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LeVar Burton
Sign in to saveAlso known as Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr., Levardis Burton Jr., Levardis Burton, Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, Jr.
American actor, director, and television host (born 1957)
OverviewAI-generated
LeVar Burton is an American film director, writer, voice actor, and television presenter. Born Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. in Landstuhl, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, in 1957, he is a male of African American ethnicity. He holds United States citizenship and speaks American English. Burton was educated at the University of Southern California and began his work period in 1976. He has two children.
His notable works include Reading Rainbow, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Roots. As an author, he has produced ten works, including titles such as This Beautiful Day, Howie & Wyatt, and The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm. He has received a Daytime Emmy Award, a Grammy Award for Best Audio Book, Narration & Storytelling Recording, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and the National Humanities Medal. He has also been nominated for an Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.
Synthesized by Vinony from 29 facts across 4 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, TMDb, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Works
- 10
Top works
- Christy Series 2 episodes on 1 cass.
- This Beautiful Day
- Howie & Wyatt
- Kids Book about Imagination
- The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm
via Open Library + Wikidata
Film & TV
Landstuhl, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany
Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host. He played Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), 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…
Known for
- One Night Only2026
- Strip Law — (voice)2026
- Weather Hunters — Flexspecs (voice)2025
- Weather Hunters — Great Grandpa Wallace (voice)2025
- Butterfly in the Sky — Self2024
- To the Journey: Looking Back at Star Trek: Voyager — Self2024
- Trivial Pursuit — Self - Host2024
- Star Trek: Picard - The IMAX Live Series Finale Event — Commodore Geordi La Forge2023
- 100 Years of Warner Bros. — Self2023
- Carol & the End of the World — (voice)2023
via TMDB
Key facts
- Born
- Levardis Robert Martyn Burton , ( 1957-02-16 ) February 16, 1957 (age 69) , Landstuhl , West Germany
- Citizenship
- United States
- Alma mater
- University of Southern California
- Occupations
- Actor, television host, director, author
- Years active
- 1976–present
- Spouse
- Stephanie Cozart ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1992 )
- Children
- 2, including Mica
- Awards
- See Awards
- Website
- levarburton .com
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Family name
- Burton
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Landstuhl
- Occupation
- television actor
- Educated at
- University of Southern California
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Native language
- American English
- Notable work
- Roots
- Official website
- levarburton.com
- Image
- LeVar Burton Photo Op GalaxyCon Raleigh 2023.jpg
- Number of children
- 2
- Residence
- Sherman Oaks
Show 13 more facts
- Commons category
- LeVar Burton
- date of birth
- 1957-02-16
- Commons gallery
- LeVar Burton
- related category
- Category:Films directed by LeVar Burton
- start of work period
- 1976-00-00
- name in native language
- LeVar Burton
- social media followers
- 2191980
- writing language
- American English
- ethnic group
- African Americans
- birth name
- Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr.
- P8979
- 1225
- unmarried partner
- Joyce DeWitt
Sources (11)
via Wikidata · CC0
~18 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Levardis Robert Martyn Burton (born February 16, 1957) is an 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.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “LeVar Burton” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.