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Black actors who excelled in white roles

by Adom Tabbey-Botchwey, 3:00pm July 08, 2019,
Black actors who excelled in white roles
Credit: IMDb

Morgan Freeman

Morgan Freeman is an actor, film director, and film narrator. At age nine he made his acting debut playing the lead role in a school play. At age 12, he won a statewide drama competition but opted to enlist in the United States Air force instead of going to college on scholarship. After four years in the military, he moved to Los Angeles, California, took acting lessons.

His first credited film appearance was in Who Says I Can’t Ride a Rainbow I 1971. Since then, he has been in a lot of movies, some of which are Now You See Me, Going in Style, Just Getting Started, The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, Angel Has Fallen and Shawshank Redemption.

Black actors who excelled in white roles
Credit: Amazon

Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding, Freeman’s character in Shawshank Redemption is described as white and Irish in the book. His performance in the role earned him an Oscar nomination, and up till date, stage versions of the book now cast Red as black, thanks to his spectacular performance.

Last Edited by:Ismail Akwei Updated: July 9, 2019

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