Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor and producer. He has been critically hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative characters in his films. He is known for playing Morpheus in the first three films of The Matrix series (1999–2003), Jason "Furious" Styles in the John Singleton drama film Boyz n the Hood (1991), Tyrone "Mr. Clean" Miller in Francis Ford Coppola's war film Apocalypse Now (1979), and "The Bowery King" in the John Wick film series (2017–present).
For his portrayal of Ike Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It (1993), Fishburne was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in Two Trains Running (1992), and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in TriBeCa (1993). Fishburne became the first African American to portray Othello in a motion picture by a major studio when he appeared in Oliver Parker's 1995 film adaptation of the Shakespeare play.
Other film credits of Fishburne include The Color Purple (1985), School Daze (1988), King of New York (1990), Deep Cover (1992), Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993), Event Horizon (1997), Mystic River (2003), Akeelah and the Bee (2006), Contagion (2011), Man of Steel (2013), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018). On television, he starred as Dr. Raymond Langston on the CBS crime drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2008–2011), as Special Agent Jack Crawford in the NBC thriller series Hannibal (2013–2015), and as Earl "Pops" Johnson in the ABC sitcom Black-ish (2014–present).
Known For
The Matrix
(1999)
Morpheus
Predators
(2010)
Noland
John Wick: Chapter 4
(2023)
Bowery King
Passengers
(2016)
Gus Mancuso
Contagion
(2011)
Ellis Cheever
The Ice Road
(2021)
Goldenrod
Man of Steel
(2013)
Perry White
John Wick: Chapter 2
(2017)
Bowery King
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
(2019)
Bowery King
Apocalypse Now
(1979)
Tyrone 'Clean' Miller
Mission: Impossible III
(2006)
Theodore Brassel
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
(2016)
Perry White
Mystic River
(2003)
Sergeant Whitey Powers
The School for Good and Evil
(2022)
School Master
The Matrix Reloaded
(2003)
Morpheus
Boyz n the Hood
(1991)
Jason 'Furious' Styles
Full Filmography
Acting
If You Give a Dance, You Gotta Pay the Band
(1972)
Fish
Cornbread, Earl and Me
(1975)
Wilford Robinson
Apocalypse Now
(1979)
Tyrone 'Clean' Miller
Fast Break
(1979)
Street Kid
Willie and Phil
(1980)
High School Student
Death Wish II
(1982)
Cutter
Rumble Fish
(1983)
Midget
I Take These Men
(1983)
Hank Johnson
For Us, the Living: The Story of Medgar Evers
(1983)
Jimbo Collins
The Cotton Club
(1984)
Bumpy Rhodes
The Color Purple
(1985)
Swain
Quicksilver
(1986)
Voodoo
Band of the Hand
(1986)
Cream
A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors
(1987)
Max
Gardens of Stone
(1987)
Sgt. Flanagan
Cherry 2000
(1987)
Glu Glu Lawyer
Red Heat
(1988)
Lt. Stobbs
Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special
(1988)
Cowboy Curtis
School Daze
(1988)
Vaughn 'Dap' Dunlap
King of New York
(1990)
Jimmy Jump
Decoration Day
(1990)
Michael Waring, DOD Man
Cadence
(1990)
Roosevelt Stokes
Class Action
(1991)
Nick Holbrook
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
(1991)
Self
The Massachusetts 54th Colored Infantry
(1991)
Self
Boyz n the Hood
(1991)
Jason 'Furious' Styles
Deep Cover
(1992)
Russell Stevens Jr. / John Hull
Searching for Bobby Fischer
(1993)
Vinnie
What's Love Got to Do with It
(1993)
Ike Turner
The Tuskegee Airmen
(1995)
Hannibal Lee
Higher Learning
(1995)
Professor Maurice Phipps
Just Cause
(1995)
Sheriff Tanny Brown
Bad Company
(1995)
Nelson Crowe
Othello
(1995)
Othello
Fled
(1996)
Piper
Event Horizon
(1997)
Miller
Miss Evers' Boys
(1997)
Caleb Humphries
Hoodlum
(1997)
Bumpy Johnson
Black Hollywood
(1997)
Self
Always Outnumbered
(1998)
Socrates Fortlow
Welcome to Hollywood
(1998)
Laurence Fishburne
Making 'The Matrix'
(1999)
Self
The Matrix
(1999)
Morpheus
Michael Jordan to the Max
(2000)
Narrator (voice)
Once in the Life
(2000)
20 / 20 Mike
The Matrix Revisited
(2001)
Self - Morpheus
Osmosis Jones
(2001)
Thrax (voice)
Spooge
(2001)
Self
The Matrix Reloaded: Pre-Load
(2003)
Self
Biker Boyz
(2003)
Smoke
MTV Reloaded
(2003)
Morpheus (archive footage)
The Matrix Revolutions
(2003)
Morpheus
Mystic River
(2003)
Sergeant Whitey Powers
The Matrix Reloaded
(2003)
Morpheus
The Soul of a Man
(2003)
Self - Narrator
A History of Sex
(2003)
Self
Friendly Fire: Making of an Urban Legend
(2003)
Self
Behind the Action in 'Biker Boyz'
(2003)
Self
Dorothy Dandridge: An American Beauty
(2003)
Self
The Matrix Reloaded: Car Chase
(2004)
Himself
The Matrix Revolutions Revisited
(2004)
Self
The Matrix Reloaded Revisited
(2004)
Self
The Matrix Recalibrated
(2004)
Self
Assault on Precinct 13
(2005)
Marion Bishop
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
(2005)
Bear in Genaros Beer Commercial (voice) (uncredited)
Ashes and Snow
(2005)
Narrator (voice)
Akeelah and the Bee
(2006)
Dr. Larabee
Five Fingers
(2006)
Ahmat
Bobby
(2006)
Edward Robinson
Mission: Impossible III
(2006)
Theodore Brassel
The Making of 'Event Horizon'
(2006)
Self
King: Man of Peace in a Time of War
(2007)
Himself
The Death and Life of Bobby Z
(2007)
Tad Gruzsa
TMNT
(2007)
Narrator (voice)
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
(2007)
Norrin Radd / Silver Surfer (voice)
Tortured
(2008)
Archie Green
21
(2008)
Cole Williams
Days of Wrath
(2008)
Mr. Stafford
Armored
(2009)
Baines
The Black List: Volume Two
(2009)
Self
Predators
(2010)
Noland
Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy
(2010)
Self (archive footage)
Predators: The Chosen
(2010)
Noland
Predators: Moments of Extraction
(2010)
Noland (Voice)
Rappin' With The Rickster
(2010)
Self
Have a Little Faith
(2011)
Henry Covington
Contagion
(2011)
Ellis Cheever
Thurgood
(2011)
Thurgood Marshall
The Enduring Significance of 'Boyz n the Hood'
(2011)
Self
A Man's Story
(2011)
Self
Slavery by Another Name
(2012)
Narrator
The Colony
(2013)
Briggs
Khumba
(2013)
Seko (voice)
Man of Steel
(2013)
Perry White
The Signal
(2014)
Dr. Wallace Damon
Rudderless
(2014)
Del
Ride Along
(2014)
Omar
And the Oscar Goes To...
(2014)
Self (archive footage)
August Wilson: The Ground on Which I Stand
(2015)
Sean Connery: In His Own Words
(2015)
Self
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice
(2016)
Perry White
Passengers
(2016)
Gus Mancuso
Standoff
(2016)
Sade
The Snowy Day
(2016)
Narrator
Last Flag Flying
(2017)
Reverend Richard Mueller
John Wick: Chapter 2
(2017)
Bowery King
The Mule
(2018)
Special Agent in Charge
Ant-Man and the Wasp
(2018)
Dr. Bill Foster
Imprisoned
(2019)
Daniel Calvin
Running with the Devil
(2019)
The Man
Where'd You Go, Bernadette
(2019)
Paul Jellinek
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum
(2019)
Bowery King
Our Lady of 121st Street
(2020)
Rooftop
Death to 2020
(2020)
Narrator (voice)
The Ice Road
(2021)
Goldenrod
Under the Stadium Lights
(2021)
Harold Christian
Death to 2021
(2021)
Narrator (voice)
Bonnie
(2022)
Self
black-ish: A Celebration – An ABC News Special
(2022)
Self
All the Old Knives
(2022)
Vick Wallinger
The School for Good and Evil
(2022)
School Master
Is That Black Enough for You?!?
(2022)
Self
John Wick: Chapter 4
(2023)
Bowery King
Megalopolis
(2024)
Fundi Romaine
Sneaks
(2024)
The Collector (voice)
Transformers One
(2024)
Alpha Trion (voice)
Slingshot
(2024)
Captain Franks
The Amateur
(2025)
Production
Miss Evers' Boys
(1997)
Executive Producer
Hoodlum
(1997)
Executive Producer
Always Outnumbered
(1998)
Executive Producer
Once in the Life
(2000)
Producer
Five Fingers
(2006)
Producer
Akeelah and the Bee
(2006)
Producer
The Cave of Adullam
(2022)
Producer and Executive Producer
Sneaks
(2024)
Producer
Directing
Writing