Morgan J. Freeman (born December 5, 1969) is an American film director. In 1997, his debut feature, Hurricane Streets, became the first narrative film to win three awards at the Sundance Film Festival (Audience Award, Best Director, and Best Cinematography). The film was bought by MGM/UA and distributed the following year.

Born in Long Beach, California, Morgan received a BA in film studies from UC Santa Barbara in 1992. Morgan spent the following year in Paris studying film theory at the Sorbonne. In 1993, he entered NYU's's Graduate Film Program where he earned his MFA. During the summer of 1994, Morgan interned at a small production company where he was introduced to Todd Solondz, who was prepping to shoot Welcome to the Dollhouse. Morgan was an Assistant Director on Dollhouse, which went on to win the 1996 Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. It was on this film that he befriended actor Brendan Sexton III, the eventual star of Hurricane Streets.

Following the critical success of Hurricane Streets, Freeman wrote and directed Desert Blue. The film was distributed by the Samuel Goldwyn Company and reteamed Freeman with Brendan Sexton III. The film starred Christina Ricci, Casey Affleck, Ethan Suplee, Peter Sarsgaard and Kate Hudson (in her film debut).