LeVar Burton

LeVar Burton

Birth name:

Levardis Robert Martyn Burton, Jr.

Date of birth:

16 February1957

Place of birth:

Landstuhl, West Germany

Roles:

Actor
Video game actor
Audiobook actor
Director

Character(s):

Geordi La Forge

In-joke(s):

L. Burton (Flight Director),L. Burton (Professor)

LeVar Burton (born16 February1957; age 68) is the American actor who playedGeordi La Forge onStar Trek: The Next Generation throughout the show's entire seven-year run, from1987 to1994. He also played La Forge in the four TNG-eraStar Trek films, in the TNGvideo gameA Final Unity, and in theStar Trek: Voyager episode "Timeless", which he directed, and appeared inStar Trek: Picard. In addition, he directed two episodes forNext Generation as well as numerous episodes forStar Trek: Deep Space Nine,Star Trek: Voyager, andStar Trek: Enterprise. He previously held the highest amount of directorial credits for the cast members, at 29 episodes directed, but was surpassed in 2023 by Jonathan Frakes with his 30th directed episode, "Those Old Scientists".

Besides his affiliation withStar Trek, Burton is known for his star-making, Emmy Award-nominated performance as Kunta Kinte in the acclaimed 1977 mini-seriesRoots. He is also well known as the long-time host of the popular, Daytime Emmy Award-winning children's educational programReading Rainbow.

Tim Russ, who was an initial candidate for the role of Geordi La Forge, described Burton as "a great actor." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 101, p. 54)

Personal life[]

The child of a military family, Burton was born in Landstuhl, West Germany, as that is where his father – an Army NCO – was stationed at the time. At the age of 13, Burton entered a Catholic seminary to study for the priesthood but ultimately decided to pursue an acting career instead, graduating from the University of Southern California's (USC) School of Theater.

In 1990, he received a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame for his work in the field of television.

Burton married Stephanie Cozart, the make-up artist ofReading Rainbow, in 1992. Their daughter, Michaela orMica Burton, was born in 1994. Burton also has a son from a previous relationship, born in 1980.

Burton and his family currently reside in Sherman Oaks, California. An avid poker player, Burton has participated in the World Poker Tour.[1]

Burton currently serves on the advisory committee of the100 Year Starship Initiative, which seeks the launching of an interstellar voyage within the next one hundred years. Astronaut Dr.Mae Jemison is heading the initiative.[2]

Burton recorded a public service announcement for NASA to explain the purpose of theMAVEN mission to Mars, which was launched on November 18, 2013.[3]

Career[]

The 1970s[]

Burton was an undergraduate in USC's drama department when he was discovered and chosen to play the key role of Kunta Kinte inRoots, which premiered in January 1977. This groundbreaking mini-series became one of the most acclaimed and highest-rated programs in US television history, earning a total of 37 Emmy Award nominations (winning nine); Burton himself earned an Emmy nomination for his performance.

Among Burton's co-stars in this series wereMadge Sinclair andBen Vereen, who went on to play the parents of Burton's Geordi La Forge inTNG: "Interface". Sinclair and Vereen also received Emmy nominations for their performances inRoots.

AfterRoots aired, Burton played the title role in the TV movieBilly: Portrait of a Street Kid. This movie aired in September 1977, only eight months afterRoots introduced Burton to television audiences. One month later, Burton was seen in his first feature film,Looking for Mr. Goodbar, which also starredRichard Kiley.

The following year, Burton reunited with Madge Sinclair in the TV movieOne in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story, with Burton playing the title character – an ex-con who became a professional baseball player – and Sinclair playing his mother. Burton concluded the decade with the TV movieDummy, in which he co-starred withPaul Sorvino andGregg Henry. Burton and Sorvino worked together again on the TNG episode "Homeward" and the 1994 TV movieParallel Lives, while Henry appeared with Burton inStar Trek: Insurrection.

The 1980s[]

The 1980 TV movieGuyana Tragedy again had Madge Sinclair and LeVar Burton playing mother and son. This movie also featured futureTrek veteransBrad Dourif,Meg Foster,Albert Hall, andEd Lauter. Burton next co-starred withSteve McQueen in what proved to be the latter's final film,The Hunter (1980).

Burton subsequently appeared in a number of TV movies, including 1983'sEmergency Room (featuringGary Lockwood,Warren Munson, andBiff Yeager), 1984'sThe Jesse Owens Story (withRonny Cox,James B. Sikking,Victor Tayback, and Burton'sRoots co-star, Ben Vereen), 1985'sThe Midnight Hour (withKurtwood Smith), and 1986'sLiberty (co-starringFrank Langella andChris Sarandon). In 1988, he reprised the role of Kunta Kinte for the TV Christmas specialRoots: The Gift, which also featuredDeep Space Nine starAvery Brooks,Voyager starsKate Mulgrew andTim Russ, and TNG guest starFran Bennett.

Burton broke into episodic television in the 1980s, guest-starring on an episode ofTrapper John, M.D. (again working with Madge Sinclair, who was a regular on the series, as well asMiguel Ferrer andLouise Sorel) andFantasy Island (starringRicardo Montalban, in an episode withJanet MacLachlan). In addition, Burton co-starred with TOS actressNichelle Nichols in the 1986 science fiction thriller,The Supernaturals, and appeared in a 1987 episode ofMurder, She Wrote withMichael McGrady.

Reading Rainbow[]

In 1983, Burton began hostingReading Rainbow, an educational program for thePublic Broadcasting Service (PBS) aimed at encouraging children to read. As both host and executive producer of this series, Burton has earned a total of ten Daytime Emmy nominations, with six wins. He also earned seven Image Award nominations, winning four of them.

For seven seasons of this show, Burton worked concurrently on this series andStar Trek: The Next Generation. The 1988 episodeThe Bionic Bunny Show ofReading Rainbow actually showed a behind-the-scenes look at the making of TNG (specifically during the episode "Symbiosis").

Reading Rainbow ran for twenty-one seasons before financial troubles at PBS put the show on hiatus. In 2007, Burton announced he had shot his last episode ofReading Rainbow and was retiring from the show, citing creative differences with the show's new owners.[4] The last (rerun) episode ofReading Rainbow with Burton as its host aired on 28 August 2009.[5]

Following the first presidential debate between President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Republican governor Mitt Romney, Burton became enraged at Romney's campaign pledge to cut government funding for PBS. Burton targeted Romney, being quoted on TMZ as saying "I am personally outraged that any serious contender for the White House would target as part of his campaign the children of America in this fashion." Burton further added "Educators across the country, as well as millions of children and adults know that the programming on PBS has been responsible for significant improvements in education, literacy, math, science and life skills for generations of our children." Burton continued, "Defunding PBS directly punishes the less fortunate by removing this trusted and extraordinary educational resource available to all. On behalf of America's children, I can't stay silent. I encourage you to join me in fighting this short-sighted and frankly mean-spirited attack on our children."[6]

In 2014, Burton began a campaign through Kickstarter to "BringReading Rainbow Back for Every Child, Everywhere," a program to help bringReading Rainbow back to classrooms throughout the United States. As of June 26, 2014, the program had raised over $4 million, greatly exceeding its stated $1 million goal. That same day, Seth MacFarlane (Rivers inStar Trek: Enterprise) announced that he would match up to one million dollars worth of pledges for the campaign.[7] Burton also createdReading Rainbow Live featuring Burton himself and members of theStar Trek cast reading stories to parents and their children –Reading Rainbow Live: The Men of Star Trek (featuringJonathan Frakes,Brent Spiner,Michael Dorn, andRobert Picardo),Reading Rainbow Live: The Women of Star Trek (featuringKate Mulgrew,Marina Sirtis,Gates McFadden, andJeri Ryan),Reading Rainbow Live withPatrick Stewart, andReading Rainbow Live withWilliam Shatner.[8]

For for hisReading Rainbow work, Burton was on 11 December 2022 awarded, the inaugural "Lifetime Achievement Award" of the newly-institutedChildren's and Family Emmy Awards. He was tributed over video by his formerNext Generation co-stars Patrick Stewart andWhoopi Goldberg.[9]

Star Trek and beyond[]

In 1987 Burton was cast as Geordi La Forge, a blindStarfleetofficer who utilizes aVISOR to see. Initially, the character was theflight control officer of theUSSEnterprise-D with therank oflieutenant junior grade. By thesecond season, however, La Forge was the ship'schief engineer, holding the rank oflieutenant and laterlieutenant commander. Burton starred on the show throughout all seven seasons, appearing in all but four of the 177 episodes.

Burton was later a member of the music band known as The Sunspots, along with his TNG castmatesJonathan Frakes,Michael Dorn, andPatrick Stewart. They appeared as the background vocals for "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie" onBrent Spiner's 1991 albumOl' Yellow Eyes is Back. He can also be heard on The Orb's track "Little Fluffy Clouds", which sampled an episode ofReading Rainbow, apparently without Burton's permission.

Since he was working on both TNG andReading Rainbow at the same time, Burton did little else during the early 1990s. He did supply the voice of Planeteer Kwame as well as the opening narration on the hit animated seriesCaptain Planet and the Planeteers from 1990 through 1993; his TNG co-starWhoopi Goldberg also voiced on this series. In addition, he did voice work for an episode ofBatman: The Animated Series entitled "The Worry Men" and played a fire chief in the 1993 TV movieFirestorm: 72 Hours in Oakland, co-starringKeone Young.

In 1998, Burton appeared as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge inStar Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton.

In 2001, Burton, along with several otherStar Trek cast members includingWilliam Shatner,Wil Wheaton,Denise Crosby, andJohn de Lancie, competed for charity on theNBC quiz show,The Weakest Link. Burton defeatedVoyager actor Robert Picardo in the final round to win an impressive US$167,500 for his charity, Junior Achievement of Southern California. It was a record for the show.

Several costumes and costume components worn by Burton throughout his performance as Geordi La Forge inStar Trek were sold off on theIt's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay.[10]^(X)

In 2016, Burton appeared at E3 to promote the virtual reality gameStar Trek: Bridge Crew. He also recorded a video withJeri Ryan andKarl Urban of them playtesting the game.

Directing[]

In addition to acting, Burton has directed manyStar Trek episodes. He is one of only five directors to shoot at least one episode of every live-actionStar Trek spin-off series fromThe Next Generation throughEnterprise, the others beingJames L. Conway,Winrich Kolbe,Mike Vejar, andDavid Livingston.

It was during his time on TNG that Burton became interested in directing. He made his directorial debut with thesixth season episode "Second Chances". He then directed theseventh season episode "The Pegasus". After TNG ended, Burton moved on to direct ten episodes ofDeep Space Nine, eight episodes ofVoyager, and nine episodes ofEnterprise.

In 1998, he directed his first non-Trek project,The Tiger Woods Story. His other television directorial credits include multiple episodes ofSoul Food andCharmed. He also directed the 2003 family filmBlizzard, starringChristopher Plummer and featuring the voice of Whoopi Goldberg as the title reindeer. Burton himself made a cameo appearance in the movie as an elf.

In 2009, he directed and appeared inReach for Me, starringSeymour Cassel, withAdrienne Barbeau,Larry A. Hankin andAlfre Woodard, and cameramanKris Krosskove.

Post-TNG acting career[]

After TNG, Burton had a recurring role onCBS'Christy and made a guest appearance on Brent Spiner'sDeadly Games (co-starringChristopher Lloyd). In 1996, Burton co-starred withRichard Herd andMalcolm McDowell in the Showtime Network's sci-fi thrillerYesterday's Son.

Burton is one of manyStar Trek actors to voice a character onGargoyles. His TNG co-stars Jonathan Frakes,Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, and Michael Dorn also did voice work on the series, as did Nichelle Nichols, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew,Michael Bell,Clancy Brown,Matt Frewer,Gerrit Graham,Clyde Kusatsu,John Rhys-Davies,W. Morgan Sheppard,David Warner, andPaul Winfield.

In 2000, Burton guest-starred onBecker (starringTerry Farrell, withAndy Milder). The following year, he made a brief appearance as Martin Luther King, Jr., inAli, which also featuredJoe Morton, Albert Hall andBruce McGill.

Burton was not pleased withStar Trek Nemesis. At DragonCon 2005, Burton suggested that the reason it failed at the box office was "because it sucked". Burton also held contempt forNemesis directorStuart Baird, who, according to Burton and his castmates, continually called Burton "Laverne" and erroneously referred to his character as an "alien".[11] However, Burton has recently softened his view onNemesis and decided to give it another chance, acknowledging that some people actually like it.[12]

In 2003, Burton had a guest spot onBoomtown (starringNeal McDonough, withVanessa Williams,Tom Wright and Fran Bennett) . In 2005, he had a voice-over role in the "Petarded" episode ofSeth MacFarlane'sFamily Guy. Burton later returned toFamily Guy, when he and his TNG castmates voiced themselves for the 2009 episode "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven". In the episode, Stewie Griffin (voiced by creator Seth McFarlane) kidnaps the cast of TNG and proceeds to spend the day with them, much to his own regret.

Burton and fellowStar Trek alumniGreg Grunberg,Jennifer Morrison, andGeorge Takei supplied voices forThe Super Hero Squad Show. Burton, Grunberg, and Morrison voiced superheroesWar Machine,Ant-Man, andWasp, respectively, while Takei voicedGalactus.

In 2009, Burton voiced theDC Comics superhero Black Lightning inSuperman/Batman: Public Enemies, withClancy Brown voicing Lex Luthor.

In 2010, he appeared as guest as himself in episode 17 of the fourth season of the CBS sitcomThe Big Bang Theory. Among otherNext Generation actors seen on this show as themselves were actorWil Wheaton (who appeared several times) andBrent Spiner. Burton also appeared as himself in episode 9 of the fifth season of Adult Swim'sTim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!.

In 2011, Burton guest starred as himself in episode 16 of season two on NBC'sCommunity (starringGillian Jacobs).

Burton starred as Paul Haley onPerception, created byKenneth Biller andMichael Sussman, from 2012 to 2015. Burton worked with Jonathan Scarfe, son ofAlan Scarfe and step-son ofBarbara March. The following year, he served as executive producer on a remake ofRoots.

Appearances as Geordi La Forge[]

Additional characters[]

Geordi La Forge (hologram)
TNG: "A Matter of Perspective"

Geordi La Forge (hologram,Barclay Program 15)
TNG: "Hollow Pursuits"

Geordi La Forge (hologram)
TNG: "Hollow Pursuits"

Geordi La Forge (hologram)
TNG: "Future Imperfect"

Geordi La Forge (hologram)
TNG: "Identity Crisis"

Geordi La Forge (illusion)
TNG: "Violations"

Geordi La Forge (hologram)
TNG: "Ship In A Bottle"

Geordi La Forge (illusion)
TNG: "Frame of Mind"

Geordi La Forge (illusion)
TNG: "Phantasms"

Geordi La Forge (hologram)
TNG: "Thine Own Self"

Star Trek directorial credits[]

Star Trek interviews[]

• TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Beginning"
• TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis" ("Casting", "Character Notes", "Camaraderie")
• TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Making of a Legend" ("VISOR")
• TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "Memorable Missions"
• TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis Year Two", interviewed on18 March1994
• TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Three" ("Guinan Returns", "Special Guests on the Bridge"), interviewed on8 November2001
• TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis Year Three" ("Crew Profile:Geordi La Forge"), interviewed on 8 November 2001
• TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Memorable Missions" ("The Enemy"), interviewed on 8 November 2001
• TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Four" ("Celebrating 100 Episodes"), interviewed by Entertainment Tonight in1991
• TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "Intergalactic Guest Stars" ("Crew Profile:EnsignRo Laren"), interviewed on 8 November 2001
• TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Six" ("A Visit fromScotty"), interviewed inAugust 1992 and on 8 November 2001
• TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Bold New Directions Year Six" ("A First Chance at "Second Chances""), interviewed on 8 November 2001
• TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Six" ("Special Crew Profile:Lt. Cmdr.Data"), interviewed on 8 November 2001
• TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Select Historical Data Year Six" ("Working with theVISOR"), interviewed on 8 November 2001
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Seven" ("Profile: The La Forge Family", "The Final Episode"), interviewed on 8 November 2001
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Starfleet Moments & Memories Year Seven" ("A Unique Family"), interviewed on 8 November 2001
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "The Making of "All Good Things…" Year Seven" ("On Location"), interviewed on 18 March 1994
• To Boldly Go
• All Good ThingsBlu-ray special featureThe Unknown Possibilities of Existence: Making "All Good Things" (2014)
• "LeVar Burton – Lt. (J.G.) Geordi La Forge",The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 1, p. 17, interviewed by Marc Shapiro
• "LeVar Burton – Lt. Geordi La Forge",The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine issue 13, pp. 6-8, interviewed by Marc Shapiro

External links[]

• LeVarBurton.com – official home page
• LeVar Burton atWikipedia
• LeVar Burton at theInternet Movie Database
• LeVar Burton atTriviaTribute.com – pictures and trivia
• LeVar Burton atX (formerly Twitter)
• LeVar Burton atInstagram
• Interview at the Archive of American Television