How Old Was Morgan Freeman When He Got His Big Break In Hollywood?

When you think about some of America's most prominent Black male actors, Morgan Freeman is sure to come to mind. His incredible acting range has landed him in diverse films and scored him dozens of awards, and his incredible voice has narrated documentaries and audiobooks and even COVID-19 PSAs. Paired with his sense of humor, this amazing body of work and his adaptability as an actor are among the reasons he is listed among the greats. But as prolific a career as he has now, Freeman didn't get his big break in Hollywood until he starred in a film called "Street Smart" where he played a pimp opposite Christopher Reeve. The film came out in 1987. Freeman was 50 years old.

Freeman's love for movies began with a healthy obsession with the movie "King Kong," according to a 2018 Variety article, and though he didn't have much money, he always saved up for movie tickets. He got his first acting role in elementary school, and his passion for the acting profession grew from there, encompassing several school plays he performed in throughout high school. And his dream was set. "I was going to be an actor or a bum," the actor told Variety.

Though the "Paradise Highway" star was committed to launching a successful acting career, he joined the U.S. Military Air Force after high school to pursue becoming a fighter pilot. When the opportunity to fly a jet airplane was presented to Freeman, things felt different from what he imagined. "I realized my fantasies of flying and fighting were just that — fantasies," he told Interview magazine in 2016. "What I wanted was the movie version. So that was the end of the whole idea of doing anything other than acting for me."

After leaving the U.S. Air Force, Morgan Freeman joined Los Angeles City College (LACC) to study theater. His passion for acting was strong, but his skills were not. However, he was excelling in his dance movement classes, as mentioned in a 2016 interview with Interview Magazine, and was advised by his professors to focus on dance rather than on acting. Freeman obviously continued acting, but he said he tried to only take acting roles that aligned with his morals and to resist work in the Blaxploitation films that were popular at the time.

Off-Broadway and Broadway roles came the actor's way following his studies, and he eventually earned a recurring role on PBS' 1971 "The Electric Company." This job provided financial stability for Freeman, but the job became less desirable with time, he told The Hollywood Interview in 2013. "I enjoyed the first two years, thinking that I'd move on after that. But it became basic prostitution, I guess." When the show ended in 1976, Freeman didn't know what he would do for work ... but then came the "breakout" moment. In 1987, more Americans knew Morgan Freeman's name after watching him play a pimp named Fast Black in the film "Street Smart," for which he earned rave reviews as well as his first Oscar nomination.

Freeman continues to remember his first major film role fondly. He told HitFix in 2014 that not only was Fast Black his favorite performance he's ever done, but also his favorite movie costume he's ever worn. "That was about as far away from me as I could get, in terms of acting," he said. "It was, to me, more alien to who I really am."