Actor, producer and humanitarian Danny Glover has been a
commanding presence on screen, stage and television for more than 30
years. As an actor, his film credits range from the blockbuster Lethal
Weapon franchise to smaller independent features, some of which
Glover also produced. In recent years he has starred in an array of
motion pictures including the critically-acclaimed Dreamgirls directed
by Bill Condon and in the futuristic 2012 for director Roland Emmerich.
In addition to his film work, Glover is highly sought after as a public
speaker, delivering inspirational addresses and moving performances in
such diverse venues as college campuses, union rallies and business
conventions.
Glover has gained respect for his wide-reaching community activism
and philanthropic efforts, with a particular emphasis on advocacy for
economic justice and access to health care and education programs in
the United States and Africa. For these efforts Glover received a 2006
DGA Honor and was honored with a 2011 “Pioneer Award” from the
National Civil Rights Museum. Internationally Glover has served as a
Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program
from 1998-2004, focusing on issues of poverty, disease and economic
development in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Glover was
presented in 2011 with the prestigious Medaille des Arts et des Letters
from the French Ministry of Culture and was honored with a Tribute at
the Deauville International Film Festival. In 2014 Glover received an
Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of San
Francisco. Currently Glover serves as UNICEF Ambassador and
Ambassador for the United Nations International Decade for People of
African Descent along with Harry Belafonte and Forrest Whittaker.
In 2005, Glover co-founded NY-based Louverture Films with
writer/producer Joslyn Barnes and more recent partners Susan
Rockefeller and the Bertha Foundation. The company is dedicated to
the development and production of films of historical relevance, social
purpose, commercial value and artistic integrity. Among the films
Glover has executive- or co-produced at Louverture are the César-nominated Bamako, Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Academy
Award® and Emmy nominated film Trouble The Water; the award-winning The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 and Concerning
Violence; Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner The House I Live In; Cannes
Palme d’Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, the
Academy Award® nominated and Emmy winning Strong Island, ZAMA
by Lucrecia Martel, and this year’s Oscar® nominated documentary
Hale County This Morning, This Evening by RaMell Ross and Oscar®
nominated Best Foreign Language Film Capernaum by Nadine Labaki.
A native of San Francisco, Glover trained at the Black Actors’ Workshop
of the American Conservatory Theatre. It was his Broadway debut in
Fugard’s Master Harold…and the Boys that brought him to national
recognition and led director Robert Benton to cast him in his first
leading role in 1984’s Academy Award-nominated Best Picture, Places
in the Heart. The following year Glover starred in two more Best Picture
nominated films: Peter Weir’s Witness and Steven Spielberg’s The Color
Purple. In 1987 Glover partnered with Mel Gibson in the first Lethal
Weapon film and went on to star in three hugely successful Lethal
Weapon sequels. Glover starred in The Royal Tenenbaums and To Sleep
With Anger which he executive produced and for which he won an
Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor. On the small screen, Glover won an Image Award, a Cable ACE Award
and earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the title role of
the HBO Movie Mandela. He has also received Emmy nominations for
his work in the acclaimed miniseries Lonesome Dove, the telefilm
Freedom Song, and as a director he earned a Daytime Emmy
nomination for Showtime’s Just a Dream. Glover also appeared in the
HBO Original Movie Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight.
Glover starred in Mr. Pig which had its debut at the 2016 Sundance
Film Festival and which is now on Netflix. Co-starring Maya Rudolph,
Mr. Pig was filming entirely on location in Mexico and is a tour de force
for him. He starred in Almost Christmas for Universal Studios, in Rage
co-starring Nicolas Cage, Beyond the Lights and Complete Unknown. He
also co-starred in the highly-acclaimed feature film The Old Man & The
Gun with Robert Redford and in the films Proud Mary opposite Taraji P.
Henson, Come Sunday and Sorry to Bother You. Glover also had a
pivotal role in the Critically-acclaimed Last Black Man in San Francisco.
Most recently Glover appeared in the Sony Pictures box office hit
Jumanji: Welcome to The Jungle co-starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black
and Danny DeVito. He just completed filming the independent feature
Press Play on location in Hawaii.