Daily BirthdaysDon Cheadle
He next starred in and produced Paul Haggis' independent feature Crash, which won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, among a host of honors.
This summer, Cheadle will star in Kasi Lemmons's Talk to Me, the story of Ralph Petey Greene, a popular Washington, DC radio host and community activist.
In 1995, Cheadle was named Best Supporting Actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for his breakout film performance opposite Denzel Washington in Carl Franklin's Devil in a Blue Dress. The latter also earned him the first of his three NAACP Image Award nominations; he was also nominated for his portrayals in John Singleton's Rosewood and Warren Beatty's Bulworth.
He has collaborated multiple times with directors Steven Soderbergh and Brett Ratner. For the former, he starred in the multi-Academy Award-winning Traffic, the acclaimed Out of Sight, and the trio of Ocean's movies (numbering Eleven, Twelve, and the upcoming Thirteen, set for release this summer). For Ratner, he starred in After the Sunset, Rush Hour 2, and The Family Man.
Among Cheadle's other features are Niels Mueller's The Assassination of Richard Nixon; Jordan Melamed's Manic; Dominic Sena's Swordfish; Allison Anders' Things Behind the Sun (for which he earned both Emmy and Independent Spirit Award nominations); Brian De Palma's Mission to Mars; Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights; Mick Jackson's Volcano; Robert Townsend's The Meteor Man; Dennis Hopper's Colors; and John Irvin's Hamburger Hill.
The Kansas City native received his Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from the prestigious California School of the Arts in Valencia, California. While attending Cal Arts, he auditioned for film and television roles and landed a recurring role on the hit syndicated series Fame. His subsequent television series credits included a recurring role on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and a two-year stint on Picket Fences.
Cheadle has starred in several notable telefilms, including Eriq La Salle's Rebound: The Legend of Earl 'The Goat' Manigault; Joseph Sargent's A Lesson Before Dying (for which he earned an Emmy Award nomination); Stephen Frears' live broadcast of Fail-Safe; and Rob Cohen's The Rat Pack. For the latter, in which he portrayed legendary entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., Cheadle won a Golden Globe Award and was an Emmy Award nominee.
His stage work includes originating the role of Booth in Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning play Top Dog/Underdog at New York's Public Theater 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 Blood Knot at Hollywood's Complex Theater. Cheadle has also directed West Coast stage productions of Groomed, Cincinnati Man, The Trip, and Three, True, One, among other plays.
Cheadle is also a writer, singer and musician. He was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Spoken Word Album for his narration/dramatization of the Walter Mosley novel Fear Itself.
With human rights activist John Prendergast, he has co-authored a new book, Not on Our Watch, due out in mid-2007. The nonfiction book contains the first-person accounts of extraordinary individuals among us who have mobilized others with an effective unified response to the atrocities in the Darfur region and offers practical strategies for taking further action.
In an effort to further raise awareness about the latter, as producer, Cheadle is currently in post-production on a documentary about the Sudan.
Don Cheadle Facts
| Occupation | Actor |
| Birthday | November 29, 1964 (44) |
| Sign | Sagittarius |
| Birthplace | Kansas City, Missouri, USA |
| Height | 5' 8½" (1m74) |
| Awards | 1999 Golden Globe Awards: Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or TV Film (for The Rat Pack) |
Selected Filmography
| Shelter from the Storm: A Concert for the Gulf Coast | ||
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