Freeman came to Los Angeles in the early sixties. During this period he lived in New York City where he worked as a dancer at the 1964 World’s Fair, and in San Francisco, where he was a member of the Opera Ring music group. Freeman acted in various productions. In 1967 he Viveca Lindfors opponent in The Nigger Lovers (about U.S. civil rights movement (1955-1968), and then debuted on Broadway in 1968 in the black version of Hello, Dolly!, with Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway .
From 1971 to 1976 Freeman was shown on U.S. television station PBS educational children in The Electric Company. From 1982 to 1984 he played in the soap opera Another World. From the eighties, he was more in films. He played in 1980 opposite Robert Redford in the prison drama Brubaker, for which he received good reviews.
His next films were less striking, to Street Smart in 1987, his big break. For his role as pimp Freeman got his first Oscar nomination and he was offered more roles. 1989 was a good year for Freeman. He appeared in the Oscar-winning film Driving Miss Daisy, for which he received his second Oscar nomination, and he also played in Glory and Lean on me, three very different roles, all three had good reviews.
The nineties brought more success for Freeman. He was seen in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves by Kevin Costner in “Unforgiven by Clint Eastwood . In 1993 he released his debut Bopha! out. Movies like The Shawshank Redemption and Se7en are the best and most beloved American films of the nineties included. In Shawshank he received his third Oscar nomination. In 1997 he played detective Alex Cross in Kiss the Girls , a role that in 2001 he again would do in Along Came a Spider .
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