Danny Glover
From Places in the Heart and the Lethal Weapon series to the award-winning To Sleep with Anger (which he also executive produced), Danny Glover is one of Hollywood’s most renowned and respected leading men. An actor, producer, and director, this versatile superstar has impacted stage, screen, and television for over a decade.
Glover’s impressive and diverse body of work has earned him a host of awards including the NAACP Image Award, the Cable ACE Award and an Emmy nomination. Off-screen, Glover is a powerful advocate for literacy and has spoken to grammar and high school students around the nation about the joys of reading and education.
In addition to his individual presentations focusing on the arts, literacy and community involvement, Glover regularly teams with long-time friend and actor Felix Justice in “An Evening with Langston and Martin.” A powerful and moving program consisting of dramatic readings from the works of Langston Hughes and Martin Luther King, Jr., “An Evening with Langston and Martin” stands among America’s most acclaimed theatrical presentations.
A native of San Francisco, Danny Glover attended San Francisco State College and trained at the Black Actor’s Workshop of the American Conservatory Theatre. He appeared in numerous stage productions, including The Island and Macbeth at the Los Angeles Actors’ Theater and Sizwe Banzi is Dead at the Eureka Theatre. However, it was Glover’s performance in the New York production of Athol Fugard’s Master Harold and the Boys that first brought the actor national recognition. Glover will again perform in Master Harold and the Boys in New York City during the summer of 2003.
Some of the actor’s early film credits were Escape From Alcatraz and Chu Chu and the Philly Flash, followed by Fred Schepisi’s Iceman starring Timothy Hutton. In 1984, Glover received widespread critical acclaim for his portrayal of Moze, a cotton farmer who allies himself with Sally Field, in the Academy Award-winning Places in the Heart. Other films of Glover’s include: Witness, The Color Purple, Mandela, BAT-21, Dead Man Out, Predator 2, Flight of the Intruder, A Rage in Harlem, The Rainmaker, Grand Canyon, Operation Dumbo Drop, Angels in the Outfield, Bopha!, Gone Fishin’, The Saint of Fort Washington and Beloved.
Danny Glover is the recipient of several prestigious honors for his extensive body of work. They include five NAACP Image Awards, three Cable ACE Awards, the Independent Feature Project/West’s Best Actor Award, the Phoenix Award from the Black American Cinema Society and induction into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.
In recent years Glover’s influence has extended behind the camera as well. Glover made a strong impression with his debut as executive producer for the critically acclaimed 1990 film To Sleep with Anger, in which he also portrayed a man struggling with the dark side of his nature. For the 1996 HBO project entitled “America’s Dream,” Glover took on the triple role of executive producer, executive director, and actor. He also worked with HBO as executive producer for the original film Deadly Voyage that recounts the true story of eight African stowaways aboard a cargo ship in search of a better life in America. Most recently, Glover directed the Showtime film Just a Dream.
As an activist, Glover received the first annual William Kunstler + Racial Justice Award for his work on a variety of social issues including the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Glover most recently received the prestigious Marian Anderson Award for his outstanding leadership benefiting humanity. He was appointed the first Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations Development Programme and actively serves on the boards of the Transafrica Forum ad the Algebra Project.
