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(Los Angeles, CA) Oscar®-winning actor Morgan Freeman will receive the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) Board of Governors Award, which is presented to an individual who has made significant contributions to advancing the art of filmmaking. Freeman will be feted during the 24th Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards celebration here on February 27, at the Century Plaza Hotel.

"Morgan Freeman is a consummate actor and producer who devotes his considerable talent and influence to projects that make a difference," says ASC President Michael Goi. "His avid participation on films with subjects such as slavery, apartheid and the Hollywood blacklist reflect his desire to inform the world through his art."

Freeman joins an illustrious list of previous Board of Governors Award recipients, which includes Gregory Peck, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Jodie Foster, Robert Wise, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Altman, Warren Beatty, Sally Field, Stanley Donen, Norman Jewison, Irwin Winkler, Sydney Pollack, Ron Howard, Gil Cates, and Christopher Nolan, among others.

"Morgan Freeman makes every film he is in better with both his talent as an actor and his presence on the set," says Richard Crudo, ASC, chairman of the organization's Awards Committee. "He inspires everyone around him. Every one of our members who has worked with him has cherished memories to share."

Freeman won an Academy Award® in 2005 for his performance in Million Dollar Baby. He was also nominated for Oscars for his performances in Street Smart (1988), Driving Miss Daisy (1990) and The Shawshank Redemption (1995). His other memorable credits include The Dark Knight, Wanted, The Bucket List, Batman Begins, Se7en, Unforgiven, and his Oscar-nominated portrayal of Nelson Mandela in Invictus. The versatile actor also narrated the Academy Award-winning documentary film March of the Penguins and has served as executive producer on a growing list of films, including Invictus, The Maiden Heist, 10 Items or Less, Levity, Along Came a Spider and Under Suspicion.

Freeman and Lori McCreary founded Revelations Entertainment in 1997. The company has produced and co-produced 10 films, including Invictus, and has various other projects in development, among them, the upcoming Discovery series Through the Wormhole. The company also co-produced the ASC's 2009 Camera Assessment Series, an ambitious undertaking designed to give cinematographers and filmmakers information about various motion picture cameras and the images they produce. McCreary served the project as producer, and Freeman narrated the resulting film.

The ASC was chartered in January 1919. There are more than 300 active members of ASC, and 150-plus associate members from sectors of the industry that support the art and craft of filmmaking. Membership and associate membership is by invitation based on contributions that individuals have made to advance the art of visual storytelling.

For more information regarding the 24th ASC Awards, visit www.theasc.com, or call 323-969-4333.

Resources:

The American Society of Cinematographers (The ASC):www.theasc.com