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LeVar Burton

Acting

LeVar Burton

Born Feb 16, 1957 · 69 years141 titles 71 movies · 70 TV
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Biography

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.

Also known as

Levar Burton · Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr.

Born

Feb 16, 1957

Landstuhl, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany

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Photos

Profile images from TMDB · click to enlarge

4 images

Roles across career

Titles counted once; a person can act and direct on the same film (roles merged).

128

Acting credits

17

Directing

0

Writing

3

Other crew

Most critically rated

Highest TMDB score (min 100 votes)

Most commercially successful

Highest TMDB vote count (attention / reach proxy; not box office)

Career timeline

By release / first air year · movie & TV merged

Orbit ↑

1962 1 title(s)

1976 2 title(s)

1977 6 title(s)

1978 3 title(s)

1979 3 title(s)

1980 2 title(s)

1981 2 title(s)

1982 1 title(s)

1983 2 title(s)

1984 4 title(s)

1985 2 title(s)

1986 2 title(s)

1987 3 title(s)

1988 2 title(s)

1990 2 title(s)

1991 1 title(s)

1992 2 title(s)

1993 3 title(s)

1994 5 title(s)

1995 6 title(s)

1996 4 title(s)

1997 2 title(s)

1998 4 title(s)

1999 4 title(s)

2000 1 title(s)

2001 2 title(s)

2002 3 title(s)

2003 2 title(s)

2005 3 title(s)

2006 1 title(s)

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2008 2 title(s)

2009 4 title(s)

2010 2 title(s)

2011 1 title(s)

2012 7 title(s)

2013 4 title(s)

2014 6 title(s)

2016 2 title(s)

2017 2 title(s)

2018 2 title(s)

2019 4 title(s)

2020 3 title(s)

2021 4 title(s)

2022 4 title(s)

2023 4 title(s)

2024 3 title(s)

2025 1 title(s)

2026 2 title(s)

Undated 2 title(s)