Laurence Fishburne Biography (1961-)

Full name, Laurence Fishburne III; born July 30, 1961, in Augusta, GA; son ofLaurence John, Jr. (a juvenile corrections officer), and Hattie Bell (a junior high school mathematics teacher; maiden name, Crawford) Fishburne; marriedHajna Moss (some sources cite the name Majna Mass; a casting director), July1, 1985 (divorced); married Gina Torres (an actress), September, 2002; children: (first marriage) Langston Issa, Montana Isis (daughter). Addresses: Agent: Sam Gores, Paradigm Talent Agency, 10100 Santa Monica Blvd., 25th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90067-4003.; Publicist: Alan Nierob, Rogers & CowanPublic Relations, 1888 Century Park E., Suite 500, Los Angeles, CA 90067.

Nationality: American
Gender: Male
Occupation: Actor, producer, director, writer
Birth Details: July 30, 1961; Augusta, Georgia, United States

Famous Works

CREDITS
Film Appearances
(Film debut) Wilford Robinson, Cornbread, Earl, and Me (also knownas Hit the Open Man), American International Pictures, 1975
(As Larry Fishburne) Tyrone Miller (Mr. Clean), Apocalypse Now, United Artists, 1979, released as Apocalypse Now Redux, 2001
(As Lawrence Fishburne III) Street kid, Fast Break, Columbia, 1979
Wilson, Willie and Phil, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1980
(As Laurence Fishburne III) Cutter, Death Wish II, Columbia/EMI/Warner Bros., 1981
(As Larry Fishburne) Midget, Rumble Fish, Universal, 1983
(As Larry Fishburne) Bumpy Rhodes, The Cotton Club, Orion, 1984
(As Larry Fishburne) Swain, The Color Purple (also known as Moon Song), Warner Bros., 1985
Cream, Band of the Hand, TriStar, 1986
(As Larry Fishburne) Voodoo, Quicksilver, Columbia, 1986
(As Larry Fishburne) Corporal Flanagan, Gardens of Stone, TriStar,1987
(As Larry Fishburne) Max, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, New Line Cinema, 1987
(As Larry Fishburne) Glu Glu lawyer, Cherry 2000, Orion Home Video, 1987
Dap Dunlap, School Daze, Columbia, 1988
(As Larry Fishburne) Lieutenant Charlie Stubbs, Red Heat, TriStar,1988
(As Larry Fishburne) Jimmy Jump, King of New York, New Line Cinema, 1990
(As Larry Fishburne) Nick Holbrook, Class Action, Twentieth Century-Fox, 1991
(As Larry Fishburne) Roosevelt Stokes, Cadence (also known as Count a Lonely Cadence and Stockade), New Line Cinema, 1991
Furious Styles, Boyz N the Hood (also known as Boys in the Hood), Columbia, 1991
(As Larry Fishburne) Russell Stevens, Jr., and John Q. Hull, Deep Cover, New Line Cinema, 1992
Ike Turner, Sr., What's Love Got to Do with It, Buena Vista, 1993
Vinnie, Searching for Bobby Fischer (also known as Innocent Moves), Paramount, 1993
Tanny Brown, Just Cause, Warner Bros., 1995
Professor Maurice Phipps, Higher Learning, Columbia, 1995
Nelson Crowe, Bad Company, Buena Vista, 1995
Title role, Othello, Columbia, 1995
Charles Piper, Fled, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1996
Captain Miller, Event Horizon, Paramount, 1997
Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, Hoodlum (also known as Gangsterand Hoods), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1997
Morpheus, The Matrix, Warner Bros., 1999
Himself, Welcome to Hollywood, 2000
"20/20" Mike and Riff Raff, Once in the Life, 2000
Narrator, Michael Jordan to the Max, Giant Screen Sports, 2000
Voice of Thrax, Osmosis Jones, Warner Bros., 2001
Himself and Morpheus, The Matrix Revisited, Warner Home Video, 2001
Manuel "Smoke" Galloway, Biker Boyz, DreamWorks, 2003
Morpheus, The Matrix Reloaded, Warner Bros., 2003
Mystic River, Warner Bros., 2003
Morpheus, The Matrix Revolutions (also known as The Matrix: Revelations), Warner Bros., 2003
Film Work
Executive producer, Hoodlum (also known as Gangster and Hoods), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/United Artists, 1997
Producer and director, Once in the Life, 2000
Television Appearances
Series
Joshua "Josh" West Hall, One Life to Live (also known as Between Heaven and Hell and One Life to Live: The Summer of Seduction),ABC, 1973-1976
Corporal Don "Robby" Robinson, The Six O'Clock Follies, NBC, 1980
Cowboy Curtis, The Pee-wee Herman Show, 1981
Cowboy Curtis, Pee-wee's Playhouse, CBS, 1987-1991
Miniseries
Lightbulb, A Rumor of War, CBS, 1980
(As Larry Fishburne) Voice, The Civil War (also known as The American Civil War), PBS, 1990

(As Lawrence Fishburne) Voice of Nat Love, The Wild West, syndicated, 1993
Movies
If You Give a Dance, You Got to Pay the Band, 1975
Hank Johnson, I Take These Men, CBS, 1983
The Father Clements Story, NBC, 1987
Michael Waring, Decoration Day, NBC, 1990
Hannibal "Iowa" Lee, Jr., The Tuskegee Airmen, HBO, 1995
Caleb Humphries, Miss Evers' Boys, HBO, 1997
Socrates Fortlow, Always Outnumbered (also known as Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned and Socrates), HBO, 1998
Episodic
(As Larry Fishburne) Corporal Dorsey, "The Tooth Shall Set You Free," M*A*S*H, CBS, 1982
Maurice Haynes, "Look Homeward, Ninja," Hill Street Blues, NBC, 1986
Kellar, "Walk-Alone," Miami Vice, NBC, 1986
(As Larry Fishburne) David Mukende, "Personal Demons," Spenser: For Hire, ABC, 1987
Casey Taylor, "Race Traitors," The Equalizer, CBS, 1989
The Arsenio Hall Show, 1991
Voice of Martin Delany, "The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry," TheAmerican Experience, 1991
Martin McHenry, "The Box," Tribeca, Fox, 1993
Late Show with David Letterman, multiple appearances, beginning 1994
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, 2001
Also appeared in an episode of Inside the Actors Studio.
Specials
(As Larry Fishburne) Jimbo Collins, "For Us, the Living" (also known as "For Us, the Living: The Medgar Evers Story"), American Playhouse, PBS,1983
Cowboy Curtis, A Special Evening of Pee-wee's Playhouse, CBS, 1987
Cowboy Curtis, Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (also known as Christmas Special), CBS, 1988
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, Showtime, 1991
Host, Who Killed Martin Luther King?, Fox, 1993
Up for the Golden Globes, NBC, 1996
The Kennedy Center 25th Anniversary Celebration, PBS, 1996
Narrator, Before Your Eyes: One Last Chance (also known as Before Your Eyes), CBS, 1996
Narrator, Muhammad Ali: The Greatest, Arts and Entertainment, 1996
Sidney Poitier: The Defiant One, Arts and Entertainment, 1997
Intimate Portrait: Agnes Nixon, Lifetime, 1999
Narrator, Treasures of the Royal Captain, The Discovery Channel, 2000
An All-Star Tribute to Joni Mitchell, TNT, 2000
Morpheus (in archive footage), Sex and the Matrix, 2000
Awards Presentations
The 20th Annual People's Choice Awards, CBS, 1994
1994 Billboard Music Awards, Fox, 1994
Presenter, The 49th Annual Tony Awards, CBS, 1995
Presenter, The 25th Anniversary Essence Awards, Fox, 1995
The 1996 Essence Awards, Fox, 1996
Presenter, The 68th Annual Academy Awards, ABC, 1996
Presenter, The 53rd Annual Golden Globe Awards, NBC, 1996
Presenter, The 1996 Emmy Awards, ABC, 1996
Presenter, The 49th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, CBS, 1997
Presenter, The 1999 Tony Awards, CBS and PBS, 1999
The 6th Annual Blockbuster Entertainment Awards, Fox, 2000
The 31st Annual NAACP Image Awards, Fox, 2000
(As Lawrence Fishburne) 2000 MTV Movie Awards, MTV, 2000
Presenter, VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards, VH1, 2000
Other
Choices, 1992
Television Work
Movies
Executive producer (with Robert Benedetti), Miss Evers' Boys, HBO,1997
Executive producer, Always Outnumbered (also known as Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned and Socrates), HBO, 1998
Stage Appearances
Young baseball fan, My Many Names and Faces, New Federal Theatre,New York City, c. 1971
Tony Pridgeon, Section D, New Federal Theatre, 1975
Solomon, Eden, Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, New York City, 1976
Short Eyes, 1984
Doug, Loose Ends, Second Stage Theatre, McGinn-Cazale Theatre, NewYork City, 1988
Urban Blight, Manhattan Theatre Club Stage I, New York City, 1988
Sterling, Two Trains Running, Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, CT, 1989-1990 then Old Globe Theatre, San Diego, CA, 1990-1991 later Walter Kerr Theatre, New York City, 1992
"20/20" Mike Leon, Riff Raff (one-act), Circle Repertory Theatre,Los Angeles, 1995
Henry II, The Lion in Winter, Roundabout Theatre, New York City, 1999
Stage Work
Director, Riff Raff (one-act), Circle Repertory Theatre, Los Angeles, 1995
RECORDINGS
Videos
Appeared in the music video "Things I've Seen" by Spook, 2000.
WRITINGS
Screenplays
Once in the Life, 2000
Stage Plays
Riff Raff (one-act), Circle Repertory Theatre, Los Angeles, 1995

Further Reference

OTHER SOURCES

Books

Contemporary Black Biography, Volume 22, Gale, 1999
International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, Volume 3: Actors and Actresses, St. James Press, 1996

Periodicals

Empire, Issue 52, 1996, pp. 56-57; Issue 81, 1996, p. 52
Entertainment Weekly, October 23, 1998, p. 86
Insight on the News, January 15, 1996, p. 36
Jet, January 15, 1996, p. 32; August 5, 1996, pp. 32-36; February24, 1997, pp. 58-62; September 1, 1997, pp. 32-37; March 23, 1998, pp. 32-36
Newsday, August 25, 1997
New York Times, October 22, 2000
Parade, April 16, 2000, pp. 6-8
People Weekly, October 23, 1995
Playboy, April, 1994, pp. 144-48
Vanity Fair, December, 1995, pp. 172, 174, 177, 179-80
Vogue, November, 1995

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