Background

Donald McKinley Glover Jr. was born on September 25, 1983, at Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County, California. He was raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia. His mother, Beverly (née Smith), is a retired daycare provider, and his father, Donald Glover Sr., was a retired postal worker. His parents also served as foster parents for 14 years.

Glover has a younger brother, writer/producer Stephen Glover, who was also nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Atlanta.

Education

Donald attended Lakeside High School and DeKalb School of the Arts and was captioned "Most Likely to Write for The Simpsons" in his high school yearbook.

Glover graduated from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in Dramatic Writing (2006).

Career

Glover self-produced the independent mixtape The Younger I Get, which was not released and was disowned by Glover for being "too-raw ramblings" of what he calls a "decrepit Drake". Glover also began disc jockeying and producing electronic music under the moniker MC D - later as mcDJ - remixing Sufjan Stevens' album Illinois (2005).

At this point, he had already appeared on-screen in the five-minute TV short Gene Shalit's Preview Corner (2005) and had acted in several other shorts, including Culliver Family Variety Hour, Black Peter Pan, Celebrity and Self Defense, all produced in 2006. Later that year, after Amy Poehler put in a word of recommendation on his behalf, he was hired on as a writer for the Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin comedy series 30 Rock. He also appeared in an episode of the show that year, and later acted in several episodes that aired in 2007, 2009 and 2012. In 2009, he earned a Writers Guild of America nomination for his work.

The following year saw him team up with Ben Schwartz and Bobby Moynihan for three episodes of the series Bronx World Travelers. In 2009, he made his feature film debut with Bobby, Aubrey Plaza and Ellie Kemper in Mystery Team. Donald also co-wrote the screenplay.

He began work on the popular Emmy-winning series Community in 2009, playing athlete Troy Barnes in 89 episodes between 2009 and 2014, sharing the screen with Joel McHale, Alison Brie and Chevy Chase, among others. In 2010, he lent his voice to the TV movie Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III with Seth Green. The project was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Animated Program category. Next, Donald returned to film to appear in the Oscar-winning family comedy The Muppets (2011) alongside Jason Segel, Amy Adams and Rashida Jones.

He won the part of Sandy in two 2013 episodes of the Golden-Globe winning series Girls, and also appeared as Derrick in the 2013 comedy The To Do List alongside Aubrey Plaza, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg and Alia Shawkat. Sticking with film, Donald played Greg in the family comedy Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (2014) with Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner, and Niko in the sci-fi film The Lazarus Effect (2015) with Olivia Wilde, Mark Duplass and Evan Peters.

He went back to TV when he voiced Miles Morales in two 2015 episodes of the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man, as well as Transfer Billy in four 2015 episodes of the animated comedy series China, IL with Greta Gerwig and Hulk Hogan. Donald then teamed up with Channing Tatum, Matt Bomer and Joe Manganiello in Magic Mike XXL (2015), the sequel to Magic Mike (2012), and continued to stay busy by working with Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain and Kristen Wiig in Ridley Scott's Oscar-nominated drama The Martian (2015).

But in 2016, Donald cemented his status as a force to be reckoned with in the entertainment industry. He wrote, produced and starred in the dramedy series Atlanta. He played Earnest "Earn" Marks, a father and Ivy League dropout who helps launch the rap career of his cousin. The show won two Golden Globes in 2017, including one for Donald in the Best Actor in a TV series - Musical or Comedy category. For his role, he also nabbed a Critics' Choice TV Award. Donald played Aaron Davis in the action film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) alongside Robert Downey Jr., Tom Holland and Michael Keaton. More recently, he can be seen in the key role of Lando Calrissian in the blockbuster movie Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).

Donald also raps under the moniker Childish Gambino, which was created by an online Wu-Tang Clan name generator. He has been nominated for two Grammy awards for his musical endeavors. His latest album ‘Awaken, My Love!’ was released in 2016. Like his previous albums, it also became an instant hit, peaking at fifth position on the Billboard 200. It sold 72,000 copies in the first week of its release.

Achievements

• 

  Donald Glover is a multi-faceted person who has carved a niche in every domain that he has set his foot in; be it acting, writing, production, comedy, singing and songwriting. In 2016, Glover received widespread acclaim from television critics for the comedy-drama television series Atlanta created by and starring him, for which he won two Golden Globe Awards, including Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy and he received four Primetime Emmy Awards nominations, winning Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series.
  
  As of 2018, he won five Writers Guild of America Awards for his contribution to the satirical television sitcom 30 Rock and for the first season of Atlanta.
  
  For his music, Glover has received one Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance for the song "Redbone". At the 2018 edition, he was also nominated in the categories Album of the Year for "Awaken, My Love!" and Record of the Year for "Redbone". His single "This Is America" was also critically acclaimed, earning him four additional Grammy nominations, including Song of the Year.

Works

More photos

• movie

  • Mystery Team 2009
  • The Muppets 2011
  • The To Do List 2013
  • Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day 2014
  • The Lazarus Effect 2015
  • Magic Mike XXL 2015
  • The Martian 2015
  • Spider-Man: Homecoming 2017
  • Solo: A Star Wars Story 2018
  • Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse 2018

• music

  • Camp 2011
  • Because The Internet 2013
  • Awaken, My Love! 2016

• TV series

  • Atlanta Season 1 2016
  • Atlanta: Robbin' 2018

Religion

Glover was raised as a Jehovah's Witness. Due to his family's religious beliefs, he was forbidden from watching television as a child.

In an interview with TIME in August 2016, he spoke about his Jehovah's Witness roots when he said, "Being a Jehovah's Witness, it forces you to feel like you're always looking behind a curtain. It always keeps the magic alive in you."

He felt like the weirdo at school because of his family’s religion.

"Jewish kids talk a lot of smack about not having Christmas, but at least people know what they are. People either have no idea what a Jehovah’s Witness is or they assume you’re responsible for the Jehovah’s Witness who knocked on their door last Saturday and woke them up. Neither is a good starting point."

While in college, he started experimenting with things forbidden in his youth, and he has since dropped his childhood religion for a life in show business.

Politics

Donald Glover supported Barack Obama. He donated to the president’s campaign in 2008.

Views

Donald Glover has willingly been drawn into racial politics. In 2010, Glover was involved in an internet campaign–started by fans and embraced by him–to get him an audition for the next Spider-Man. It was about getting a black man into a prime slot on the comic book register, but he says he wasn’t trying to “stir something up.”

"I was halfway joking. People are like, “There are plenty of black superheroes that are just as good.” And I’m like, that sounds like “separate but equal” ... and it’s not true."

Quotations: "I try to be me to the utmost."

"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."

"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."

"I think it's a comedian's job to make everything funny. Nothing is off-limits."

"I'm probably going to get in trouble for this but 'American Dad' is one of my favourite shows. It gets very dark in places but the jokes are there."

Personality

When driving, Glover spends part of his commute learning foreign languages: “I try and rotate (language tests) out Monday, Wednesday, and Friday ... I’m learning Spanish and French.”

Physical Characteristics: Height - 5 ft 9 in or 175 cm

Weight - 79 kg or 174 pounds

Hair color - black

Eye color - Ddark brown

Chest – 41 in or 104 cm

Arms / Biceps – 14 in or 35.5 cm

Waist – 33 in or 84 cm

Interests

• Glover is a huge Rick & Morty fan.

• Politicians

  Barack Obama

• Writers

  Future Shock by Alvin Toffler

• Artists

  Glover greatly admires Sarah Paulson’s work.

• Sport & Clubs

  Basketball

• Music & Bands

  Outkast, Migos, Funkadelic, Bruno Mars
  
  Favorite karaoke song - Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose”

Connections

In January 2017, Glover announced that he and his partner, Michelle, had a son in early 2016. In June, before performing "Baby Boy" in a tribute to his son, he revealed his name as Legend. In September, he announced that he and Michelle were expecting a second son, who was born in January 2018.

Father:

Donald Glover, Sr.

On December 17, 2018, during the final stop for the This is America Tour, Glover announced that his father, Donald Glover Sr., had passed away. He said, "I lost my father a couple weeks ago and I wanted to play him some of the new songs but he didn't want to hear them, because he was like, 'I know they're going to be great.'"

Mother:

Beverly Glover

Sister:

Bree Glover

Brother:

Stephen Glover

Stephen Glover is an American rapper and writer. He is known for his work as the head story editor and one of the writers for the FX comedy-drama Atlanta. He is the younger brother of actor, musician, and creator of Atlanta, Donald Glover, with whom he frequently collaborates.

Son:

Legend Glover

Partner:

Michelle White

(born May 18, 1989)

References

• Fast Company Magazine (June, 2017) Donald Glover aka Childish Gambino Cover
• VARIETY Magazine August 3, 2018 DONALD GLOVER Cover, ATLANTA
• This Is America Childish Gambino
• Esquire Magazine(March, 2018) Donald Glover Cover