LeVar Burton

Kunta Kinte's Open Wound

In 1977, the world discovered a twenty-year-old theater student who carried the weight of centuries of pain in his eyes. The premiere of Roots drew 130 million viewers to their television sets and placed LeVar Burton at the center of a national conversation about slavery in the United States. That role was more than a simple debut, because it forced him to handle overwhelming fame before finishing his studies at the University of Southern California.

Burton took on the challenge of playing a man stripped of his name and freedom with an intensity that still feels uncomfortable to watch. The miniseries shoot was grueling, and the actor had to film scenes in chains during exhausting days. That effort earned him an Emmy nomination, but it also attached a label that was hard to shake in a Hollywood that didn't know what to do with Black actors outside stories of oppression.

And she did it without looking back.

In the years following the phenomenon of Roots, the actor looked for projects that moved away from historical drama, but the industry kept typecasting him. He appeared in TV movies and small film roles that never fully showcased his acting range. But in 1983, he decided to bet on an educational format that would change how children relate to books forever.

A Blind Engineer on the Bridge

The arrival of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 marked a complete change of direction for his career. Burton took on the role of Geordi La Forge and faced the technical challenge of acting with his eyes covered by a metal visor that kept him from seeing his fellow cast members. He spent seven seasons playing a technical officer known for his intelligence rather than his visual impairment, a very advanced exercise in narrative normalization for the era.

Burton was never just a supporting actor.

On the set of the series, he became interested in what happened behind the cameras and asked the producers for permission to observe the editing process. That's how, in 1993, he directed his first episode of the franchise and launched a prolific career as a director. He went on to direct episodes of Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, totaling 28 episodes within the science fiction universe.

But his greatest social impact took shape in parallel on the show Reading Rainbow. For more than two decades, Burton entered American homes to encourage children to read with a warmth that earned him 12 Emmy Awards as host and executive producer. The show survived government changes and budget cuts until, in 2006, public television decided to cancel its funding after 23 years of uninterrupted broadcasting.

Maturity Behind the Camera

After leaving educational television, the actor focused on directing hit series such as Charmed and NCIS: New Orleans. In 2014, he launched a crowdfunding campaign to revive the reading promotion concept on digital platforms and raised more than five million dollars in less than a month. Audiences responded with massive loyalty that confirmed his status as one of the most beloved figures in American pop culture.

Television owed him a farewell worthy of his talent.

In 2021, he was caught up in a viral campaign to host the quiz show Jeopardy! after Alex Trebek's death, but the network chose other candidates despite social media pressure. That snub did not slow his career, and in 2023 he returned to his role as Geordi La Forge for the third season of Star Trek: Picard, where he shared the screen with his real-life daughters. It was a necessary closing of the circle for a character who had shaped two generations of viewers.

In 2017, he launched the podcast LeVar Burton Reads, where he returns to his storytelling side for an adult audience interested in short fiction. Producing this show requires a months-long text selection process before entering the recording studio. In total, he has directed more than 100 television and film projects over five decades of constant professional activity.