LeVar Burton

Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) in Landstuhl, Germany, known as LeVar Burton is an African-American actor, director, and producer who first came to prominence playing Kunta Kinte in the 1977 award winning television miniseries Roots, based on the novel by Alex Haley.

Burton is a graduate of University of Southern California's School of Theatre.

He later played the role of Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series and the series' movies. He is also the host of the long-running children's television show Reading Rainbow (1983- Current) on PBS, which extols the virtues of literacy. He also played the voice of a character named Kwame in the cartoon series Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990-1993) and The New Adventures of Captain Planet (1993-1996).

LeVar got his start in television from 1976-1979, as the host of Rebop. In the 2001 film Ali, Burton played Martin Luther King, Jr.

He currently resides in California.