Danny Glover

A distinguished actor of the stage and screen, director, producer and humanitarian, Danny Glover is known for his work in Hollywood blockbusters, serious dramatic films and on the stage. Raised in San Francisco, Glover has followed his parents' example. Both were postal employees and active members of the NAACP and they instilled a strong belief in social responsibility in their five children, including their eldest, Danny. In 1998, Glover was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program.

Glover enrolled at San Francisco State University in 1965. An economics major, he, like many students in the 60s, became involved in social and political groups. He was a member of the Black Student Union, became affiliated with the Black Panthers, and even lived on a commune for a few months. He also spent many hours tutoring inner-city children and ran three reading centers.

During his time at San Francisco State he met his future wife Asake Bormani. With a young family to support, he worked for the city of San Francisco over the next several years. It wasn't until 1975 when he was 28 that he began to develop an interest in acting.

His experience limited to a few political plays in college, Glover took classes with the Black Actors Workshop at the American Conservatory Theater. Soon, he was landing roles in local theater and eventually moved the family to Los Angeles to pursue acting opportunities full-time.

His first film role was a small part in the Clint Eastwood film, Escape from Alcatraz (1979). Over the next several years, he amassed an impressive stage resume, including performances in Sam Shepard's Suicide in B Flat, Shakespeare's Macbeth, and Athol Fugard's The Island and he developed a special relationship with Fugard, the reclusive South African playwright. Glover played the lead in the 1980 off-Broadway revival of the playwright's Blood Knot. During the run of the show, he got a call from his agent with to take a role in the pilot for Hill Street Blues. Realizing that the play would be forced to close if he accepted since he had no understudy, Glover turned down the pilot.

Fugard caught a performance and came away so impressed with Glover that he personally offered him the lead role in Master Harold and the Boys, the first of his plays to have its world premiere on Broadway. Critical accolades poured in, and got Glover noticed by director Robert Benton, who cast him opposite Sally Field in the drama Places in the Heart (1984). The movie was a success, and Glover thereafter landed parts in Witness (1985), as a crooked cop, Silverado (1985), as a cowboy, and The Color Purple (1985), as the cruel Mister.

Two years later, he and Mel Gibson teamed up for the first time in the blockbuster hit Lethal Weapon, which has since spawned three sequels. Over the next decade, Glover kept working between the Lethal Weapon sequels, comedies, and worthy television projects, including a starring role in the acclaimed CBS miniseries Lonesome Dove. He also began producing projects in 1991 with the film To Sleep With Anger, in which he also starred.

In 1998, he reunited with his Color Purple co-star Oprah Winfrey in Jonathan Demme's adaptation of Toni Morrison's Beloved. He also voiced animated characters for the first time, including a hilarious cameo in Antz (1998) and Moses' sage father-in-law, Jethro, in The Prince of Egypt (1998). In 2001 he was in The Royal Tenenbaums and in that same year filmed the drama Missing in America. Recent films include the Academy Award winning Dreamgirls and Be Kind Rewind.

In addition to his five Emmy nominations, Glover has won the NAACP Image Award five times. Never one to steer away from controversy, Glover is a friend of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has led the Venezuelan Congress to approve $20 million in financing to assist Glover in making two films, one about Simon Bolivar and one about Toussaint Louverture, who lead a successful uprising of slaves in the late 18th century. Glover also chairs the board of the TransAfrica Forum, a non-profit, non-governmental organization which is charged with educating the public on the economic, political and moral effects of American foreign policy on Africa, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

A full-time activitist, Glover's causes span from anemia awareness, the AIDS crisis in Africa, to mathematics education and the immigration issue in America. He currently lives in San Francisco.