Danny Glover

Danny Lebern Glover (born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, producer and political activist.

Over his career he has received numerous accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the NAACP's President's Award, as well as nominations for five Emmy Awards and four Grammy Awards.

He attended San Francisco State University (SFSU) in the late 1960s but did not graduate.

SFSU later awarded him the Presidential Medal of San Francisco State University for his service to education.

Glover trained at the Black Actors' Workshop of the American Conservatory Theater.

Glover originally worked in city administration working on community development before transitioning to theater.

He has said:

"I didn't think it was a difficult transition. Acting is a platform that can become a conveyer for ideas. Art is a way of understanding, of confronting issues and confronting your own feelings—all within that realm of the capacity it represents. It may have been a leap of faith for me, given not only my learning disability (dyslexia) but also the fact that I felt awkward. I felt all the things that someone that's 6'3' or 6'4' feels and with my own diminished expectations of who I could be [and] would feel. Whether it's art, acting or theater that I've devoted myself to I put more passion and more energy into it."

His first theater involvement was with the American Conservatory Theater, a regional training program in San Francisco.

Glover also trained with Jean Shelton at the Shelton Actors Lab in San Francisco.

In an interview on Inside the Actors Studio, Glover credited Jean Shelton for much of his development as an actor.

Deciding that he wanted to be an actor, Glover resigned from his city administration job and soon began his career as a stage actor.

Glover then moved to Los Angeles for more opportunities in acting.

Glover made his film acting debut in Escape from Alcatraz (1979).

He is widely known for his lead role as Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon film series.

Glover made his film acting debut in Escape from Alcatraz (1979).

Glover's other notable films include Places in the Heart (1984), The Color Purple (1985), Witness (1985), To Sleep with Anger (1990), Grand Canyon (1991), Bopha! (1993), Angels in the Outfield (1994), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Dreamgirls (2006), Shooter (2007), 2012 (2009), Death at a Funeral (2010), Beyond the Lights (2014), Sorry to Bother You (2018), and The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019).

He is known for his work on television receiving for Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his roles as Nelson Mandela in the HBO television film Mandela (1987), Joshua Deets in CBS western miniseries Lonesome Dove (1989), Philip Marlowe in the Showtime neo-noir series Fallen Angels (1995), and Will Walker in TNT biographical film Freedom Song (2000).

He had recurring roles in Hill Street Blues, ER, and Brothers & Sisters.

Glover is also an active supporter of various political causes.

He is a member the TransAfrica Forum, and the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

For his political work he was awarded the Cuban National Medal of Friendship by the Cuban Council of State.

Danny Lebern Glover was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Carrie (Hunley) and James Glover.

Both of his parents were postal workers, and were active in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), working to advance equal rights.

Glover's mother, daughter of a midwife, was born in Louisville, Georgia, and graduated from Paine College in Augusta, Georgia.

His father was a World War II veteran.

He graduated from George Washington High School in San Francisco.

As an adolescent and a young adult, Glover had epilepsy but has not had a seizure since age 35.

During his career, he has made several cameos, appearing, for example, in the Michael Jackson video "Liberian Girl" of 1987.

Glover earned top billing for the first time in Predator 2, the sequel to the science-fiction action film Predator.

That same year he starred in Charles Burnett's To Sleep with Anger, for which he won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Male Lead.

He would later go on to co-found the Robey Theatre Company with actor Ben Guillory in honor of the actor and concert singer Paul Robeson in Los Angeles in 1994.

Glover has had a variety of film, stage and television roles, and is best known for playing Los Angeles police Sergeant Roger Murtaugh in the Lethal Weapon series of action films, starring alongside Mel Gibson and Joe Pesci.

Later he once again starred with Gary Busey in the blockbuster Predator 2.

He gained acclaim starring as the husband to Whoopi Goldberg's character Celie in the celebrated literary adaptation The Color Purple.

The same year.

he played Lieutenant James McFee in the film Witness.

In 1994, he made his directorial debut with the Showtime channel short film Override.

Also in 1994, Glover and actor Ben Guillory founded the Robey Theatre Company in Los Angeles, focusing on theatre by and about Black people.

In common with Humphrey Bogart, Elliott Gould and Robert Mitchum, who have played Raymond Chandler's private eye detective Philip Marlowe, Glover played the role in the episode "Red Wind" of the Showtime network's 1995 series Fallen Angels.