Laurence Fishburne

A respectable thespian recognized for his energy and intelligence that he has constantly displayed when performing either onscreen or onstage, Laurence Fishburne III arguably has established his own place in the forefront of Hollywood's African-American actors of his generation. Born on July 30, 1961 in Augusta, Georgia to Laurence John Fishburne, Jr. and Hattie Bell, he was raised solely by his mother in Park Slope section of Brooklyn, New York following his parents' divorce not long after his birth. Upon noticing her son's natural talent in acting, Hattie subsequently encouraged the kid to be an actor and helped him to join various New York stage auditions, one of which he finally passed to encounter his first professional role at a mere age of 10. The experience was quickly extended to screen production by the time he entered his early teens, first through TV feature of ABC soap opera, "One Life to Live" in 1973 then movie project of "Cornbread, Earl and Me" (1975) alongside Bernie Casey also Antonio Fargas.

Slowly but sure, Laurence began to build his own path in Hollywood with appearances in a series of film features which included "Apocalypse Now" (1979), "Death Wish II" (1982), "Rumble Fish" (1983), and "The Color Purple" (1985), pouring down all the skills he had honed persistently at either New York City's High School of Performing Arts or Lincoln Square Academy to gradually gain mainstream attention from the audience. However, it was not until he starred in John Singleton's "Boyz n the Hood" (1991) that this tall guy ultimately rose to widespread recognition he had long aimed upon garnering critics' rave reviews for his excellent portrayal of Jason "Furious" Styles there. Consequently encountered more offers of propitious roles, he wisely made use the chance to again strike the screen, both small and big ones at the same time through his 1993 stints in Fox TV's "Tribeca" and Touchstone Pictures' "What's Love Got to Do with It."

His decision to perform in those two productions was proven really worthy when each fabulously led him to earn such major accolade in the entertainment industry, the former granted him an Emmy Award of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series later in the year while the latter one scored an Oscar nomination in Best Actor in a Leading Role category by 1994. As if it was not sufficient enough, he prolonged the success with two other nominations of Golden Globes and Actors plus another Emmys nod, all for Leading Actor in TV Movie category by year 1996 through "The Tuskegee Airmen" (1995). Unmistakably went several notches higher following this glorious attainment, the rest of 1990s therefore was smooth for the charismatic thespian to spend as he easily added some more movies to his resume, most notably being "The Matrix" (1999) which fantastically collected over $460 million around the world to be one of the highest-grossing flicks of that year.

Entering the third millennium, Laurence delightfully still shone brightly during the early period of 2000s, exploring human characters in his 2003 movies of "Biker Boyz" also "Mystic River" while being seen reprising his role in "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions" by the same year. Next joined Ethan Hawke plus Maria Bello to film crime drama picture of "Assault on Precinct 13" (2005), he optimistically continued to maintain his path in the industry with a handful of subsequent big screen projects, namely "Akeelah and the Bee", "Bobby", and "Mission: Impossible 3", all came up in 2006. In the meantime, the actor eagerly stood in front of microphones to lend his voice for both 2007's "TMNT" and "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" as the narrator and Silver Surfer, respectively.

Stint after stint kept flowing quite heavily for Laurence up to the end of the first decade of 2000s. There have been at least five pictures he starred in slated to hit theaters in 2008, including "The Death and Life of Bobby Z", "Black Water Transit", and "21" where he performs alongside the likes of Kate Bosworth, Jim Sturgess, and Kevin Spacey. Meanwhile, the year after would find him appearing in star-studded war drama "The Last Full Measure" besides "The Alchemist", an adaptation of Paulo Coelho's bestselling novel of the same name that he also writes and directs. As for his private life, Laurence first married to an actress named Hajna O. Moss in 1985 to then joyously welcome his son, Langston, two years later and daughter Montana in 1991. Sadly, the knot did not last long for they later decided to split during the '90s yet he managed to flourish a new love in Gina Torres, also an actress, and eventually held his second wedding on September 20, 2002. Their daughter, Delilah, was delivered in June 2007.