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• Actor LeVar Burton, whose real name is Levardis Burton, played the character Geordi La Forge on the TV series The Next Generation. He is also well known for his appearances on the children show Reading Rainbow on PBS and in the TV mini series Roots, which aired on ABC.

  On its official website the user-generated video content site Smosh has announced that Lavar Burton has acquired the company. Announced on April 1, this release is speculated to be an April Fools joke. The press release goes on to state that the actor/producer will control everything on the website, which has a reported 216 million video streams as of March 2009.Smosh.com: Smosh Press Release (April 1, 2009)

• Fast Facts

  1. Born: February 16, 1957
  2. Played Geordi LaForge on Star Trek: The Next Generation
  3. Also played the character in the feature films based on the series
  4. Played the slave Kunta Kinte on the mini series Roots
  5. Created and hosted the children show Reading Rainbow on PBS
  6. Played Martin Luther King Jr. in the film Ali
  7. His voice has appeared in several animated movies and TV series
  8. Has been nominated for several Emmy Awards for his appearances on Reading Rainbow
  9. Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990
  10. Auditioned for the role as Kunta Kinte on Roots during his sophomore year at the University of Southern California (USC)
  11. President of Eagle Nation Films
  12. Has directed several episodes of Star Trek shows
  13. Hosted the show Rebop that aired on PBS in the 1970s
  14. Owner of the production company Integrity Entertainment

• Internet Celebrity

  A self-described nerd, Burton uses social media to reach out to his fans and has become a ubiquitous presence online. He has over 100,000 followers on Twitter, and has had various mock rivalries with other celebrities over follower counts, including Wil Wheaton and Michael Ian Black.EW.com: Michael Ian Black, LeVar Burton battle for Twitter supremacy with #LeWar (February 25, 2009) A sometime guest on the This Week in Tech podcast and Revision3 shows (including a memorable appearance on Diggnation during which he sung the Reading Rainbow theme song), Burton is also a guest on the debut episode of "The Kevin Pollak Chat Show." On April 1, 2009, Burton announced that he will be buying the the video website Smosh in a apparent April Fools joke.Smosh.com: Smosh Press Release (April 1, 2009)

• Kunta Kinte

  Burton had his breakthrough playing Kunta Kinte on the TV mini series Roots, based on the novel by Alex Haley. Kunta Kinte grew up in the African country The Gambia, was captured by slave traders, brought to the United States, and forced to become a slave. The character was partly based on one of Haley's ancestors.

• Related Pages on Mahalo

  The Next Generation | ABC | PBS | Diggnation | Star Trek | Martin Luther King Jr. | Kevin Pollak

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