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LAURENCE FISHBURNE JOINS THE CAST OF "CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION"

Emmy and Tony Award Winner to Debut in the Ninth Episode of the CBS Paramount and Jerry Bruckheimer Television Series

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18 - Oscar nominee and Emmy and Tony Award winner Laurence Fishburne ("What's Love Got To Do With It," "The Matrix," "Miss Evers' Boys") will join the cast of the CBS Paramount Network Television and Jerry Bruckheimer Television series, CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, on the CBS Television Network. His character will debut in this season's ninth episode.

Fishburne will play a former pathologist who is now working as an itinerant college lecturer, teaching a course in criminalistics. His focus is on understanding criminal behavior, how and why people commit acts of violence - tendencies he disturbingly sees within himself. In the course of a murder investigation, he comes into contact with the CSI team and ultimately joins the Las Vegas Crime Lab as a Level-1 CSI.

"CBS asked us, 'Who's at the top of your dream list?' say CSI executive producers Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar. "Without hesitation, we said Laurence Fishburne. He is a powerful and intense actor, with an incredible range. We had the opportunity to see Mr. Fishburne in 'Thurgood' on Broadway a few weeks ago, and it was a truly profound experience. The actor disappeared and Thurgood Marshall was standing there on the stage. Mr. Fishburne is also a talented writer and director. If you distill CSI down to its essence, it's a collaboration-and we are so looking forward to collaborating with Mr. Fishburne. For all of us at CSI, this is truly a dream."

"I am elated and delighted to be joining the cast of CSI," says Fishburne. "I look forward to a wonderful collaboration with the creative and talented team of such a successful and distinguished show," he added.

Laurence Fishburne came out of the black theater in New York. At age 12, he won a recurring role on the daytime drama, "One Life to Live" and made his film debut in "Cornbread, Earl and Me." Francis Ford Coppola cast Fishburne, at age 14, in "Apocalypse Now," and later in "Rumble Fish," "The Cotton Club" and "Gardens of Stone." Fishburne was catapulted into the front of the film ranks with his acclaimed lead role in John Singleton's "Boyz n the Hood." He was nominated for an Oscar for his role in the film "What's Love Got to Do with It" and originated the role of Morpheus in "The Matrix," which he also played in its sequels. His film roles also include "Searching for Bobby Fischer," "Higher Learning," "Bad Company," "Mystic River" and "Akeelah and the Bee," among many others. His television credits include the telefilms "Miss Evers' Boys," for which he won an Emmy Award, and "The Tuskegee Airmen." He also won an Emmy for his guest appearance in the pilot episode of the series "Tribeca." Fishburne's screenwriting and directorial debut was for the film "Once in the Life," in which he also starred. He is also the recipient of multiple NAACP Image Awards. Fishburne was nominated for a 2008 TONY Award and won a Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for his starring role in "Thurgood." His other theater credits include "Two Trains Running," for which he won a TONY Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award and Theatre World Award, and "The Lion in Winter."

CSI is produced by CBS Paramount Network Television in association with Jerry Bruckheimer Television. The executive producers are Jerry Bruckheimer, Carol Mendelsohn, Ann Donahue, Anthony Zuiker, Naren Shankar, Jonathan Littman, William Petersen, Cynthia Chvatal and Ken Fink.