LeVar Burton was born on February 16, 1957, in Landstuhl, West Germany, and grew up in Sacramento, California. He graduated from Christian Brothers High School in 1974, and later spent some time at a seminary. He later enrolled in the University of Southern California’s drama program on a scholarship. As a sophomore there, Burton won the lead role of Kunta Kinte in the 1977 miniseries Roots.
Roots became a cultural landmark and earned Burton an Emmy nomination for his performance. In 1983, he became host and executive producer of PBS’s Reading Rainbow, a role he held for 23 years. The series won 12 Daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award before ending in 2006. For seven of those years, he played Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its film sequels.
After Reading Rainbow ended, Burton hosted the short-fiction podcast LeVar Burton Reads from 2017 to 2024. He guest-hosted Jeopardy! for a week in 2021. In 2023, he returned to the franchise as Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: Picard‘s third season. Since October 2024, Burton has hosted and executive-produced The CW’s Trivial Pursuit, which is now entering an expanded third season.
