Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor, playwright, director and producer, best known for playing Morpheus in The Matrix trilogy, Jason "Furious" Styles in the 1991 drama film Boyz n the Hood and Tyrone "Mr. Clean" Miller in the 1979 war film Apocalypse Now.
Fishburne became the first African American to portray Othello in a motion picture by a major studio when he appeared in Oliver Parker's 1995 film adaptation of the Shakespeare play. For his portrayal of Ike Turner in What's Love Got to Do With It, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance in Two Trains Running (1992), and an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in TriBeCa (1993).