| Left the Opera Ring when he was asked to play an Indian who waves a flag at the end of a production of "Little Mary Sunshine" |
| Lived in New York, where he danced at the 1964 World's Fair; also lived in San Francisco, where he joined the Opera Ring musical theater group |
| Made acting debut in the touring company of Peter Shaffer's "The Royal Hunt of the Sun" |
| Performed on a radio show in Nashville, TN while in high school |
1945 | Played the lead role in a school play at age eight |
1949 | Won a statewide drama competition at age 12 |
1955 | Turned down a partial scholarship in drama from Jackson State University to serve in the Air Force |
1965 | Worked as an extra on the feature film "The Pawnbroker" |
1967 | Broadway debut, played Rudolph in all-black production of "Hello, Dolly!" with Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway at the St James Theatre |
1967 | Made off-Broadway debut as Creampuff opposite Viveca Lindfors in "The Niggerlovers" |
1970 | Played the title role in "Purlie!" when it was staged by the American National Theater Academy in New York |
1971 | Made film acting debut as Afro in "Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow?" |
1971 | Played Easy Reader on TV's "The Electric Company" (PBS) |
1978 | Acted in the ABC miniseries "Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry" |
1978 | Had featured role in the Broadway play "The Mighty Gents"; received rave reviews and a Tony nomination, but play closed after nine performances |
1980 | Appeared in support of Robert Redford in "Brubaker" |
1980 | Co-starred in the ABC movie "Attica" |
1984 | Originated role of the Messenger in the off-Broadway staging of "The Gospel at Colonus"; reprised role in the 1985 PBS TV adaptation |
1985 | Had featured role in the CBS miniseries "The Atlanta Child Murders" |
1986 | Originated role of the black chauffeur hired to take around an elderly Jewish woman in the Pulitzer-winning, off-Broadway hit "Driving Miss Daisy" |
1987 | Earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for turn as the pimp Fast Black in "Street Smart" |
1989 | Cast in first starring film role, as New Jersey high school principal Joe Clark in "Lean on Me" |
1989 | Co-starred as a Union soldier in an all-black unit in "Glory" |
1989 | Reprised the role of chaffeur Hoke, opposite Jessica Tandy in "Driving Miss Daisy," the film version of the award-winning play; received Best Actor Academy Award nomination |
1990 | Cast as the Judge in "Bonfire of the Vanities," Brian De Palma's screen version of Tom Wolfe's novel |
1991 | Portrayed Azeem, the Moor and friend to the title character in "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" |
1992 | Cast opposite Clint Eastwood's gunslinger William Munny in the Oscar-winning Best Picture "Unforgiven" |
1993 | Made feature directorial debut with "Bopha!" |
1994 | Earned second Best Actor Oscar nomination as inmate Ellis 'Red' Redding in "The Shawshank Redemption"; film was adapted from a short story by Stephen King |
1995 | Co-starred with Brad Pitt as homicide detectives in David Fincher's "Se7en" |
1996 | Formed Revelations Entertainment with Lori McCreary |
1996 | Played the enigmatic project head in "Chain Reaction" |
1997 | Portrayed police detective Alex Cross in "Kiss the Girls"; film based on James Patterson's novel; Ashley Judd co-starred |
1997 | Tapped by Steven Spielberg to portray an abolitionist in "Amistad" |
1998 | Portrayed the U.S. President coping the imminent destruction of Earth by an oncoming meteor in "Deep Impact" |
1999 | Made debut as an executive producer with the NBC TV-movie "Mutiny," based on the real-life Port Chicago Mutiny |
2000 | With Gene Hackman, co-executive produced and co-starred in "Under Suspicion" |
2001 | Reprised role of Alex Cross in "Along Came a Spider" |
2002 | Portrayed the director of the CIA in "The Sum of All Fears"; adapted from the Tom Clancy best-seller |
2002 | Reteamed with Ashley Judd in "High Crimes" |
2003 | Played God in the feature "Bruce Almighty" |
2003 | Starred as the villain in "The Dreamcatcher"; adapted from a Stephen King novel |
2004 | Cast as Eddie Scrap-Iron Dupris opposite Hilary Swank in "Million Dollar Baby"; directed by Clint Eastwood who also co-starred; received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor |
2004 | Co-starred with Owen Wilson in "The Big Bounce" |
2005 | Cast as former Wayne Enterprises board member Lucius Fox opposite Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins" |
2006 | Cast as a nameless actor in Brad Silberling's low-budget feature "10 Items or Less" |
2006 | Played 'The Boss' opposite Josh Hartnett in the thriller "Lucky Number Slevin" |
2007 | Played a Boston Police Chief in Ben Affleck's feature directing debut "Gone, Baby, Gone" |
2007 | Reprised his role as God in "Evan Almighty," the sequel to "Bruce Almighty" starring Steve Carell in the lead role |
2008 | Cast as an assassin in the comic book adaptation "Wanted" |
2008 | Reprised role of Lucius Fox opposite Christian Bale in the Nolan directed sequel "The Dark Knight" |
2008 | Returned to Broadway in a Mike Nichols directed revival of Clifford Odets's play "The Country Girl" |
2009 | Portrayed former South African President Nelson Mandela in Clint Eastwood's "Invictus," about the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa; earned Golden Globe, SAG and Oscar nominations for Best Actor |
2010 | Co-starred with Bruce Willis in "Red," an adaption of the comic book mini-series of the same name |
2011 | Co-starred with Harry Connick Jr. and Ashley Judd in the family drama "Dolphin Tale" |
2011 | Narrated the fantasy action feature "Conan the Barbarian," starring Jason Momoa in the title role |
2012 | Reprised role of Lucius Fox in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises" |
