Shootout

Laurence Fishburne

Over the past years, acknowledgment of Laurence Fishburne's work as a multi-hyphenate actor/producer/director has been impressive. In 1992, he was awarded a Tony for Best Featured Actor In A Play, a Drama Desk Award, an Outer Critic's Circle Award, and a Theater World Award for his work on Broadway as Sterling Johnson in August Wilson's Two Trains Running. His rare television appearance in the '93 premiere episode of Fox TV's Tribeca landed Laurence an Emmy. And to complete a triple crown, he was nominated for an Oscar as Best Actor of 1993 for his portrayal of Ike Turner in the film What's Love Got to do With It.

The future looks as bright as the past for Fishburne, who will appear in numerous films slated for upcoming release, including 21 alongside Kevin Spacey, Days of Wrath opposite Amber Valetta and Wilmer Valderrama, and Tortured with Cole Hauser and James Cromwell. Fishburne will also be seen in Black Water Transit which tells the story of the conflicting agendas of criminals, cops and lawyers and in Armored, a heist film that revolves around an armored truck and the stealing of $10 million.

Additionally, Fishburne will return to Broadway on April 30th, 2008 at the Booth Theatre for a limited engagement of the one man show, Thurgood, about the life of Thurgood Marshall.

In 2006 Fishburne was reunited with his What’s Love Got to Do With It co-star Angela Bassett in Lionsgate’s Akeelah & the Bee. Laurence starred as Professor Larabee in this drama that follows a young inner city girl on her path to win the national spelling bee. For his performance he was awarded a Best Actor Award at the 2006 Black Movie Awards. The film sweeped the show with 3 other wins including Best Picture. Fishburne also produced the film through his Cinema Gypsy production banner. Immediately following he co-starred with Tom Cruise and Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Paramount’s summer film Mission Impossible 3. Later in 2006, Fishburne joined the impressive cast of Bobby, which was nominated for a SAG award for best ensemble cast.

On stage in 2006, Fishburne portrayed an inspirational teacher in the new drama Without Walls by Alfred Uhry, directed by Christopher Ashley, at the Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. For this performance he was awarded Best Actor at the 17th Annual NAACP Theater Award. He then starred opposite Angela Bassett at The Pasadena Playhouse in August Wilson’s play Fences. Fences broke the playhouse record for sales as it had a sold out run.

In 2005, he starred with Ethan Hawke in Assault on Precinct 13, which was a remake of John Carpenter’s 1976 film by the same name. In the film, a motley crew of policemen and prisoners captained by a reluctant cop (Hawke), band together to fight off a rogue gang that wants to free an incarcerated mobster (Fishburne).

In 2003, Fishburne was seen in gigantic box-office sensations The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions the follow up films to the 1999 Warner Bros/Silver Pictures’ box office hit, The Matrix. These films, which also star Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, were released in May and November 2003.

In October of 2003, he was seen in Clint Eastwood’s critically acclaimed Mystic River, starring alongside the distinguished cast of Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, and Marcia Gay Harden. In January of 2003, Fishburne starred in the Dreamworks release Biker Boyz.

In October of 2000, Laurence made his directorial debut, in addition to starring in and producing Once in the Life, a film released by Lions Gate. The screenplay, which he wrote, is based on the one-act play Riff Raff, in which Fishburne starred, wrote, and directed in 1994. The play received critical praise and was later brought to New York's Circle Rep Theater. The initial run in Los Angeles was the first production produced under his own banner L.O.A. Productions.

In 1999 he also appeared at the Roundabout Theater on Broadway, playing the lead role of Henry II, in The Lion in Winter, a revival of the 1966 hit which focuses on the struggle between Henry II of France and his estranged wife, Elenor of Acquitaine. In addition, Laurence starred in and executive produced Always Outnumbered, directed by Michael Apted from a first-time screenplay by author Walter Mosley, for HBO. In 1997, Laurence received an Emmy nomination (Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Special) and an NAACP Image Award (1998) for his starring role in the HBO drama “Miss Evers’ Boys, which he executive produced. It is based on the Pulitzer Prize-nominated play about the true story of the Tuskegee Study, a controversial medical experiment (1932-72) in which the U.S. Government Public Health Service withheld treatment from a group of African-American men with syphilis. Miss Evers’ Boys was awarded five Emmys, including “Outstanding made for Television Movie” and the coveted “President’s Award,” which honors a program that illuminates a social or educational issue.

Also, Fishburne starred in Paramount Pictures’ Event Horizon, the science-fiction thriller directed by Paul Anderson and co-starring Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, and Joely Richardson, and Hoodlum, in which he starred and produced. In Hoodlum, directed by Bill Duke and co-starring Vanessa Williams, Tim Roth, and Andy Garcia, he plays legendary racketeer Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, the classy ex-con who defies infamous mobsters Dutch Schultz and Lucky Luciano to become king of Harlem's numbers runners during the violent Prohibition era of the 1930's.

In 1996, he starred in the MGM, action-comedy Fled and starred in the critically acclaimed film Othello in the title role, co-starring with Kenneth Branagh and Irene Jacob for Castle Rock. He is the first African-American to play the Moorish king in a major screen release and he follows a noble tradition of such actors in the role as Sir Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles.

In 1995, he starred in an original HBO film Tuskegee Airmen, for which he received an NAACP Image Award for Best Actor in a Mini-Series, and Golden Globe, Emmy and Cable Ace nominations for Best Actor in a Mini-Series. The project tells the story of America's first African-American combat pilots and was an inspiration for Laurence and his pride in the project shows in his performance.

Laurence has appeared in several films: the steamy Bad Company for Touchstone, co-starring with Ellen Barkin; Higher Learning, for which he received an NAACP Image Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, for Columbia Pictures as Professor Phipps, in which he re-teamed with writer/director John Singleton, Just Cause for Warner Brothers co-starring with Sean Connery and the Oscar winning film The Color Purple. Laurence's characters could all be described as confident and powerful - words often used to describe Laurence himself.

In regard to Laurence Fishburne the man, the adage "still waters run deep" fits. He has a quiet, commanding presence with range and strength evidenced through his stirring character portrayals. A reviewer once wrote about Laurence, "He takes a director's talents and gives them heroic size. He knows the power of taking your time. He knows the power of silence. He knows the power of concentration."

Laurence's power is definitely evident particularly in his striking portrayal of difficult characters. As Ike Turner in What's Love Got To Do With It, he captivated the public and the critics alike who predicted the Oscar nomination for this remarkable work. As the New York Times put it, "The brilliant, mercurial portrayal of Laurence Fishburne is what elevates What's Love... beyond the realm of bio-pic." Rolling Stone notes, "Fishburne keeps providing insights into Ike's rage that illuminate the character without excusing him...Fishburne is superb."

In Searching For Bobby Fischer, Laurence played a New York street-wise speed chess player who aids in the progress of a young chess protege. Once again he had critics and audiences cheering about his co-starring role filled with power and emotion. Just prior to these he played a very different role as that of an undercover cop, he co-starred with Jeff Goldblum in the motion picture Deep Cover.

It is not hard to understand why roles are often created specifically for Laurence. John Singleton fashioned the role of Furious Styles in Boyz in the Hood after his own father, but shaped it with Laurence in mind. Singleton had become familiar with Laurence when Singleton was a Production Assistant on the popular television program PeeWee's Playhouse and Laurence portrayed Cowboy Curtis.

Another filmmaker that Laurence worked with on several occasions was Martin Sheen. Sheen created a role for Laurence, that of street-wise military prisoner named Stokes, in Cadence, which Sheen directed after the two had gotten to know each other well during the 18 months it took to make Apocalypse Now when Laurence was 15 years old.

Laurence has been acting in films and on stage since he was 10, starting on the soap opera One Life To Live, then making his feature film debut in Cornbread, Earl and Me at 12. At 14, he was cast in a show for the Negro Ensemble Theater and accepted to the High School of Performing Arts. At 15, he was heading off to the Philippines for work with some of the greatest actors of our time under the most extreme circumstances for the epic motion picture Apocalypse Now. Following Apocalypse Now, Laurence returned to his New York home base, Brooklyn, and continued to rack up impressive credits. Laurence has also appeared in Class Action, King of New York, Red Heat, Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Cotton Club and Rumblefish.

His television experience includes Decoration Day for Hallmark Hall of Fame, For Us The Living for PBS, Rumor of War for CBS, and numerous other starring or guest starring roles. His versatility is a gift and he has been able to land roles not initially earmarked for black actors.

Laurence Fishburne continues to give back serving as an Ambassador for Unicef. In 2007, Harvard University honored Fishburne with an Artist of the Year Award for his outstanding contributions to American and International Performing Arts, as well as his many humanitarian contributions.

At the same time that Laurence Fishburne consistently breaks new ground, he appreciates that which is hallowed. In reflecting on those actors such as Sidney Poitier and Morgan Freeman that have paved the way Laurence says, "The power of their presence alone spoke to me, made me believe I could do the same thing." He has also worked with "ancestral memory" and finds it a "source of spiritual strength. I believe ancestors push me here, push me there, and guide me...they are a resource to be valued and respected."