13 min read
Reading time
2,456
Words
Published
57
Film credits
9
Awards
Donald Glover, as Childish Gambino, won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in 2017 and two Primetime Emmys for Atlanta. He wrote for 30 Rock at age 23 and starred in Community. He released the albums Camp, Because the Internet, and Awaken, My Love! as Childish Gambino, and won multiple Grammys including Song of the Year.
Names, aliases, and relatives of Donald Glover — birth name, kin, and personal ties.
Donald Glover by the numbers — life, work, and family.
Donald Glover — early life, career, personal life, and legacy.
Donald Glover was born on September 25, 1983 at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia. His mother Beverly ran a daycare center, and his father Donald Glover Sr. worked as a postal carrier.
He attended several high schools, including Stephenson High School and the DeKalb School of the Arts, before graduating from New York University with a degree in Dramatic Writing in 2006.
In 2006, at age 23, Donald Glover joined the writing staff of NBC comedy 30 Rock, earning a Writers Guild of America Award nomination in 2009. He left the show in 2009 to join the cast of Community, playing an athlete in a study group opposite Chevy Chase and Joel McHale.
Glover created, wrote, and directed the FX series Atlanta, which premiered in 2016. He won the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Television Series Musical or Comedy in 2017, and two Primetime Emmys for Outstanding Lead Actor and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.
Under his stage name Childish Gambino, he released the albums Camp 2011, Because the Internet 2013, and Awaken, My Love! 2016. The single Redbone won a Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Performance, and he has won five Grammy Awards including Song of the Year.
On film, Glover appeared in Magic Mike XXL 2015, The Martian 2015, and Spider-Man: Homecoming 2017. He played Lando Calrissian in Solo: A Star Wars Story 2018 and voiced Simba in The Lion King 2019.
Donald Glover is married to Michelle White, with whom he has three sons: Legend, Drake, and Donald Glover III. He is the brother of screenwriter Stephen Glover.
He was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness and grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Despite rumors, he is not related to actor Danny Glover.
Donald Glover’s work on Atlanta earned him a place on Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People list in 2017, with an homage written by Tina Fey. He became the second African American actor to win the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, after Robert Guillaume in 1985.
His music as Childish Gambino won five Grammy Awards, and his influence extended to comic books: the character Miles Morales, who became Spider-Man, was visually inspired by Glover’s appearance and a fan campaign to cast him as Peter Parker.
Glover’s achievements span television, music, and film, earning him a Golden Globe, multiple Emmys, and five Grammys.
The complete filmography of Donald Glover — every film, TV show, and documentary credit, ranked by popularity.
Every award, honor, and recognition received by Donald Glover — Grammys, hall-of-fame inductions, civic honors, lifetime achievements.
A wall of memorable lines from Donald Glover — lyrics, interviews, and off-the-cuff remarks captured over a lifetime.
L.A. Is Such a Different Place. I Miss New York so Much. I Almost Teared up When I Came Back and Wanted a Guinness and Realized I Could Drink It and Take a Cab Home. I Remembered That I Could Be a Functional Alcoholic in New York, Like I Used to Be!
Writing Is a Very Strenuous Thing – It’s Like Banging Your Head Against a Wall. at the End of the Day, Acting Is Better, Just Because Nobody Ever Asked Me If I Wanted a Pellegrino in the Writer’s Room.
I’m Probably Going to Get in Trouble for This but ‘American Dad’ Is One of My Favorite Shows. It Gets Very Dark in Places but the Jokes Are There.
I Try to Be Me to the Utmost.
I Think It’s a Comedian’s Job to Make Everything Funny. Nothing Is Off-limits.
I Have an Obsession with Books About Kids with Asperger’s Syndrome.
I Felt Like High School for Me Was Like a Big Whirlpool of Me Trying to Figure Out What Was OK for Me to Do.
Careers Very Rarely Are a Waste of Time; Jobs Usually Are.
But I Just Think I Was Lucky Enough to Figure Out Early on That I Wanted to Do Comedy, so That’s What I Put All My Effort Into.
Black Men Struggle with Masculinity so Much. the Idea That We Must Always Be Strong Really Presses Us All Down – It Keeps Us from Growing.
Also, I Realized a Lot of Kids Are Listening to Me. Whether I Want to Be or Not, They’re Looking up to Me.
A Lot of the Rap Shows I Saw as a Kid Were Boring, but If You Went to a Rage Show or a Justice Show, the Kids Were Losing Their Minds.
The Thing About Stand-up Was, I Was Doing All This Sketch and YouTube Stuff Where I Was Not Being Censored and I Got to Do My Own Thing, and It Was Really Cool.
I’m Very Impatient, so I Was Like, ‘I Want to Be Able to Do Whatever I Want Now.’ but Even the Biggest Stars – You Look Back and They Weren’t Overnight.
I Started Doing ’30 Rock’ and Started Writing ‘Mystery Team’ at the Beginning of That. While I Was Doing ‘Mystery Team,’ I Started Practicing Stand-up. While I Was Doing Stand Up, I Got ‘Community.’ It’s Like I Planted Trees Six Years Ago, and Now They Have Fruit.
I Personally Don’t Believe People Really Grow. They Just Learn Stuff When They Were a Kid, and Hold on to It, and That Affects Every Relationship They Have.
I Call ‘Community’ the Best Day Job in the World, Because Between Takes, I Get to Write Music. I Get to Write Sketches. I Get to Write Movies. It’s the Best Job Ever.
Black Culture Is a Fight. We Want to Hold on to What We Are, but Sometimes the Things That We Are Can Be Totally Negative. You Have to Think: Can’t We Try Something New and Not Be Seen as Suspect?
When Anybody Pays You to Be Creative, You’re Very Lucky.
We Put Stereotypes on Ourselves. Everybody Does That. but I Think It’s Just a Little Harder for Black Kids to Just Be Who They Are.
Usually, If I Think Something Is Really Funny, I’m Not Gonna Test It. I’ll Just Test It When I’m Onstage.
Twitter Does Have an Effect on Everything – Things You Put Out There, They Are Out There for Good.
The Only Reason I’m Able to Do Music Is Because I’m Making Money on ‘Community.’ If I Wasn’t, I Couldn’t Pay for Things.
If You’re on Twitter, What You’re Saying Is, ‘I’m Important Enough for You to Care What I Think.’
I’m Not a Big Party Animal, but I Like to Create Moments People Can Hold on To.
I’m Not Scared of the Future at All. the Future Is Progress If You Treat It Right.
Little-known facts about Donald Glover — origins, oddities, and behind-the-scenes details from a public life.
He adopted the stage name Childish Gambino from a Wu-Tang Name Generator he found online.
Tina Fey wrote in her 2011 book Bossypants that during the early years of 30 Rock, Donald Glover was the show’s only black writer. He was so young that he still lived in a New York University dorm and worked as a Resident Adviser. Because he came from a large family in Stone Mountain, Georgia, Fey said he was especially good at writing for the character Kenneth Parcell, who was also from Stone Mountain.
For his role on Community, Glover was named one of the Eight Actors Who Turn Television into Art in a cover story of The New York Times Magazine.
When he left 30 Rock to try acting, Tina Fey fully supported him. She later wrote that Glover was the only comedy writer she believed deserved to make it as an actor.
In 2010, while casting for The Amazing Spider-Man, a grassroots Internet campaign advocated for Donald Glover to be cast as Peter Parker. Andrew Garfield was eventually cast, but later the Ultimate Spider-Man comic replaced Peter Parker with a half-black, half-Latino teen named Miles Morales. According to writer Brian Michael Bendis, his appearance and ethnicity were heavily influenced by Glover.
His first toy was a Star Wars action figure of Lando Calrissian.
In 2017, he became the second African American performer to win an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, after Robert Guillaume in 1985.
He auditioned to play Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live but lost to Fred Armisen.
He grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia and was raised a Jehovah’s Witness.
He was placed in Time magazine’s The 100 Most Influential People issue with an homage written by Tina Fey.
His favorite TV show as a child was Tiny Toon Adventures 1990.
His girlfriend Michelle gave birth to their second son, Drake, in January 2018.
He is the brother of Stephen Glover.
He often features Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in his work.
He became a father for the first time when his girlfriend, Michelle White, gave birth to their first child, a son named Legend.
He is friends with Chance the Rapper.
He merited a place in TIME magazine’s The 100 Most Influential People issue.
Quick answers to the questions readers ask most about Donald Glover.
Celebrities similar to Donald Glover — same craft, ranked by reach.
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇮🇪 Ireland
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇺🇸 United States
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
