Possessing as much flash, energy and intelligence as anyone currently in the game, Laurence Fishburne has certainly played his share of regulation black hoodlums and threats but also has benefited from color-blind casting as his tour de force Broadway performance as England's King Henry II (opposite Stockard Channing as his Eleanor) in a 1999 revival of "The Lion in Winter" attests. His role as Cowboy Curtis, best buddy to Pee-wee Herman on TV's legendary kid series "Pee-wee's Playhouse" (CBS), is another reminder of his tremendous versatility.

Although born in Georgia, Fishburne was raised by