LeVar Burton

Levardis Robert Martyn “LeVar” Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) played Kunta Kinte in the acclaimed miniseries Roots, and starred as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation. His other television credits include a regular role on the CBS series Christy, and he served as host and contributing producer of the Emmy Award-winning children’s program Reading Rainbow, for which he received twelve Daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award.

He is also an educator dedicated to improving children’s literacy and learning through innovative uses of storytelling (Photo Credit: Troy D. Johnson).