| LeVar Burton Quick Info | |
|---|---|
| Height | 5 ft 7 in |
| Weight | 73 kg |
| Date of Birth | February 16, 1957 |
| Zodiac Sign | Aquarius |
| Spouse | Stephanie Cozart |
LeVar Burton is an American actor, director, children’s television host, author, presenter, producer, and voice artist who is best known for having been cast as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in the sci-fi series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots, Kwame in the animated environmentalist superhero series Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Paul Haley in the crime drama series Perception, and Doc Greene in the toyline, story book series Transformers: Rescue Bots. Moreover, he also served as the host for PBS Kids educational television series Reading Rainbow for more than 23 years (1983-2006).
Born Name
Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr.
Nick Name
LeVar
Sun Sign
Aquarius
Born Place
Landstuhl, West Germany
Residence
Los Angeles, California, United States
Nationality
Education
As he aspired of becoming a priest, LeVar Burton attended St. Pius X Minor Seminary in Galt, California. However, he later started pursuing acting and got enrolled at the University of Southern California.
Occupation
Actor, Director, Host, Producer, Voice Artist, Author, Presenter
Family
- Father – Levardis Robert Martyn Burton (Photographer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps)
- Mother – Erma Gene (née Christian) (Social Worker, Administrator, Educator)
- Siblings – Letitia (Sister), Valencia (Sister)
- Others – Omar Benson Miller (Nephew) (Actor)
Manager
He has been signed with –
- Three Blankets, Inc., Production Company, Sherman Oaks, California, United States
- William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, Talent and Literary Agency, Beverly Hills, California, United States
Build
Average
Height
5 ft 7 in or 170 cm
Weight
73 kg or 161 lbs
Girlfriend / Spouse
LeVar Burton has dated –
- Joyce DeWitt (1980) – He had a short-termed romance with actress Joyce DeWitt from February 1980 to May 1980.
- Stephanie Cozart (1991-Present) – In the year 1991, he started dating professional makeup artist Stephanie Cozart and the duo got married on October 3, 1992. They have been blessed with a daughter named Michaela “Mica” Jean Burton (b. July 8, 1994).
Note – He also fathers a son named Eian Burton Smith (b. June 23, 1980) from a previous relationship.
Race / Ethnicity
Black
Burton is of African-American descent.
Hair Color
Salt and Pepper
Eye Color
Dark Brown
Sexual Orientation
Straight
Distinctive Features
Sports a mustache
Religion
He was raised Roman Catholic.
However, he does not identify with any religion and has said, “I walked away from the seminary, I walked away from Catholicism, I walked away from organized religion because I felt that there was more for me to explore in the world, and that I could do that without adhering to one specific belief system or another.”
LeVar Burton Favorite Things
- Film For The American Film Institute – Ralph Nelson’s Lilies of the Field (1963) with Sidney Poitier
- Acting Mentors/Best Friends – Cicely Tyson, Louis Gossett Jr., Patrick Stewart
Source – IMDb
LeVar Burton Facts
- At the time of his birth, his father was stationed at Landstuhl, West Germany.
- Alongside his sisters, he was raised by his mother in Sacramento, California.
- LeVar Burton secured a starring role in the 1977 television miniseries, Roots, at the age of 19 when he was an undergraduate at the University of Southern California.
- On November 15, 1990, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7000 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
- He joined the board of directors for the AIDS Research Alliance in 2012. It is a non-profit, medical research organization dedicated to finding a cure for AIDS.
- Over the years, LeVar Burton has been a part of movies like One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story, Dummy, Taken in Broad Daylight, Superman/Batman Public Enemies, Dancing in September, Ali, and Our Friend, Martin.
- LeVar Burton became one of the 5 inaugural honorees to the Sacramento Walk of Stars in 2016 and Sacramento named LeVar Burton Park, a park located in the Meadowview neighborhood near the house where Burton and his sisters grew up, in his honor in 2019.
- LeVar had once tried to get the hosting gig for Jeopardy. However, he had lost it.
Featured Image by Tweigel59 / Wikimedia / CC BY-SA 4.0
