Morgan Freeman

His second marriage was to Myrna Colley-Lee in 1984. The couple divorced in 2010.

He was born to Mayme Edna and Morgan Freeman Sr. as one of their five children. His mother was a teacher and father, a barber. He was sent to live with his grandmother as an infant; he started living with his parents some years later.

He loved movies and acting from a young age. Often he would save money to see movies and idolized actors like Gary Cooper and Sidney Poitier. He also used to act in drama in school.

He attended Broad Street High School in Mississippi and won a state wide drama competition when he was 12. He graduated from high school in 1955.

He received a partial drama scholarship from Jackson State University but he turned it down.

He joined the U.S. Air Force, hoping to be a fighter pilot. He was, however, relegated as a mechanic and radar technician. He quit his military career in 1959 on realizing that this was not what he wanted to do.

He moved to Los Angeles and took acting and dancing classes during the early 1960s. During the mid 1960s he joined the Opera Ring musical theater group and acted with a touring company version of ‘The Royal Hunt of the Sun’.

He made his off-Broadway debut in 1967 in the play ‘The Nigger Lovers’ which also starred Viveca Lindfors. This led to his Broadway debut in 1968 in an all-black version of ‘Hello Dolly!’ also starring Pearl Bailey.

Starting from 1971 he began appearing regularly on the television program for children, ‘The Electric Company’ which was an educational program aimed at teaching children how to read. The show ran for six seasons till 1977.

His film career began to take off only in the 1980s. Initially he could find only small roles in films like ‘Brubaker’ (1980), ‘Eyewitness’ (1981), ‘Harry & Son’ (1984) and ‘Marie’ (1985).

His role as an elderly former boxer in the film ‘Million Dollar Baby’ was critically appreciated by the industry experts and earned him several prestigious awards and accolades.

He portrayed the South African president Nelson Mandela in the film ‘Invictus’ which was based on the events in South Africa before and during the 1995 Rugby World Cup. He was nominated for the Academy Award for the Best Actor.