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Don Cheadle

Since being named the Best Supporting Actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics for his breakout performance opposite Denzel Washington in Devil in a Blue Dress, Don Cheadle has consistently turned in powerful performances on the stage and screen.

Cheadle most recently wrapped his new television show, House of Lies, which aired January 2012 for Showtime. His latest feature film The Guard, premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and was released this past July by Sony Pictures Classics. Cheadle produced The Guard and stars in it opposite Brendan Gleeson. Don had previously last been seen in Marvel Studios' Iron Man 2, as James €˜Rhodey' Rhodes opposite Robert Downey Jr., and in Brooklyn's Finest, an ensemble crime thriller directed by Antoine Fuqua and co-starring Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke. He will next star in a movie based on the life of jazz legend Miles Davis and will then star in Iron Man 3.

Cheadle's current philanthropic work includes serving as a UN Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme. He co-authored with John Prendergast The Enough Moment and Not on Our Watch, which reveals the steps being taken by engaged citizens, famous and unknown, here and abroad, to combat genocide, rape, and child soldierdom in Africa. Cheadle also produced the documentary film Darfur Now, an examination of the genocide in Sudan's western region of Darfur.

In 2008, Cheadle starred opposite Guy Pearce in Overture Films' Traitor, an international thriller which he also produced. Additional film credits include: Talk to Me, a film directed by Kasi Lemmons and co-starring Chiwetel Ejiofor,; the 2006 Oscar-winning Best Picture, Crash, which Cheadle also produced; Hotel Rwanda, for which his performance garnered Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Broadcast Film Critics Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Actor; Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen, directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney; Mike Binder's Reign Over Me with Adam Sandler; the Academy Award-winning film Traffic and the George Clooney/Jennifer Lopez-starrer Out of Sight, both also directed by Soderbergh; Paul Thomas Anderson's critically acclaimed Boogie Nights with Julianne Moore and Mark Wahlberg; Bulworth, directed by and starring Warren Beatty; Swordfish co-starring John Travolta and Halle Berry; Mission to Mars with Tim Robbins and Gary Sinise; John Singleton's Rosewood, for which Cheadle earned an NAACP Image Award nomination; Family Man, directed by Brett Ratner and starring Nicolas Cage; and the independent features Manic and Things Behind the Sun. Cheadle was recently honored by both the CineVegas Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Festival and received ShoWest's Male Star of the Year award.

Cheadle is also well-recognized for his television work. He received a Golden Globe Award for his remarkable portrayal of Sammy Davis Jr. in HBO's The Rat Pack, a performance that was also nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Emmy. That same year, he received an Emmy nomination for his starring role in HBO's adaptation of the critically-acclaimed, best selling novel A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines, in which Cheadle starred opposite Cicely Tyson and Mekhi Phifer. He also starred for HBO in Rebound: The Legend of Earl €˜The Goat' Manigault, directed by Eriq La Salle.

Well known for his two-year stint in the role of €˜District Attorney John Littleton' on David E. Kelley's critically-acclaimed series Picket Fences, Cheadle's other series credits include a guest starring role on ER (a performance that earned him yet another Emmy nomination) and a series regular role on The Golden Palace. He was also part of the stellar cast of the thrilling live CBS television broadcast of Fail Safe in which he starred opposite George Clooney, James Cromwell, Brain Dennehy, Richard Dreyfuss and Harvey Keitel.

An accomplished stage actor, Cheadle originated the role of Booth in Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning play Top Dog Underdog at New York's Public Theatre under the direction of George C. Wolfe. His other stage credits include Leon, Lena and Lenz at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis; The Grapes of Wrath and Liquid Skin at the Mixed Blood Theater in Minneapolis; Cymbeline at The New York Shakespeare Festival; €˜Tis a Pity She's a Whore at Chicago's Goodman Theater; and Athol Fugard's South African play Blood Knot at The Complex Theater in Hollywood.

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Cheadle later relocated to Lincoln, Nebraska and Denver, Colorado before he finally settled in Los Angeles. He attended the prestigious California Institute of the Arts (CAL ARTS) in Valencia, California, where he received his Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts. With the encouragement of his college friends, Cheadle auditioned for a variety of and television roles while attending school and landed a recurring role on the hit series Fame. This lead to feature film roles in Colors, directed by Dennis Hopper, and the John Irvin-directed Hamburger Hill, opposite Dylan McDermott.

A talented musician who plays saxophone, writes music and sings, Don Cheadle is also an accomplished director with the stage productions of Cincinnati Man at the Attic Theater, the critically-acclaimed The Trip at Friends and Artists Theater in Hollywood and "Three, True, One' at The Electric Lodge in Venice, California on an already impressive resume.

In addition to his many acting honors, Cheadle was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Spoken Word Album for his narration/dramatization of the Walter Mosley novel Fear Itself.

Cheadle resides in Los Angeles.


Note: This profile was written in or before 2012.
Read earlier biographies on this page.

Don Cheadle Facts

OccupationActor
BirthdayNovember 29, 1964 (59)
SignSagittarius
BirthplaceKansas City, Missouri, USA
Height5' 8½" (1m74)  How tall is Don Cheadle compared to you?
Awards1999 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or TV Film (for The Rat Pack)

Selected Filmography

Boogie Nights
Marvel's The Avengers: Age Of Ultron
Captain Planet with Don Cheadle
Captain America: Civil War
Iron Man 2
Drunk History Vol. 1
Iron Man 3
Ocean's Thirteen
Continue » Find more details on the Don Cheadle Movies page