LeVar Burton
LeVar Burton launched his acting career while still a student at the University of Southern California. Cast in the groundbreaking role of Kunta Kinte in the landmark television series âRoots,â at 19 he found himself on the cover of Time Magazine. A seemingly impossible act to follow, Burton managed to do so in dramatic fashion, achieving further global acclaim as Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge in the iconic âStar Trek: The Next Generationâ television series and in feature films. But it has been his role as host and executive producer of the beloved PBS childrenâs series âReading Rainbowâ that he is most proud of. Airing from 1983 to 2009, it was not only one of the longest-running childrenâs television shows in history, but also one of the most acclaimed, earning over 200 awards including 26 Emmys and a Peabody.Always committed to improving childrenâs education through innovative uses of storytelling, in 2012 Burton launched RRKidz, a children's educational media company, with business partner Mark Wolfe. As their first endeavor, they licensed the right to reimagine Reading Rainbow for new generations. Burton then turned to Kickstarter to garner support to bring his ideas to life. The campaign wildly exceeded its initial $1 million goal in less than eleven hours. It became the most popular Kickstarter campaign ever with over 105,000 backers and a final tally of over $6.4 million. In May 2015, Burton and RRKidz fulfilled their Kickstarter promise by introducing Skybrary, an interactive digital library featuring over 500 books & videos. A year later, an educator specific version, Skybrary School, was launched. The Skybrary platform inspires kids to read, creating confident, self directed learners.