Biography for
Don Cheadle More at IMDb Pro »

Date of Birth

29 November 1964, Kansas City, Missouri, USA

Birth Name

Donald Frank Cheadle

Height

5' 8½" (1.74 m)

Mini Biography

Don Cheadle was born in Kansas City but moved throughout his childhood. He attended CalArts and earned his BA in Fine Arts. He auditioned for many roles, and won a part on the television series "Fame" (1982). He was then cast in the John Irvin film Hamburger Hill (1987). He first became recognized in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), which won him the Best Supporting Actor Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics. Cheadle is a highly respected actor who has won many awards and continues to act on both television movies and features, as well as in theater productions. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Matt Dicker

Trade Mark

Frequently portrays law enforcement agents or professionals with a troubled social life and/or past.

Trivia

Brother of Colin Cheadle.

Lives with Bridgid Coulter, who plays his wife in Rosewood (1997) [1997]

Has a sister, Cindy.

Graduated from East High School in Denver, Colorado.

Appears uncredited in two back-to-back movies, Rush Hour 2 (2001) and Ocean's Eleven (2001). He played a criminal in both films.

Drives a hybrid car, Toyota Prius.

After acting in Hotel Rwanda (2004), a film about the early 1990s Rwandan genocide, he became an activist to raise awareness of the mid-2000s genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. In January 2005, he traveled to Sudan with five members of Congress to see refugee camps and to meet survivors of the genocide. Upon his return, he reported on his trip for "ABC News Nightline" (1980).

Has a half-brother named Andrew Kilbourne.

Briefly worked as a stand-up comic early in his career.

He and Bridgid Coulter have two daughters (born in 1995 and 1997).

The son of a child psychologist and teacher

Plays the saxophone

Sister is a teacher in Washington, D.C. and his brother works in Denver's mayor's office

In July 2005, he officially toured the Hotel des Milles Collines in Kigali, Rwanda on which the film Hotel Rwanda (2004) is based.

Got his first big break starring as the hotel clerk on the short lived "The Golden Girls" (1985) spin-off "The Golden Palace" (1992) alongside Cheech Marin.

Hotel Rwanda (2004) is ranked #90 on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time, the most recent entry on the list.

Was considered for the role of Huggy Bear in Starsky & Hutch (2004).

Appeared in The Rat Pack (1998) (TV) as Sammy Davis Jr., who along with the other Rat Pack members, appeared in the original _Ocean's 11_(1960)_. Cheadle then appeared in the remake, Ocean's Eleven (2001).

During the making of Mission to Mars asked to sleep on the actual "film set" so he could be full in character.

Personal Quotes

But I don't think it helps to be thought of as a scene-stealer. That's not comforting for the other actors. They think, 'Well, I don't want to work with him. Go steal from someone else.' So I'm never going into a movie thinking that I want to grab the attention. Quite the opposite: I give that stuff away, because I'm wanting to make the best whole piece. I want to look back at my resume and think, 'That was a great movie,' not, 'Oh, those four movies were shit, but I was good in them.' I want to be a part of great things.

I've been doing this since I was 10 years old, inhabiting different people and playing different roles. Thirty years later, there's still the same sort of excitement I get from it. It's still fun to inhabit different characters and play different things, so it's all in that panoply of acting.

I also believe that you are what you have to defend, and if you're a black man that's always going to be the bar against which you are judged, whether you want to align yourself with those themes or not. You can think of yourself as a colourless person, but nobody else is gonna.

In fifth grade I was Templeton the Rat in a production of 'Charlotte's Web'. I remember I had a friend who worked in a doughnut shop. I'd go in, get a doughnut and sit there with my script, going over the lines and making notes in the margin. I was serious!

(2008 quote) I'm very critical of myself. I've yet to see a great performance from this kid. No, it's not comfortable; I hate watching myself. You don't like when you hear your voice on your voicemail; imagine having to see yourself 30 feet wide and 30 feet big.

Where Are They Now

(January 2004) Appearing in promotional advertisements for the National Football League (USA) and the race to its championship title game, Super Bowl XXXVIII.

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