Morgan J. Freeman
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Morgan J. Freeman (born December 5, 1969 in Long Beach, California) is an American film director. He most notably directed the TV series Dawson's Creek and the movies Hurricane Streets, American Psycho 2 and Desert Blue.
Freeman achieved a bachelor degree in Film Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, master degree at NYU Film School and studied film theory at the Sorbonne in Paris.
His first feature film, Hurricane Streets, won the Audience, Best Director, and Best Cinematography Awards at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997. Hurricane Streets was the first film to garner 3 awards at the Sundance Film Festival.
Born and raised in Long Beach, California, Morgan caught the filmmaking bug at 13 when his father brought home a VHS camera. Weekends were spent with neighborhood friends shooting and editing everything from “Saturday Night Live” spoofs, complete with musical guests, mock “Miami Vice” episodes with elaborate car chase and rooftop shoot-outs that ended in the confiscation of millions in flour kilos.
Morgan’s “hobby” grew quickly and was soon his major at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where having already completed two short 16MM films he received his BA in Film Studies in June 1992, At UCSB, Morgan also worked in numerous editorial positions at the campus’ daily newspaper, The Daily Nexus. In 1992 his on-the-scene coverage of the Los Angeles Riots won several collegiate awards, including first place for Best News Story at the National Columbia Scholastic Press Awards, and third place for Best News Story at the California Intercollegiate Press Awards (CIPA).
After UCSB, Morgan's film “Godard Disait Que…” which was purchased by the prestigious Videoteque de Paris. He also worked as a production assistant for Why Not Productions, home to such budding French stars as Chiara Mastrionni, Melvil Poupoud and Elodie Bouchez.
The Fall of 1993, Morgan was accepted into New York Universities Graduate Film Program, where he earned his M.F.A. During the summer of 1994, Morgan landed an internship at a small production company where he met Todd Solondz, an ambitious, eccentric writer/director who was struggling to get his feature “Welcome to the Dollhouse” off the ground. The film found financing and Morgan quickly climbed from office intern to 2nd Assistant Director. Two years later, “Dollhouse” won the 1996 Sundance Grand Jury Prize. During the three-month shoot, Morgan became close friends with actor Brendan Sexton III, a “Dollhouse” co-star who went on to play the leading role in Hurricane Streets, written, produced and directed by Morgan as his NYU thesis. The 1997 film became the first narrative feature in history to win three of Sundance’s seven awards: the coveted Audience Award, Best Director and Best Cinematography.
Following 1998’s domestic and international critical success of “Hurricane Streets,” Morgan secured financing for his second feature, “Desert Blue,” re-teaming with Brendan Sexton III, who led the cast featuring Christina Ricci, Casey Affleck, Sara Gilbert, Ethan Suplee, Peter Sarsgaard, John Heard and the screen debut of Kate Hudson. In 1999, Morgan found himself in a heated bidding war over his paranormal television pitch, “Flashpoint.” Fox prevailed in securing the broadcast rights and Morgan spent the rest of the year writing the pilot episode, directing “Dawson’s Creek,” writing and directing “The Cherry Picker,” (Janeane Garofalo) for Showtime, and directing several commercials and music videos, one of which peaked at #3 on M2 before crossing over to MTV for a respectable run for the then unsigned band, “Rilo Kiley.”
During 2001, Morgan wrote two original screenplays (“Just Like The Son” and “A Girl’s Best Friend,” while also adapting his favorite novel, Jack London’s semi-autobiography, “Martin Eden.” In February, 2002, before submitting his new work for financing, Morgan was tapped to helm Lions Gate Film’s dark comedy, “American Psycho 2,” starring “That 70’s Show’s” Mila Kunis and “Star Trek” legend William Shatner.”
In 2004 Freeman directed "Piggy Banks." "Piggy Banks" is co-produced by Marcus Allen, former NFL football great and Hall of Fame member. The movie stars Tom Sizemore, Tom Arnold, Gabriel Mann, Matthew Modine and newcomer Jake Muxworthy.
Laguna Beach: The Real OC, new hit reality TV series on MTV was Morgan’s first directorial assignment in reality TV. Morgan participated in this reality series in order to gain first hand experience in reality shows and the use of state-of-the-art HDTV technology.
Love is in the Heir, a hit reality TV series on E! was Produced by Morgan. Morgan worked closely with Executive Producer, Steve Michaels, owner of Asylum Productions to create this well received reality show.
Morgan, 37, currently resides in Manhattan’s East Village in New York. He has just completed his fifth feature film, “Just Like the Son”, starring Mark Webber (Broken Flowers) Brendan Sexton III, Antonio Ortiz and Rosie Perez written and directed by Morgan and produced by Gill Holland, Jamin O'Brien and Matt Parker. The film received critical acclaim at the premiere in the Tribeca Film Festival 2006.
