ASC Honors Morgan Freeman with Board of Governors Award, 2/27

Variety is reporting Morgan Freeman will be awarded the Board of Governors Award from the American Society of Cinematographers. The award will be given at the 2010 ASC Awards for Outstanding Cinematography Award Ceremony on February 27th.

Morgan Freeman won an Academy Award® for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Clint Eastwood's Million Dollar Baby, for which he also won a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award® and received a Golden Globe nomination. Freeman has been honored with three additional Oscar® nominations -- the first for his chilling performance as a homicidal pimp in the 1987 drama, Street Smart, which also brought him L.A., New York and National Society of Film Critics Awards, and an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Actor, as well as his first Golden Globe Award nomination. He earned his second Oscar® nomination and won Golden Globe and National Board of Review Awards for Best Actor for 1989's Driving Miss Daisy, recreating his award-winning off-Broadway role. He gained his third Oscar® nomination for his performance in Frank Darabont's 1994 drama, The Shawshank Redemption, which also brought Freeman Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations. He has appeared on Broadway in The Country Girl, The Gospel at Colonus, The Mighty Gents, Perlie, The Dozens, and Hello, Dolly!

His more recent film work includes starring roles in Christopher Nolan's blockbusters The Dark Knight and Batman Begins; Rob Reiner's The Bucket List, opposite Jack Nicholson; Robert Benton's Feast of Love; Ben Affleck's Gone Baby Gone; Lasse Hallström's An Unfinished Life, with Robert Redford and Jennifer Lopez; the Jet Li actioner Unleashed, written by Luc Besson; and the comedy Bruce Almighty and its sequel, Evan Almighty. Freeman is currently an Academy Award nominee for his role in the film Invictus. He also lent his distinctive voIce To Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds and the Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins. Freeman's other film credits include Lucky Number Slevin, The Sum of All Fears, High Crimes, Along Came a Spider, Nurse Betty, Deep Impact Hard Rain, Steven Spielberg's Amistad, Kiss the Girls, Se7en, Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, Glory, Lean on Me, Clean and Sober, Marie, Teachers, Harry & Son and Brubaker.

The American Society of Cinematographers is a non-profit association dedicated to advancing the art of filmmaking. Since its charter in 1919, the ASC has been committed to educating aspiring filmmakers and others about the art and craft of cinematography; it accomplishes this by publishing the internationally renowned magazine American Cinematographer and the venerable American Cinematographer Manual, through seminars at schools and industry events, and via one-on-one mentoring. ASC members volunteer their time for such activities.

The planned expansion of the ASC Clubhouse, located in Hollywood at North Orange Drive (between Hollywood Boulevard and Franklin Avenue), will enable the Society to increase and centralize many of its educational activities. The ASC is aware of the many excellent training opportunities that are available to cinematography students, and will work in partnership with these existing programs to develop a curriculum that augments and supports them.