LeVar Burton

Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is a German-born American actor, director, and television host. He played Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994) and Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), and was the host of the PBS Kids educational television series Reading Rainbow for 23 years (1983–2006). Burton received 12 Daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award as host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow.

His other roles include Cap Jackson in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), Donald Lang in Dummy (1979), Tommy Price in The Hunter (1980), which earned him an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture, and Martin Luther King Jr. in Ali (2001). Burton received the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards for his narration of the book The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. In 1990, he was honored for his accomplishments in television with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

From 2017 until 2024, Burton created and hosted the podcast LeVar Burton Reads, which has been described as "Reading Rainbow for adults". Since October 2024, Burton has hosted the Trivial Pursuit game show on The CW.

Burton was born in Landstuhl, West Germany. His mother, Erma Gene (née Ward), was a social worker, administrator, and educator. Burton and his two sisters were raised by his mother in Sacramento, California, United States.

Burton's father, also named LeVar, was a photographer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps stationed at Landstuhl at the time of his son's birth. His paternal grandparents were both educators in rural Arkansas. His great-great grandfather, Hal B. Burton, was an African-American state legislator in Arkansas after the Reconstruction era that enfranchised African Americans in the South after the American Civil War; he was elected to represent Jefferson County in 1887.

As a teen, Burton, who was raised Catholic, entered St. Pius X Minor Seminary in Galt, California, intending to become a priest. At the age of 17, questioning the Catholic faith, he changed his vocation to acting; at the age of 19, while an undergraduate at the University of Southern California, he won a starring role in the 1977 television miniseries Roots.

Burton made his acting debut in 1976 with Almos' a Man, a film based on the Richard Wright short story, "The Man Who Was Almost a Man", in which Burton stars alongside Madge Sinclair.

Burton's breakthrough role was as the young Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), based on the novel of the same name by Alex Haley. Burton has described his first day playing Kunta as the start of his professional career. As a result of his performance, he was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series category.