LeVar Burton

At 67 years old, LeVar Burton has this physical status:

Robert Martyn Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, producer, and author.

He is best known for his role as Lt.

In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Commander Geordi La Forge, Generation.

He is also known for his role as the host of the long-running PBS children's series Reading Rainbow and the young Kunta Kinte in the 1977 award-winning ABC television miniseries Roots.

In addition to other shows, he has also produced a number of television episodes for various iterations of Star Trek.

Early life

Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. was born in Landstuhl, West Germany, and was named after him. Erma Gene (née Christian), a social worker, administrator, and educator, while his father and namesake worked at Landstuhl at the time of his son's birth, and he was a photographer for the US Army Signal Corps. Burton and his two sisters were raised by his mother in Sacramento, California.

Burton, a Roman Catholic adolescent, entered St. Pius X Minor Seminary in Galt, California, intending to become a priest. He changed his calling to acting at 17, and as an undergraduate at the University of Southern California, he earned a starring role in the 1977 television miniseries Roots.

Personal life

On October 3, 1992, LeVar Burton married Stephanie Cozart, a professional make-up artist. Burton's two children, Eian Burton Smith, and Michaela "Mica" Burton, were both married. The family lives in Sherman Oaks, California.

Burton does not identify with any faith, saying, "I walked away from the seminary, I walked away from Catholicism, I walked away from Catholicism, I walked away from organized religion because I realized that there was more for me to discover in the world, and that I did not adhere to one particular faith system or another."

Burton joined the board of directors of the AIDS Research Alliance in 2012, a non-profit medical research group dedicated to finding a cure for AIDS.

Burton was one of the five inaugural inductees to the Sacramento Walk of Stars in 2016. In 2019, Councilmember Larry Carr, who represents the Meadowview neighborhood, supervised the renaming of Richfield Park to LeVar Burton Park in honor. Burton and his sisters grew up in Meadowview, right next to the house where they grew up.

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Career

Burton made his acting debut in 1976 with Almos' a Man, a Richard Wright short story "The Man Who Was Almost a Man," in which he stars Madge Sinclair and Richard Wright.

Burton's breakthrough came as the teenage Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), based on Alex Haley's book of the same name. Burton's first day playing Kunta was the start of his professional career, according to him. As a result of his appearance, he was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actor category of a Drama or Comedy Series category.

In the 1988 television film Roots: The Gift, he revived his role as Kunta Kinte. Burton is quoted as indicating that Roots had a societal impact: "It increased people's consciousness." Not as stereotypes, blacks and whites began to see each other as human beings, not as stereotypes. You're going to get ripples if you toss a pebble into the pond. The only constant, I believe, is change, and it's always slow. Anything that happens overnight is missing in foundation. Roots is a trend that is shifting, and it is also being played out."

Burton, the host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow for PBS, began in 1983. The series ran for 23 seasons.

Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, purchased the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ, a young media firm for children, following Reading Rainbow's suspension from television in 2006. In 2012, Rainbow was reimagined as an all new iPad app, and it became the top educational application within 36 hours. Burton is both co-founder and curator-in-chief at RRKIDZ, ensuring that the projects under the banner match the brand's high hopes and admiration.

Burton and several coworkers from other years' work launched a Kickstarter campaign on May 28, 2014 to bring back Reading Rainbow. Following the success of the tablet application he helped create in recent years, his efforts are being directed at making this new web based to keep up with the changing appearances to which young children are exposed. He hopes to see the new Reading Rainbow be integrated into the classrooms of elementary schools around the country, and that schools in need of free access. Since raising more than $5 million in just three days, the Kickstarter campaign has met triple its target.

Burton was sued by public broadcasting firm WNED-TV for suspected copyright abuse for using the Reading Rainbow brand in advertising the latest iPad app and other online media in 2017. LeVar Burton Kids and the iPad app, Skybrary, were later identified by RRKIDZ.

Gene Roddenberry was approached by Burton in 1986 with the role of Lieutenant Junior Grade Geordi La Forge in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. The character is blind, but he is given "sight" by the use of a prosthetic device called a VISOR worn over his eyes. La Forge began serving as the US Enterprise's chief engineer and became the show's chief engineer during the second season. Burton was more well-known in the United States than Patrick Stewart at the time, due in part to his appearances in Roots and Reading Rainbow. Burton's role as the show premiered, according to the Associated Press, was "essentially the "new Spock." Burton laughed in surprise at the prospect, saying, "that rumors never came to fruition."

In the sequels based on Star Trek Generations (1994) to Star Trek Nemesis (2002), Burton portrayed La Forge.

In the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard, he produced two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise.

Burton, a regular participant in many game shows, appeared as a visitor to Fantasy Island, a guest star on "The Love Boat," was a guest on the Muppet Show's televised premiere party for the debut of The Muppet Movie, and a participant in Battle of the Network Stars.

He appeared in the music video for the song "Word Up" in 1986. Cameo, a funk/R&B group, was born.

Burton appeared in Dave Robinson, a sports writer, in the third season of Murder, She Wrote, "Death Takes a Dive," starring Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher.

Burton accepted an invitation to host Rebop, a multicultural series produced by WGBH for PBS.

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

On their album Free at Last, DC Talk featured a clip of Burton's voice in 1992. Burton can be heard saying, "Whoa, wait a minute," at the very end of the song. In addition, he has contributed to several animated films, including Kwame in the 1990-1993 cartoon series Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990–1993) and The New Adventures of Captain Planet (1993–1996). Burton is on the audio version of The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. In Superman/Batman: Public Enemies DVD, Burton has been cast as the voice actor for Black Lightning.

Burton appeared on the Dick Clark-hosted $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramids from 1982 to 1988. Burton was also the most prominent person in The Weakest Link's special Star Trek episode. He beat last opponent Robert Picardo and won $167,500 for his charity, Junior Achievement of Southern California, a record for the show and the most money won in a "Tournament of Losers" episode (it was later surpassed by a $188,500 win).

He has appeared 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 looks at the science and technology that can be used to support world peace, also known as peace science. The film explores some of the theories of shared noetic consciousness, having been funded in part by the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

He appeared in an Smosh episode on April Fools pretending to have taken over the channel and making various edits at popular Smosh videos.

He appears on This Week in Technology, where he is a self-proclaimed "nerd" and has also appeared in the Consumer Electronics Show 2010.

He appeared on Tim and Eric Awesome Show in 2010. Great Job! In the episode "Greene Machine," the ghost of himself appears as the ghost of himself.

Burton appeared on NBC's Community in February 2011 and then in "Geothermal Escapism" in January 2014.

Burton appears on "The Toast Derivation," in which he briefly attends a party held by Sheldon in exchange for lunch and gas, and again in the November 2014 episode "The Champagne Reflection" in exchange for Sheldon's removal of his personal information.

On the TNT series Perception, he appeared as dean Paul Haley on several occasions. He appeared in the regular cast for the second season (2013).

In 2014, he appeared in an introduction section for Achievement Hunter's 200th episode, Achievement Hunter Weekly Update (AHWU). He appeared on YouTube channel SciShow in May 2014, sharing the science behind double, tertiary, and quaternary rainbows. He made his second appearance on a 24-hour Extra Life, a fundraising group for Children's Miracle Network hospitals, in 2014, as streamed by Rooster Teeth. Burton has also filmed a recycling field trip for YouTube.

LeVar Burton Reads, Burton's website, started a podcast in 2017. Burton is the protagonist of each episode of a short story. During a Twitter livestream focused on various children, young adults, and adult viewers, he continues to read on his podcast and also give live readings three times a week.

He appeared on The Eric Andre Show in November 2020 as himself. His segment was a callback to Lance Reddick's interview (2013), in which he mentioned LeVar by name and disguised as a mash-up of Kunta Kinte and Geordi La Forge.

Burton appeared on Jeopardy as a guest host. The period from July 26 to July 30, 2021, was the most popular. More than 250,000 viewers expressed outrage after a petition asking the show's producers to select him. With NBC's coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which stifled syndicated programs across the board, unfortunately, the ratings were less than satisfactory due to tapering audience interest and a forced viewership war.

In the MasterClass, Burton also teaches "Power of Storytelling."

Burton produced episodes for each of the various Star Trek franchises that were then in production throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. He has written more Star Trek episodes than any other former regular cast member.

In addition to the miniseries Miracle's Boys and the biopic The Tiger Woods Story, he has produced episodes of Charmed, JAG, Las Vegas, and Soul Food: The Series. Katey Sagal, Kevin Kilner, and Jessica Steen appeared in the 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie Smart House. Burton will be seated in the director's chair for Two-Front War from Lou Reda Productions, a multi-perspective docuseries that will give "an emotionally raw glimpse at the link between America's struggle for civil rights and Vietnam's struggle for equality of Black soldiers."

Blizzard (2003), his first theatrical film direction, garnering 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."

Burton is one of the board of directors of the Directors Guild of America.

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