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Producer · Actor · Director

1964-11-29 · Kansas City, Missouri, USA · Male

69 series in the catalog

Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (, CHEE-dəl; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. Known for his roles in film and television, he has received multiple accolades including two Golden Globe Awards, two Grammy Awards, and a Tony Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards, and 11 Primetime Emmy Awards. He is one of a few actors to have received nominations for the EGOT.

Cheadle's career started with supporting roles in Hamburger Hill (1987), Colors (1988), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), Rosewood (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), and Bulworth (1998). He collaborated with director Steven Soderbergh acting in Out of Sight (1998), Traffic (2000), The Ocean's Trilogy (2001–2007), and No Sudden Move (2021). Cheadle was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Paul Rusesabagina in the historical drama film Hotel Rwanda (2004). He was the co-producer of Crash, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2005. Cheadle joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe portraying James "Rhodey" Rhodes / War Machine, beginning with Iron Man 2 (2010), and received an Emmy Award nomination for his performance in the Disney+ series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (2021).

On television, Cheadle earned nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his roles as Marty Kaan in House of Lies (2012–2016) and Maurice Monroe in Black Monday (2019–2021). He was further Emmy-nominated for The Rat Pack (1998), A Lesson Before Dying (1999), Things Behind the Sun (2001), ER (2002), and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

In 2016, he received his first Grammy Award, winning Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for the soundtrack Miles Ahead. In 2022, he received a second Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for his narration of the audiobook Carry On: Reflections for a New Generation from John Lewis; he also received a Tony Award for Best Musical as a producer for the musical A Strange Loop.

Early years and education

Cheadle was born on November 29, 1964, in Kansas City, Missouri. His mother is Bettye Cheadle (née North), a teacher, and his father is Donald Frank Cheadle Sr., a clinical psychologist. He has a sister, Cindy, and a brother, Colin. His family moved from city to city throughout his childhood. He attended Hartley Elementary School in Lincoln, Nebraska, from 1970 to 1974. Cheadle graduated in 1982 from East High School in Denver, Colorado. During high school, he played saxophone in the jazz band, sang in choirs, and was active in the theater department, performing in musicals, plays, and mime shows.

Cheadle went on to attend the California Institute of the Arts, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theater in 1986.

1984–1992: Early roles and theatre work

During his time at CalArts, Cheadle along with his friends acted in numerous plays such as Athol Fugard's "Master Harold"...and the Boys, The Island; and My Name Could Be Anne in the black box theater. Cheadle became eligible for his Screen Actors Guild card when he appeared as a burger joint employee in the 1985 comedy Moving Violations. In 1987, he received a small role in the 7th season of Hill Street Blues, where he played a teenager with learning difficulties. This was followed by an appearance in Hamburger Hill the same year. Cheadle secured the role of Jack in the April 1, 1988, "Jung and the Restless" episode of Night Court; although his character was 16 years old, Cheadle was 23 at the time.

Cheadle then played the role of Rocket in the 1988 movie Colors. In 1989, he appeared in a music video for Angela Winbush's number-two hit single "It's the Real Thing" as a car wash employee performing dance moves. In 1990, he appeared in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air titled "Homeboy, Sweet Homeboy", playing Will Smith's friend and Hilary's first love interest, Ice Tray. In 1992, he had a starring role in The Golden Girls spin-off The Golden Palace as Roland Wilson, a young serious hotel manager that Blanche, Rose, and Sophia had retained from the previous owners. He subsequently played district attorney John Littleton on three seasons of Picket Fences.

1993–2001: Rise to prominence

Cheadle first received widespread notice for his portrayal of Mouse Alexander in the 1995 film Devil in a Blue Dress, for which he won Best Supporting Actor awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics and earned nominations for similar awards from the Screen Actors Guild and the NAACP Image Awards. Following soon thereafter was his performance in the title role of the 1996 HBO TV movie Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault. In 1997, he starred in John Singleton's historical drama Rosewood and in the disaster film Volcano. In the same year, he appeared in Paul Thomas Anderson's period drama Boogie Nights. The following year, he appeared in Out of Sight. The film was an adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 1996 novel of the same name and the first of Cheadle's many collaborations with director Steven Soderbergh.

Cheadle's portrayal of Sammy Davis Jr. in the 1998 TV movie The Rat Pack won him a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination. A year later he starred as Grant Wiggins, a school teacher in the film A Lesson Before Dying, which won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie. It was based on the novel of the same name by Ernest J. Gaines. He had two major film roles in 2000, starring as Montel Gordon, a DEA agent in Traffic and as Luke Graham in the sci-fi film Mission to Mars. The following year, he played Basher Tarr in the heist film Ocean's Eleven, a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack original. He joined an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy García, and Julia Roberts, and reprised his role for the sequels Ocean's Twelve in 2004 and Ocean's Thirteen in 2007. He starred alongside Hugh Jackman and John Travolta in the 2001 action thriller film Swordfish. Also in the same year, he appeared in a minor role in Rush Hour 2 with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker.

Cheadle made a guest appearance in the ninth season of the television series ER, playing the role of Paul Nathan, a medical student who suffers from Parkinson's disease. For this performance, he was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series.

2002–2009: Established actor

Cheadle appeared in NFL commercials promoting the Super Bowl from 2002 to 2005. He so regularly appeared for the NFL in its Super Bowl advertising that in 2006, in a drive to get fans to submit their own advertising ideas, the NFL sought his permission to reference his previous commercials to portray themselves as having no new ideas: "he quickly signed off on the idea and found it funny." Abe Sutton (along with Etan Bednarsh), one of the finalists in this NFL contest, played on this commercial by proposing an ad in which every player on a football team is Don Cheadle.

In 2005, Cheadle was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Paul Rusesabagina in the film Hotel Rwanda. He also starred in and co-produced Crash, which won the 2006 Academy Award for Best Picture. For his performance in Crash, Cheadle was nominated for the BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild awards for Best Supporting Actor. He played the main character in the movie Traitor.

In March 2007, Cheadle starred with comedian Adam Sandler in Mike Binder's Reign Over Me, a comedy-drama about a man who has slipped away from reality after the death of his wife and three daughters on 9/11. The film was a box office flop, earning a domestic gross of $22.2 million. Cheadle later starred in the 2009 DreamWorks Pictures film Hotel for Dogs. Cheadle was to make his directorial debut with the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues, but in July 2007, he stated, "'Tishomingo' is dead..."

In 2009, Cheadle and Boondocks creator Aaron McGruder worked on a potential comedy show on NBC. The…