Blog Wars: Best Fishburne role

What is the best Laurence Fishburne character?

Luke McCormick
My favorite Fishburne role is from early in his career as an undercover cop in “Deep Cover”. Billed as “Larry” not yet Laurence, he shows incredible depth dealing with the moral dilemmas faced by his character.

Wes Lawson
I'm preferable to his films with Angela Bassett. If I had to pick one, I'd say Ike Turner in What's Love Got To Do With It? He was a scary mofo in that movie and certainly sold the role. I wouldn't want to be married to that guy. Now he's on CSI and I still don't watch it, but I should, because he's awesome.

Sean McGahan
When Fishburne was still Larry, he taught moviegoers a valuable lesson: If you want to have a significant role in one of the greatest films of all time, just lie and say you’re older than you really are. Fishburne infamously lied to producers of “Apocalypse Now” to hide the fact that he was only 14 when he won the role a soldier in Vietnam who got there by lying about his age. It was another great example of art imitating life to jump-start a great career. Plus, Tyrone “Clean” Miller’s heartbreaking death as he listened to his mother’s audio message for him stays as one of the most lasting memories from a film full of them.

Jeff Engelhardt
Asking this question is like Morpheus asking Neo to choose between the red pill and the blue pill — it’s obvious. Fishburne was clearly at his best when he played Morpheus in The Matrix trilogy. Throughout the three movies, Fishburne evolves from an optimistic prophet to a man on the brink of devastation after realizing Neo may not be the chosen one. If his tremendous acting job was not enough, he has an awesome fight scene with Neo in the first movie that solidifies him as a badass.