Freeman was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of actor Morgan Freeman and Loletha Adkins (née Polk). He attended the Marion Anderson Elementary School, Ralph J. Bunche and Benjamin O. Davis Jr. High Schools and Compton High School, from which he graduated in 1977. He briefly attended California State University, Long Beach, as an art major.
Alfonso first married Cynthia Gafford in 1982 and fathered three sons: Alfonso Rene II, Joshua Caleb and Donovan Lee. He and his wife divorced in 1989. He remarried in 1994 to Larcenia Letice.
