Acclaimed stage, screen actor Fishburne to join CSI cast this fall
Last Updated: Monday, August 18, 2008 | 2:37 PM ET
CBC News
In this April 3, 2008 photo, actor Laurence Fishburne poses for a photograph in a rehearsal studio in New York. (Kathy Willens/Associated Press)Award-winning actor Laurence Fishburne has agreed to join the cast of top-rated TV forensics drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, U.S. network CBS confirmed on Monday.
"I am elated and delighted to be joining the cast of CSI," Fishburne said in a statement, adding that he looked forward to a "wonderful collaboration" with those involved in the series.
The 47-year-old actor had been cited as one of several high-profile names producers sought, after it was revealed that series star and executive producer William Petersen had decided to make this season his last.
"CBS asked us, 'Who's at the top of your dream list?' " CSI executive producers Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar said in a joint statement.
"Without hesitation, we said Laurence Fishburne. He is a powerful and intense actor, with an incredible range."
Fishburne is set to portray a college lecturer and former pathologist who has studied the reasoning behind acts of violence. This new addition to the Las Vegas team will also be a scientist with a secret: that his genetic profile is the same as the one associated with serial killers.
Fishburne's character will be introduced in the ninth episode of the upcoming 10th season, which begins in October. He decides to join the CSI team after meeting them in the midst of a murder investigation.
An Emmy and Tony Award-winner as well as an Oscar-nominee for 1993's What's Love Got to Do With It?, Fishburne's most recent credits include his acclaimed Broadway run this year in the one-man show Thurgood.
Though he has taken a range of TV roles throughout his career (from Pee-Wee's Playhouse to his Emmy-winning turn in the TV movie Miss Evers' Boys), Fishburne is likely best known for his wide-ranging film roles, including in Apocolypse Now, Boyz n the Hood, The Color Purple, the Matrix trilogy, Mystic River and Akeelah and the Bee.
The final episode featuring Petersen, who has portrayed the show's lead investigator Gil Grissom since the series debuted in fall 2000, is expected to air sometime in early 2009.
With files from the Associated Press
