Freeman also battles fibromyalgia, a chronic disorder causing pain, stiffness, fatigue, and depression, believed to have originated from a near-fatal car crash in 2008. The accident resulted in paralysis in his left hand, leading Freeman to wear a compression glove to maintain blood flow.

If you live a life of make-believe, your life isn't worth anything until you do something that does challenge your reality.

This towering and well-deserved achievement stands, as it must, on a broad and solid foundation. Freeman was not an overnight success. He became a film star in 1987, the year he turned 50, in his break-through, Oscar-nominated role as Fast Black, the lithe and lethal pimp in STREET SMART.