Laurence Fishburne Lightens Up

At 14, he played a sailor in Apocalypse Now. At 37, he was Zen-spouting Morpheus in The Matrix. Now Laurence Fishburne, 56, is showing his funny side. A hit as the granddad on TV’s Black-ish, he joins Steve Carell and Bryan Cranston in Last Flag Flying (out Nov. 3), a film about three Vietnam vets reunited for a bittersweet road trip. “I love to laugh,” says the star. “When I get together with my old friends, I become 15 again.”

Words to live by

“A friend some years ago told me, ‘You can’t be all right with everybody.’ And just recently somebody said, ‘You can be happy or you can be sad and angry, but either takes the same amount of effort.’”

Born to be wild

“I like riding big distances on my BMW. On a motorcycle, you can’t really think about more than where you are. There’s a freedom that comes with that — from stress, worry, sweating the small stuff.”

Own your look

“The 50s are the age of elegance. That’s kind of my intention when I get dressed: casual elegance. Having 50 to 60 years on the planet should give you a sense of how to master the way you look and live your life.”

Color me calm 

“I try to medi­tate. And I’ve started using coloring books: dragons, Japanese patterns, fish, birds.”