Laurence Fishburn was born in Augusta, Ga., in 1961, and raised in Brooklyn, New York. As a child actor he performed on the daytime T.V. serial ONE LIFE TO LIVE. He made his screen debut at the age of 12. Later he won a supporting role in APOCALYPSE NOW (1979) by lying about his age. He has performed on stage, most notably in August Wilson’s TWO TRAINS RUNNING, for which he won a Tony award. Two important film roles have been as the father of the principle actor in BOYZ N THE HOOD (1991) and Ike Turner in WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT (1993). Other films include CORNBREAD, EARL AND ME (1975), FAST BREAK (1979), COTTON CLUB (1984),THE COLOR PURPLE (1985), and OTHELLO (1995).
We will study the play OTHELLO by William Shakespeare and the 1995 film version with Laurence Fishburn in the title role.