Laurence Fishburne Gets Emotional Seeing Dad’s Photo for First Time

Laurence Fishburne recently got to see a photo of his biological father for the first time.

What is Laurence Fishburne’s history with his father?

During a recent episode of the Season 10 finale of the PBS documentary TV series Finding Your Roots, Fishburne appeared and was shown photos of his biological father, who is different from the man that he grew up knowing as his dad.

In a new clip from the show (via People), host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. shared photos of the man with Fishburne, who reacted with excitement and emotion.

“There he is. Is that him?” Fishburne said. “Hey Pop. My god, wow, that’s my dad. That’s cool.”

When asked what it was like to see his face, Fishburne said it was nice. “It’s so nice to see his face and to see him smiling. He looks like a kind man,” said the legendary actor, who said he was “relieved” to finally see the photos, and knowing the face of the person he came from.

Fishburne grew up in Augusta, Georgia, with his mother, Hattie Bell Fishburne, a junior high school mathematics and science teacher, and the man he knew as his father, Laurence John Fishburne Jr., who was a juvenile corrections officer.