Apocalypse Now" (1979). In the film, Fishburne played a seventeen year old sailor nicknamed 'Mr. Clean'. Originally, Coppola was looking for a sixteen or seventeen year old to play the part, but because Fishburne lied about his age, he was granted a spot in the film. However, this meant that the young actor was surrounded by the adult actors, who gave him influence of their drinking and drug habits. The film itself, though, became a critical and commercial hit, getting nominated for several Academy Awards.
Fishburne spent the eighties in a number of television features, such as a recurring role on "Pee-Wee's Playhouse" (1986-90), and in a handful of movies, like "Rumble Fish" (1983), "The Cotton Club" (1984), "The Color Purple" (1985) starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, "Gardens of Stone" (1987) and "School Daze" (1988). It was not until the start of the new decade, however, that the actor gained widespread recognition.
Beginning with the lead in "Boyz n the Hood" (1991), he started to receive meatier roles and, consequently, more fame. After starring in "Deep Cover" (1992), and appearing on the TV series "Tribeca" (1993), in which he earned an Emmy Award, the actor earned his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Ike Turner in 1993's "What's Love Got to Do With It". In 1995, Fishburne made motion picture history by being the first black actor to portray the Bard's Moor in the major motion picture "Othello". In the same year, he earned another Emmy nomination for his role as Hannibal Lee in HBO's "The Tuskegee Airmen" (1995).
His next major success came with "The Matrix" (1999), a reality bending science fiction film. He returned to his role of Morpheus in two sequels of the movie, "The Matrix Reloaded" (2003) and "The Matrix Revolutions" (2003). In between making "The Matrix" pictures, Fishburne took a turn behind the camera to direct his first movie, "Once in the Life" (2000), an adaptation of his 1994 play "Riff Raff". He next acted in the action packed "Biker Boyz" (2003) and Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon drama "Mystic River" (2003). In 2005 he played a powerful villain in the remake of the thriller "Assault on Precinct 13", followed by a role in the inspirational "Akeelah and the Bee" (2006). Right after, he took on a leading role in the popular third installment of the Tom Cruise action series, "Mission: Impossible III" (2006). Fishburne then appeared in a film about the assassination of president Robert F. Kennedy, "Bobby" (2006), followed by taking on the voices of the narrator in the crime-fighting turtle movie "TMNT" (2007) and The Silver Surfer in the super-hero adventure "Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer" (2007). After a starring part in "The Death and Life of Bobby Z" (2007), Fishburne took a small role in the casino flick "21" (2008).
In 2008 he took over for William Peterson on "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (2008-2011), which he stayed on for a few years. Around the same time, he appeared in the crime films "Black Water Transit" (2009) and "Armored" (2009). After starring in the sci-fi adventure "Predators" (2010), he took on his role of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall in the television movie adaptation of "Thurgood" (2011) (he had earned a Tony Award nomination for the same role in the 2008 play of the same name). In 2011 he also took on the part of a doctor in the outbreak thriller "Contagion", as well as starred in the television film "Have a Little Faith". He is set play the lead in the apocylptical thriller "The Colony" (2012), in addition to becoming the first African American to portray Perry White in the new Superman flick "Man of Steel" (2013).
Filmography
2012 The Colony
2013 Man of Steel
2011 Have a Little Faith
2011 Contagion
2011 Thurgood
2010 Predators Motion Comics: Moment of Extraction
2010 Predators
2009 Armored
2009 CSI: NY
2009 CSI: Miami
2009 Black Water Transit
2008 Days of Wrath
2008 Tortured
2008 21
2008 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
2007 The Death and Life of Bobby Z
2007 Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer
2007 TMNT
2006 Bobby
2006 Five Fingers
2006 Mission: Impossible III
2006 Akeelah and the Bee
2005 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
2005 Assault on Precinct 13
2005 The Beltway
2003 The Matrix Revolutions
2003 Mystic River
2003 Decoded: The Making of 'The Matrix Reloaded'
2003 The Matrix Reloaded
2003 Biker Boyz
2001 Osmosis Jones
2000 Once in the Life
1999 The Matrix
1998 Always Outnumbered
1997 Hoodlum
1997 Event Horizon
1997 Miss Evers' Boys
1996 Fled
1996 Before Your Eyes
1995 Othello
1995 The Tuskegee Airmen
1995 Just Cause
1995 Bad Company
1995 Higher Learning
1993 Searching for Bobby Fischer
1993 What's Love Got to Do with It
1993 Tribeca
1992 Deep Cover
1991 The American Experience
1991 Boyz n the Hood
1991 Class Action
1990 Decoration Day
1990 Cadence
1990 King of New York
1989 The Equalizer
1988 Red Heat
1988 School Daze
1987 Cherry 2000
1987 Gardens of Stone
1987 A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
1987 Spenser: For Hire
1986 Miami Vice
1986 Pee-wee's Playhouse
1986 Band of the Hand
1986 Hill Street Blues
1986 Quicksilver
1985 The Color Purple
1984 The Cotton Club
1983 Rumble Fish
1983 American Playhouse
1983 I Take These Men
1982 Strike Force
1982 Death Wish II
1982 M*A*S*H
1981 Trapper John, M.D.
1980 A Rumor of War
1980 Willie & Phil
1980 The Six O'Clock Follies
1979 Apocalypse Now
1979 Fast Break
1975 Cornbread, Earl and Me
1973 One Life to Live
1972 If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band
