Searching For Larry Fishburne

Fishburne is fielding questions 54 floors up in a Manhattan hotel, in an empty conference room with a wraparound view of the city. The actor, 31, is in town to promote the forthcoming "Searching for Bobby Fischer," in which he has a small, live-wire role as a street hustler who specializes in chess. Fishburne has a gravelly, deep-sea sort of voice and a sudden laugh that is perhaps three times too loud. In person, he is so charming that he reminds one of the young Ike Turner, he of the pencil-thin mustache and the dangerous cool. The actor's charm takes the edge off a not exactly malnourished ego. Asked whom he considers his peers, Fishburne does not flinch: "I associate myself with all the bad motherf----- in the world. Gary Oldman, De Niro, Pacino, Chris Walken, Gene Hackman, Denzel Washington, Ben Kingsley...I'm down with them. I've been working with them since I was 14."

Which is true. Fishburne was born in Augusta, Ga., and raised in Brooklyn, the son of a corrections officer and a school-teacher. Before he hit his teens, the actor worked onstage, in films and on the soap opera "One life to Live." At 14, Fishburne won a role in "Apocalypse Now," and he and his mother flew to the Philippines for what producers said would be a three-month shoot. (Yeah, and Gilligan and the Skipper were going on a three-hour tour.) More than a year later, Fishburne wrapped his last scene and headed for Hollywood. Over the years, Fishburne has brought real gravity to his roles, even in movies like Spike Lee's bewildering musical melt-down, "School Daze." Often, Fishburne's characters have an immovable moral center. They're smarter than everyone else. And they have cool facial hair. The actor played an over-the-top hit man in the drug war ("King of New York") and marked time on "Pee-wee's Playhouse." But his career really took off with "Boyz N the Hood," in which he played, of all things, a father. "I had always been the kid on [the set]," says Fishburne, "so it was kind of strange but I just accepted it and did the old-man thing. I stood around shaking my head and looking really wise."

Fleshed out: