Levar Burton was born on February 16, 1967 in Germany. He first came to the attention of the public in 1977 after winning the role of Kunta Kinte in Alex Haley’s miniseries Roots. In 1983, he started as the host of the children’s program Reading Rainbow. He remained the host of this show until 2006.  In 1987, he joined the cast he joined the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation as blind pilot Georgie LaForge.  Star Trek: The Next Generation ended in 1994. Burton went on to make a several Next Generation films.

In my opinion, one of Levar Burton’s greatest accomplishments is hosting Reading Rainbow. It encouraged children to read and to understand what they were reading. Most of the books featured in the show were educational in one way or another. Each episode featured a celebrity reading one book, Levar visiting someone at work so see how they did what they did, and usually ended with a child reading a review of a book they enjoyed. The show won many awards including A Peabody and twenty-six Emmy awards. Reading Rainbow appeared on PBS from June 1983 until November 2006.

___________________________________________________________________________________

Trackback URI | Comments RSS