LeVar Burton Biography

Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, Jr. (born February 16, 1957), professionally known as LeVar Burton, is an American actor, presenter, director, producer, and author.

Burton is best known for his roles as the young Kunta Kinte in the 1977 award-winning ABC television miniseries Roots, Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and as the host and executive producer of the PBS children's program Reading Rainbow.

Early life

Burton was born to American parents at the U.S. Army Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in West Germany. His mother, Erma Jean (née Christian), was a social worker, administrator, and educator. His father, Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, was a photographer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps, and at the time was stationed at Landstuhl. Burton and his two sisters were raised by his mother in Sacramento, California. Burton was raised Catholic and, at the age of thirteen, entered St. Pius X seminary in Galt, California to become a priest. He attended Christian Brothers High School and graduated in the class of 1974. He is a graduate of University of Southern California's School of Theatre.

Roots

LeVar Burton rose to fame in 1977 when he played Kunta Kinte in the ABC award-winning drama series Roots, based on the novel by Alex Haley. Burton's audition for the role of Kinte was the first of his professional career. As a result of his performance, he was nominated for the Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama Series. Burton reprised the role of Kunta Kinte in the 1988 television film Roots: The Gift. When asked about the societal impacts of Roots, Burton is quoted as saying, "It expanded the consciousness of people. Blacks and whites began to see each other as human beings, not as stereotypes. And if you throw a pebble into the pond, you're going to get ripples. I think the only constant is change, and it's always slow. Anything that happens overnight is lacking in foundation. Roots is part of a changing trend, and it's still being played out."

Early career

Burton played a role as a visitor to Fantasy Island, was a participant in Battle of the Network Stars, a guest of the Muppet Show's televised premiere party for the release of The Muppet Movie, and a frequent guest on several game shows. In 1986, he appeared in the music video for the song "Word Up!" by the funk/R&B group Cameo.

Burton accepted an invitation to host Rebop, a multicultural series designed for young people ages 9"15, produced by WGBH for PBS.

Reading Rainbow

Burton was host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow starting in 1983 for PBS. The series ran for 23 seasons, making it one of the longest running children's programs on the network. Furthermore, the series garnered over 200 broadcast awards over its run, including a Peabody Award and 26 Emmy Awards, 11 of which were in the "Outstanding Children's Series" category.

Burton himself won 12 Emmy awards as host and producer of the show. After Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2006, Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ, a new media company for children. Reading Rainbow was reimagined as an all new app for the iPad in 2012 and was an immediate success, becoming the #1 Educational App within 36 hours. At RRKIDZ, Burton serves as Co-Founder and Curator-in-Chief, ensuring that the projects produced under the banner meet the high expectations and trust of the Reading Rainbow brand.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

In 1986, Gene Roddenberry approached him with the role of the then Lieutenant Junior Grade Geordi La Forge in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. La Forge is blind, but is granted "sight" through the use of a prosthetic device called a VISOR, which is worn over his eyes. La Forge is the USS Enterprise's helmsman, and as of the show's second season, its Chief Engineer. At the time, Burton was considerably better known than Patrick Stewart in the United States, due to the fame he gained from starring in Roots and Reading Rainbow. The Associated Press stated that Burton's role was essentially the "new Spock."

Burton also portrayed La Forge in the subsequent feature films based on Star Trek: The Next Generation, beginning with Star Trek Generations in 1994 through 2002's Star Trek Nemesis. Burton directed the season one episode of Star Trek: Voyager titled "Ex Post Facto" as well as season two episode of Star Trek: Voyager titled "Dreadnought." Burton also directed and appeared in the season five episode of Star Trek: Voyager titled "Timeless" and directed several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Other appearances

On television, Burton has helped dramatize the last days of Jim Jones's suicide cult in Guyana, the life and times of Jesse Owens, and the life of the nine-year-old Booker T. Washington. He portrayed Martin Luther King, Jr. in the 2001 film Ali. He also portrayed Detroit Tiger Ron LeFlore in the television movie One in a Million, The Ron LeFlore Story.

In 1987, Burton played Dave Robinson, a journalist (sports writer), in the third season of Murder, She Wrote, episode 16 - "Death Takes a Dive", starring Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher.

In 1992, a clip of Burton's Voice was sampled by DC Talk for the track "Time is..." on their album Free at Last. The sample is at the very end of the song, in which Burton can be heard saying: "Whoa, wait a minute."

He has also lent his voice to several animated projects including Kwame in the cartoon series Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990"1993) and The New Adventures of Captain Planet (1993"1996), Family Guy, Batman: The Animated Series, and Gargoyles. Burton is on the audio version of The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. Burton has been cast as voice actor for Black Lightning in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies DVD.

Burton appeared several times as a celebrity guest on the Dick Clark"hosted Pyramid, from 1982 until 1988. Burton also was the strongest link in the special Star Trek episode of The Weakest Link. He defeated his final opponent Robert Picardo and won $167,500 for his charity, a record for the show at that time and the largest amount won in any Celebrity Edition of the show (it was later surpassed by a $189,500 win in a "Tournament of Losers" episode).

He has made appearances in such sitcoms as Becker.

Burton is the host and executive producer of a documentary titled The Science of Peace, which was in production as of 2007. It investigates the science and technology aimed at enabling world peace, sometimes called peace science. The film explores some of the concepts of shared noetic consciousness, having been sponsored in part by the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

He appeared in an April Fool's episode of Smosh pretending to have taken over the channel and making various edits at popular Smosh videos.

He makes occasional appearances on This Week in Tech, where he is a self-proclaimed "nerd", and also participated in the Consumer Electronics Show 2010.

In 2010, he made an appearance on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! as the ghost of himself in the episode "Greene Machine".

In February 2011, Burton made an appearance as himself on NBC's Community in the episode "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking".

He has appeared as a fictionalized, humorous version of himself on The Big Bang Theory, first appearing in the episode "The Toast Derivation", in which he almost attends a party thrown by Sheldon (before swearing off Twitter), as well as in November 2012 in the episode "The Habitation Configuration", in which he appears on "Fun With Flags" in exchange for lunch and gas money.

In 2012, he had a recurring role as dean Paul Haley on the TNT series Perception. For the second season (2013), he became part of the regular cast.

Directing

Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Burton directed episodes for each of the various Star Trek series then in production. He has directed more Star Trek episodes than any other former regular cast member.

Burton is on the board of directors for the Directors Guild of America.

Burton has also directed episodes of Charmed, JAG, Las Vegas, and Soul Food: The Series, as well as the miniseries Miracle's Boys and the documentary The Tiger Woods Story.

His first theatrical film direction was 2003's Blizzard for which he received a "Best of Fest" award from the Chicago International Children's Film Festival, and a Genie Award nomination for his work on the film's theme song, "Center of My Heart."

He also directed the 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie Smart House starring Katey Sagal, Kevin Kilner and Jessica Steen.

His most recent directorial project Reach for Me, in which he also played a supporting role, was released in theaters in March 2008. The film was produced by longtime producer and exec Mark Wolfe, whom Burton officially teamed with in 2010, forming Burton/Wolfe Entertainment. BWE will produce motion pictures, television, web content and more. Says Burton, "We are looking to tell stories everywhere there will be a screen, BWE will be there. That is our plan."

Personal life

Burton married make-up artist Stephanie Cozart Burton in 1992, and in 1994 they had a daughter, Michaela "Mica" Jean Burton. Burton and his wife and daughter currently live in Sherman Oaks, California. A DNA test linked Burton to the Hausa people of Nigeria.

Filmography

See LeVar Burton filmography for more information

Film

Year	Film	Role	Note
1976	Almos' a Man	Dave	Alternative title: Richard Wright's Almos' a Man
1977	Looking for Mr. Goodbar	Cap Jackson
	Billy: Portrait of a Street Kid	Billy Peoples	Ghetto Child
1978	One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story	Ron Leflore	The Man of Passion
	Battered	Andrew Sinclair
1979	Dummy	Donald Lang
1980	Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones	Richard Jefferson
	The Hunter	Tommy Price
1981	The Acorn People	Rodney
	Grambling's White Tiger	Charles 'Tank' Smith
1983	Emergency Room	Ray Walden
1984	The Jesse Owens Story	Professor Preston
	Booker	Davis
1985	And the Children Shall Lead	Glenn Scott	Alternative title: PBS Wonderworks: And The Children Shall Lead
	The Midnight Hour	Vinnie Davis	Alternative title: In The Midnight Hour
1986	The Supernaturals	Pvt. Michael Osgood
	Liberty	Robert Johnson
1987	A Special Friendship	Ben Summer
1988	Roots: The Gift	Kunta Kinte	Alternative title: A Roots Christmas: Kunta Kinte's Gift
1993	Firestorm: 72 Hours In Oakland	Fire Chief J. Alan Mathers	Alternative title: Firestorm: A Catastrophe In Oakland
1994	Parallel Lives	Dr. Franklin Carter
	Star Trek Generations	Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge	Alternative title: Star Trek 7: Generations
1996	Yesterday's Target	Winstrom
	Star Trek: First Contact	Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge	Alternative title: Star Trek 8: First Contact
1998	Star Trek: Insurrection	Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge	Alternative title: Star Trek 9: Insurrection
1999	Our Friend, Martin	Martin, Age 26 (voice)
2000	Dancing in September	Himself
2001	Ali	Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
2002	Star Trek: Nemesis	Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge	Alternative title: Star Trek 10: Nemesis
2003	Blizzard	Night Watchman Elf	Directed by Burton
2008	Reach For Me	Nathaniel
2009	Taken In Broad Daylight	Mike Timbrook
	Superman/Batman Public Enemies	Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning (voice)
2011	And They're Off	Himself
2012	Rise of the Zombies	Dr. Dan Halpern	television movie

Television

Year	Work	Role	Note
1976-79	Rebop	Host
1977	Roots	Kunta Kinte	TV Miniseries
1982	Trapper John, M.D.	Luther Peacock	1 episode, "A Piece of the Action"
1983	Fantasy Island	Edward Ross, Jr.	1 episode, "Edward/The Extraordinary Miss Jones"
1983"2006	Reading Rainbow	Host	155 episodes
1984	The Love Boat	Darnell	1 episode, "Love is Blind"
1987	Murder, She Wrote	Reporter Dave Robinson	1 episode, "Death Take a Dive"
	Houston Knights	Jason Evans	1 episode, "Bad Girl"
1987-94	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Geordi La Forge	178 episodes
1990-96	Captain Planet and the Planeteers	Kwame (voice)	113 episodes
1993	Batman the Animated Series	Hayden Sloane/Hatter Henchman (voice)	1 episode, "The Worry Men"
1995	Christy	Daniel Scott	7 episodes
	Deadly Games	Mr. Metcalf	1 episode, "The Boss"
	Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child	Voice	1 episode, "The Frog Prince"
1996	Gargoyles	Anansi	1 episode, "Mark of the Panther"
1997	Pinky and the Brain	Murray	1 episode, "The Real Life"
1998	Star Trek: Voyager	Captain Geordi LaForge	1 episode, "Timeless"
	Mister Rogers' Neighborhood	Himself	1 episode, "Giving and Receiving"
2000	Becker	Mr. Haller	1 episode, "Beckerethics"
2003	Boomtown	Marvin Lloyd	1 episode, "The Hole-in-the-Wall Gang"
2005	Family Guy	Vern (voice), later himself (voice)	2 episodes, "Petarded" & "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven"
2009	The Super Hero Squad Show	War Machine (voice)	1 episode, "Tales of Suspense"
2010	Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!	Ghost of LeVar Burton	1 episode, "Greene Machine"
	The Jensen Project	Kendrick James	television film (brokered programming from Procter & Gamble/Wal-Mart)
2011	Community	Himself	1 episode, "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking"
	The Big Bang Theory	Himself	2 episodes, "The Toast Derivation"
2012	Face Off	Himself	1 episode, "Alien Interpreters"
	The Big Bang Theory	Himself	1 episode, "The Habitation Configuration"
2012"present	Transformers: Rescue Bots	voice of Doc Greene	26 episodes
	Perception	Paul Haley	13 episodes
2013	Adventure Time	Bubble	1 episode, "BMO Lost"
	The Colbert Report	Himself	1 episode, Episode: "1192"

Director

Year	Work	Note
1987"1994	Star Trek: The Next Generation	2 episodes
1993"1999	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	10 episodes
1995"2001	Star Trek: Voyager	8 episodes
1998	The Tiger Woods Story	Alternative title: Son, Hero, and Champion
1998"2006	Charmed	3 episodes
1999	Smart House
2000"2004	Soul Food	2 episodes
2001"2005	Star Trek: Enterprise	9 episodes
2003	Blizzard
	JAG	1 episode
2005	Miracle's Boys	1 episode
2006	Las Vegas	1 episode
2008	Reach For Me

Awards

Nominations

• 1977 Emmy "? Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Performance in a Drama or Comedy Series "? Roots (Part 1, "Kunta Kinte")
• 1998, 2001, 2005 Image Awards variously for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series and Outstanding Youth or Children's Series/Special "? ' Reading Rainbow ' (both as Self and as Executive Producer)
• 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1999 Daytime Emmy "? Outstanding Children's Series "? Reading Rainbow (Executive Producer)
• 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007 - Daytime Emmy "? Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series "? Reading Rainbow (Self)
• 2004 Genie Award "? Best Achievement in Music-Original Song "? Blizzard (Co-composer "Center of My Heart")
• 2006 Black Reel Award "? Best Director-Television "? Miracle's Boys

Wins

• 1990 Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7030 Hollywood Blvd. for television achievement
• 1992 Peabody Award "? Reading Rainbow (as executive producer of episode, "The Wall")
• 1994, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2003 Image Award "? variously for Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series and Outstanding Youth or Children's Series/Special "? ' Reading Rainbow ' (both as Self and as Executive Producer)
• 2000 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album - The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
• 1990, 1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007 Daytime Emmy "? Outstanding Children's Series "? Reading Rainbow (Executive Producer)
• 2001, 2002 Daytime Emmy "? Outstanding Performer in a Children's Series "? Reading Rainbow (Self)
• 2003 Television Critics Association Award "? Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming "? Reading Rainbow (Executive Producer)
• 2004 Chicago International Children's Film Festival "? Best of Fest "? Blizzard (Director)

Books

• Aftermath, 1997, ISBN 0-446-67960-7