He was born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis (Tennessee). His parents were Maymi Edna (born Rever; 1912-2000), a cleaner, and Morgan Portfield Freeman, a hairdresser (died in 1961 from cirrhosis of the liver). The Freeman family often moved, they lived in Greenwood, Mississippi, Gary, Indiana and finally settled in Chicago, Illinois. Morgan made his stage debut at the age of 8, playing the lead role in a school play. At that time he attended Greenwood High School in Mississippi. By the age of 12, he already took part in a radio show in Nashville, Tennessee. When Freeman was 16 years old, he almost died of pneumonia. In 1955, he graduated from Greenwood High, but, refusing a partial scholarship to Jackson State University, he preferred to serve as a mechanic in the US Air Force. He served in the military from 1955 to 1959 and was awarded a medal for impeccable service[5].

Freeman moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s and worked as a clerk at Los Angeles Community College. During this period, he also lived in New York, working as a dancer at the 1964 World’s Fair and in San Francisco, as a member of the Opera Ring music group.