LeVar Burton Net Worth, Biography, Career, and Personal Life

LeVar Burton Net Worth, Biography, Family, Career, Filmography and Personal Life

LeVar Burton is an American actor, director, presenter and author. Best known for portraying the role of commander Geordi La Forge in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

He also appeared as a host in the long running children’s series called “Reading Rainbow”. LeVar Burton net worth is $6 million USD.

Following article talks about the life and works of this very talented actor who has been part of the industry for more than 40 years now.

Biography and Background

Full Name

His full name is Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr.

Nickname

He is known by his surname Burton to his close ones.

Nationality

He has an American citizenship. But was born in Landstuhl, West Germany.

Birthday

His birthday is on February 16, 1957 and he is currently 63 years old.

Profession

He is mainly an actor by profession. But he has also worked as a director, presenter and author throughout his career.

Zodiac Sign

Burton’s Zodiac sign is Aquarius.

Background

LeVar Burton was born in U.S. Army Landstuhl Regional Medical Center located in West Germany. His father used to work for the U.S. Army Signal Corps and was stationed at Landstuhl when he was born.

He was raised at a Roman Catholic family and when he was 13 he joined St. Pius X Minor Seminary in Galt, California to become a priest. There he got a chance to read the works of many renowned philosophers like Laozi, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Søren Kierkegaard etc.

This turned out to be a very important part of his life. Because reading all these works made a question pop into Burton’s young mind. He started thinking if Catholicism was the only true religion or not?

After that he joined University of Southern California with a drama scholarship. He graduated from University of Southern California’s school of theatre. And started focusing on his future to establish himself as an actor.

Family Description

Father

LeVar Burton’s father’s name is Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Sr. He was a photographer and worked for the U.S. Army Signal Corps when he was born.

Mother

His mother’s name is Erma Christian. She worked as a social worker, administrator and as an educator. She raised her three children in Sacramento, California.

Siblings

Burton has two siblings. Both of them are his sisters.

Spouse

He is married. His wife’s name is Stephanie Cozart-Burton and she is a makeup artist. The couple got married in 1992.

Children

LeVar has two children. He and his wife Stephanie have a daughter together named Michaela Jean Burton. And a son from his previous relationship named Eian Burton Smith.

Career Development

He made his acting debut in 1976 with the movie “Almos’ a Man”. But his big breakthrough came the following year when he played the role of young Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries “Roots”.

His acting was highly acclaimed and he got nominated for the Emmy award in the Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series category.

He reprised his role in the movie adaption of the series called “Roots: The Gift” which was released in 1988.

After that he made multiple appearances in game shows and also in a music video of a funk group called “Cameo”. In 1983 he became the host and executive producer of the show “Reading Rainbow”.

The show was a huge success. It became one of the longest running children’s series completing 23 seasons and won 26 Emmy awards. Burton himself won 11 Emmy awards as the host and producer of the show.

The show ended in 2006 and after that Burton and a friend of his named Mark Wolfe acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ. I was a new media company for children.

Burton’s job was to ensure that the projects produced under the banner met the high expectations and trust of the Reading Rainbow brand.

Reading Rainbow was then turned into an iPad application in 2012 and it became an instant hit. It became the number one educational application within the 36 hours of its launch.

He was approached by Gene Roddenberry to be a part of the television series “Star Trek: Next Generation”. He was given the role of a blind commander who can have a sight by using a prosthetic device.

He then went one to portray this role in the upcoming movies. The role he portrayed, commander Geordi La Forge, was critically acclaimed. He directed two episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and several episodes of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”,” Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise” etc.

He portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the 2001 film titled “Ali”. in 1987 he did one episode in the third season of the series “Murder, She Wrote”.

In 1992, he gave his voice in a DC Talk track called “Time Is…”. This wasn’t the only time he gave voice to something. He recorded his voice in many animated and cartoon series.

Some of which include “Captain Planet and the Planeteers” (1990–1993), ”The New Adventures of Captain Planet” (1993–1996), “Family Guy”, “Batman: The Animated Series” , “Gargoyles” etc.

He made multiple appearances as a guest in Dick Clark-hosted $25,000 and $100,000 Pyramids from 1982 to 1988. He also appeared in the sitcom “Becker”. In 2007.

He hosted and produced a documentary called “The Science of Peace”. In 2011 and 2014 he appeared in NBC’s “Community”. He started his own podcast in 2017 called “LeVar Burton Reads”.

It featured him reading a short story in each episode. He also directed many episodes of the Star Trek series and at one point became the person to direct most episodes of the franchise.

He has also directed “Charmed”,” JAG”, “Las Vegas”, “Soul Food: The Series”, “Miracle’s Boys”, “The Tiger Woods Story” etc.