LeVar Burton

Birthday: 1957-02-16
Birthplace: Landstuhl, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany
Gender: Male
Owned By: Unowned

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 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, often described as "Reading Rainbow for adults". In October 2024, Burton appeared as the host of the Trivial Pursuit television game show broadcast on The CW network and streaming online.

Description above from the Wikipedia article about LeVar Burton, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Credits

Year Title Character
2023-04-19 Star Trek: Picard - The IMAX Live Series Finale Event Commodore Geordi La Forge
2020-08-10 Definition Please LeVar Burton
2018-08-02 Brentwood LeVar Burton
2017-06-20 Transformers: Rescue Bots - Rescue Family
2016-09-14 School of the Future
2012-10-27 Rise of the Zombies Dr. Dan Halpern
2010-07-16 The Jensen Project Kendrick
2009-11-10 Taken in Broad Daylight Mike Timbrook
2009-09-29 Superman/Batman: Public Enemies Black Lightning (voice)
2008-10-01 Reach for Me Nathanial
2003-05-15 Blizzard Night Watchman Elf (uncredited)
2002-12-13 Star Trek: Nemesis Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
2001-12-10 Ali Martin Luther King, Jr.
1999-01-12 Our Friend, Martin Martin at Age 26 (voice) (as Levar Burton)
1998-12-11 Star Trek: Insurrection Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
1996-11-22 Star Trek: First Contact Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge
1996-04-22 Yesterday's Target Winstrom
1995-04-24 Star Trek: The Next Generation - Descent Geordi La Forge
1995-04-10 Star Trek: The Next Generation - Birthright Geordi La Forge
1994-11-18 Star Trek: Generations Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge
1994-08-04 Parallel Lives Dr. Franklin Carter
1994-05-23 Star Trek: The Next Generation - All Good Things... Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge
1993-02-07 Firestorm: 72 Hours in Oakland Fire Chief J. Allan Mather
1993-01-04 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Behind the Scenes Geordi La Forge
1992-01-25 Star Trek: Federation Science
1988-12-11 Roots: The Gift Kunta Kinte
1987-03-31 A Special Friendship Ben Sumner
1986-06-23 Liberty Robert Johnson
1986-05-09 The Supernaturals Pvt. Michael Osgood
1985-11-01 The Midnight Hour Vinnie Davis
1985-01-01 And the Children Shall Lead Glenn Scott
1984-10-01 Booker Davis
1984-07-09 The Jesse Owens Story Professor Preston
1983-07-18 Emergency Room Ray Walden
1981-10-04 Grambling's White Tiger Charles 'Tank' Smith
1981-03-02 The Acorn People Rodney
1980-08-01 The Hunter Tommy Price
1979-05-27 Dummy Donald Lang
1978-09-26 One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story Ron LeFlore
1978-09-26 Battered Andrew Sinclair
1977-10-19 Looking for Mr. Goodbar Cap Jackson
1977-09-12 Billy: Portrait of a Street Kid Billy Peoples
1976-04-05 Almos' a Man Dave