Levar Burton Biography, Net Worth, Daughter, Wife, Dead or Alive
LeVar Burton is an exceptional actor who since his debut in the African-American miniseries The Roots as Kunta Kinte based on the novel by Alex Haley of the same title started gaining recognition for his acting as he was instantly nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series in 1977. Due to his outstanding performance, he also landed the role of Kunta Kinte 10 years later in The Roots 1988: The Gifts.
Burton’s other major work is his role as host and executive producer of the children’s series Reading Rainbow which ran for 23 seasons on the PBS network. The sitcom landed more than 200 awards during its run, including a Peabody Award and 26 Emmy Awards. Burton was also nominated for and won 12 Emmy Awards as a sitcom producer and host.
When the show ended in 2006, Burton teamed up with Mark Wolfe to start a media company named RRKIDZ for kids and the app was launched for iPad in 2012 and after 36 hours of launch, the RRKIDZ app became the first educational application. The success of this app prompted him in 2014 to launch a campaign to make the program online and accessible to schools across the United States.
On the Star Trek: The Next Generation series , LeVar Burton is also known for his role as Lieutenant Junior Grade Geordi La Forge who was initially a blind character but later granted some kind of sight using an aid called VISOR which he wears on his eyes to enable him to see. His character started with a small role as the helmsman of the USS Enterprise and as the series moved into the second season, he became its chief engineer. Burton continued to appear on the show until 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis and even directed several episodes of the show.
