Laurence Fishburne's Real Name: Laurence John Fishburne III

Quick answer: Laurence Fishburne's documented full name is given as Laurence John Fishburne III by Encyclopaedia Britannica, which dates his birth to July 30, 1961, in Augusta, Georgia. Encyclopedia.com gives Laurence Fishburne III and the same date and place (Encyclopaedia Britannica; Encyclopedia.com).

Real name and early life

Britannica lists Laurence John Fishburne III. Encyclopedia.com's International Dictionary entry uses Laurence Fishburne III and notes that he was sometimes billed as Larry Fishburne before returning to Laurence. A longer Encyclopedia.com profile says his father was a corrections officer and his mother a schoolteacher, and that the family moved to Brooklyn, New York, when he was young. He began acting on the New York stage as a child, according to the longer Encyclopedia.com profile. Britannica says he made his film debut in Cornbread, Earl and Me (1975) at age 14, then lied about his age to win the part of Clean, a gunner, in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979).

Career highlights

He appeared as Cowboy Curtis on Pee-wee's Playhouse and worked again with Coppola on Rumble Fish (1983) and The Cotton Club (1984). Later 1980s credits included The Color Purple (1985) and Spike Lee's School Daze (1988). In the 1990s he drew notice in Boyz n the Hood (1991) and earned an Academy Award nomination for playing Ike Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It (1993). He won a Tony Award in 1992 for August Wilson's Two Trains Running. In 1995, Britannica says, he became the first African American to play Othello in a major film. He is widely known as Morpheus in The Matrix (1999) and its sequels. Later work includes Akeelah and the Bee (2006), several John Wick films, a stretch on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, and a recurring role on Black-ish (2014–22). Encyclopedia.com also records early work on the soap opera One Life to Live, a 1993 Emmy Award for a guest role on Tribeca, and later honors, including an Emmy earned as co-executive producer, for the 1997 television film Miss Evers' Boys.

Name notes for searchers

Britannica gives Laurence John Fishburne III; Encyclopedia.com gives Laurence Fishburne III. He was billed as Larry Fishburne in some early credits and is known professionally as Laurence Fishburne. Searchers looking for Morpheus in The Matrix, or for the star of What's Love Got to Do with It, are usually aiming at the same person.