Laurence Fishburne: Plays Dr. Ray Langston
| Full Name: |
Laurence J. Fishburne III |
 [Photo: © 2009 CBS, all rights reserved] |
| Birth Date: |
July 30, 1961 |
| Astrological Sign: |
Leo |
| Birth Place: |
Augusta, Georgia |
| Spouse(s): |
- Gina Torres (20 September 2002 – present) 2 children
- Hajna O. Moss (1985 – 199?) (divorced) 2 children
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| Awards: |
- Academy Awards
- 1994 Oscar Best Actor in a Leading Role for: What’s Love Got to Do with It (1993) – Nominated
- Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
- 2000 Saturn Award Best Supporting Actor for: The Matrix (1999) – Nominated
- Acapulco Black Film Festival
- 1998 Best Actor for: Hoodlum (1997) – Nominated
- Black Movie Awards
- 2006 Outstanding Motion Picture for: Akeelah and the Bee (2006) – Winner
- 2006 Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for: Akeelah and the Bee (2006) – Winner
- Black Reel Awards
- 2007 Best Film for: Akeelah and the Bee (2006) – Nominated
- 2007 Best Supporting Actor for: Akeelah and the Bee (2006) – Nominated
- 2000 Best Actor for: The Matrix (1999) – Nominated
- Blockbuster Entertainment Awards
- 2000 Favorite Supporting Actor – Action/Science-Fiction for: The Matrix (1999) – Winner
- Boston Society of Film Critics Awards
- 2003 Best Ensemble Cast for: Mystic River (2003) – Winner
- CableACE Awards
- 1997 CableACE Movie for: Miss Evers’ Boys (1997) (TV) – Winner
- Chicago International Film Festival
- 2000 - Career Achievement Award
- Emmy Awards
- 1997 Outstanding Made for Television Movie for: Miss Evers’ Boys (1997) (TV) – Winner
- 1997 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for: Miss Evers’ Boys (1997) (TV) – Nominated
- 1996 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Special for: The Tuskegee Airmen (1995) (TV) – Nominated
- 1993 Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for: Tribeca (1993) For playing “Martin McHenry” For episode “The Box” – Winner
- Golden Globes
- 1996 Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV for: The Tuskegee Airmen (1995) (TV) – Nominated
- Hollywood Film Festival
- 2006 Ensemble of the Year for: Bobby (2006) – Winner
- Image Awards
- 2009 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000) – Nominated
- 2007 Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for: Akeelah and the Bee (2006) – Nominated
- 2006 Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for: Assault on Precinct 13 (2005) – Nominated
- 2004 Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for: The Matrix Revolutions (2003) – Nominated
- 2000 Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture for: The Matrix (1999) – Nominated
- 1999 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series for: Always Outnumbered (1998) (TV) – Nominated
- 1998 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series for: Miss Evers’ Boys (1997) (TV) – Winner
- 1998 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture for: Hoodlum (1997) – Nominated
- 1996 Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series for: The Tuskegee Airmen (1995) (TV) – Winner
- 1996 Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture for: Higher Learning (1995) – Winner
- 1996 Outstanding Lead Actor in a Motion Picture for: Othello (1995) – Nominated
- Independent Spirit Awards
- 1993 Best Male Lead for: Deep Cover (1992) – Nominated
- MTV Movie Awards
- 2000 Best Fight for: The Matrix (1999) – Winner
- 2000 Best On-Screen Duo for: The Matrix (1999) Shared with: Keanu Reeves – Nominated
- PGA Awards
- 1998 Television Producer of the Year Award in Longform for: Miss Evers’ Boys (1997) (TV) – Winner
- Satellite Awards
- 1999 Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for: Always Outnumbered (1998) (TV) – Nominated
- Screen Actors Guild Awards
- 2007 Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picturefor: Bobby (2006) – Nominated
- 2004 Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for: Mystic River (2003) – Nominated
- 1996 Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a TV Movie or Miniseries for: The Tuskegee Airmen (1995) (TV) – Nominated
- ShoWest Convention
- 2008 Won Special Award Best Ensemble for: 21 (2008) – Winner
- 2006 - Special Award Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film
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| Fast Facts: |
- Studied acting at the Lincoln Square Academy in New York.
- In Event Horizon (1997) the space suits worn by the actors weighed 65 pounds each. He nicknamed his Doris.
- Won Broadway’s 1992 Tony Award as Best Actor (Featured Role – Play) for August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running.”
- He is often mistaken for Samuel L. Jackson and vice versa. According to Jackson, they’ve stood right next to each other, and people still call them by the wrong names.
- Went to New York’s High School of the Performing Arts
- Auditioned for the role of Ben in Night of the Living Dead (1990).
- His deal for The Matrix (1999) sequels was for a reported $15 million + 3.75% of the gross.
- In the early 1980s he and fellow New York actor Giancarlo Esposito were roommates during L.A.’s pilot season.
- A founding member of the Guggenheim Motorcycle Club, a group that arranges rides to art museums around the world.
- Met Paul Reubens at the Groundlings Theatre (he didn’t study there but did perform readings) and Reubens cast him as Cowboy Curtis in the children’s series “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” (1986).
- An Ambassador for UNICEF, the United Nations Childrens’ Emergency Fund, an agency of the U.N. which helps children all over the world with educational, health and humanitarian aid.
- Originally hooked up with Boyz n the Hood (1991) writer John Singleton when Singleton was a production assistant and Fishburne an actor (“Cowboy Curtis”) on the popular children’s TV program “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” (1986).
- According to the commentary track on the “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” (2005) DVD, Fishburne provided the voice of the bear in the Genaros Beer commercial.
- Appeared with Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now (1979), Cadence (1990), and Bobby (2006). He also worked with Charlie Sheen in Cadence (1990) and Emilio Estevez in Bobby (2006).
- Attended the 2006 Dubai International Film Festival in the United Arab Emirates.
- Character on CSI: Ray Langston, is taken from the name of his oldest son.
- Nominated for the 2007 Tony Award (New York City) for Actor in a Drama for “Thurgood”.
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| Quotes: |
- “For the last six months people have been coming up to me and saying, ‘I loved you in Pulp Fiction, Mr. Jackson.’” [1996]
- “I’ve played a lot of bad guys, ’cause that was the only work I could get. People saw my face and went ‘oooh’.”
- [On why he didn't read the complete play of "Othello" before acting in the film version in which more than half of the dialogue was cut:]
- “Why should I read all those words that I’m not going to get to say?”
- “I play characters. I don’t think I really have a persona per se. I don’t play the same guy every time. I show up, you don’t know what I’m gonna do. I like it that way. I’ve intentionally tried to do it that way. I think that’s what’s interesting.”
- “It’s funny, a lot of people think I take myself seriously because I come off so serious sometimes. But it’s not that I take myself seriously, I take what I do seriously. I came up around people who took acting seriously, who cared about acting, cared about the theater and, in the ’70s, made movies that said something that mattered. I came up with those people, and I was a kid. Their ethos and credo became mine.”
- “I don’t believe in acting teachers for me.”
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