Morgan Porterfield Freeman Jr. was born on June 1, 1937. He is an actor and a director born in Memphis, Tennessee, but raised in Chicago and Mississippi in a low income home. He was inspired by the actors Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy, and Sidney Poitier. Freeman first showed his talent by chance when he was in junior high school, as a punishment for pulling a chair out from underneath a girl he had a crush on. He was told to participate in the school’s drama competition at age twelve. This is when people realized that Freeman was a natural on stage. However, in addition to acting, Freeman dreamt of being a fighter pilot. After Morgan graduated high school in 1955, he turned down a drama scholarship and joined the U.S. Air Force. Instead of flying,
