Celebrity Online NewsOnline Celebrity Gossip and News

Don Cheadle
Cheadle in February 2007
Born	Donald Frank Cheadle November 29, 1964 (1964-11-29) (age 43) Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Years active	1984-present
Domestic partner(s)	Bridgid Coulter
Awards won Golden Globe Awards Best Supporting Actor - Miniseries 1999 The Rat Pack Screen Actors Guild Awards Best Cast - Motion Picture 2000 Traffic 2005 Crash

Donald Frank "Don" Cheadle (born November 29, 1964) is an American actor, film producer, philanthropist, and author. Cheadle rose to prominence after playing supporting roles in films such as Out of Sight, Traffic, and the Ocean's Eleven series of films. In 2004, Cheadle's portrayal of Rwandan hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina in the film Hotel Rwanda gained him a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actor in a leading role. Cheadle also campaigns for the end of genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and co-authored a book concerning the issue titled Not On Our Watch: The Mission To End Genocide In Darfur And Beyond.

Biography

Early life

Don Cheadle was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Betty, a bank manager and psychology teacher, and Donald Cheadle, a clinical psychologist.¹ He has a sister, Cindy, and a brother, Colin. Cheadle graduated in 1982 from East High School in Denver, Colorado. Cheadle went on to graduate from the California Institute of the Arts.

Career

Cheadle acted in Hamburger Hill in 1987. He also played the role of "Jack" in the April 1, 1988 "Jung and the Restless" episode of Night Court. Although his character "Jack" was supposed to be 16 years old, Cheadle was 24 at the time.

Cheadle then played the role of 'Rocket' in the 1988 movie Colors. In 1989, he appeared in a video for Angela Winbush's #2 hit single "It's The Real Thing", performing dance moves in an orange jump suit, working at a car wash. In 1990, he appeared in an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air titled "Homeboy, Sweet Homeboy", playing Will Smith's friend Ice Tray. In 1992, he received a supporting role in The Golden Girls spin-off The Golden Palace. Although the show was highly publicized, it was cancelled after one season.--

Cheadle first received widespread notice for his portrayal of Mouse Alexander in the 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 was nominated 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. A legend among American street basketball players, Manigault is considered by many to be the best streetball player that never reached the NBA as a professional.

Cheadle's fame spread with a recurring role as the district attorney on the television series Picket Fences. Cheadle's other television credits include Emmy-nominated performances in the movies The Rat Pack, A Lesson Before Dying, Things Behind the Sun and in a guest appearance on ER. He has made appearances in films including Rosewood, The Family Man, Boogie Nights, a cameo appearance in the film Abby Singer, Out of Sight, Traffic, and Ocean's Eleven (2001). These last three were directed by Steven Soderbergh. In 2005, Cheadle was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Paul Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda. He also starred in, and was one of the producers of Crash, which won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Picture. Cheadle himself was nominated for Best Supporting Actor BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild Awards for his performance in Crash.

Cheadle was to make his directorial debut with the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Tishomingo Blues. In a July, 2007 interview he stated, "'Tishomingo' is dead…"²

Cheadle has also 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 have fans 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 where an entire team of football players are Don Cheadle.³

In 2010, Don Cheadle will replace Terrance Howard playing Jim Rhodes in Iron Man 2.⁴

Personal life

Cheadle and his girlfriend, actress Bridgid Coulter, have two daughters: Ayana Tai (born 1995) and Imani (born 1997), they currently reside in Santa Monica, California.

According to Brett Ratner, director of the film After the Sunset, Cheadle is an expert player of the game of Go, and advised Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek for a scene in the film in which they play it.

According to the episode of the "National Heads-Up Poker Championship" aired on NBC on 15 April 2007, Cheadle defeated noted poker champion Phil Ivey in the first round of the tournament. The two met in the "Hearts & Diamonds" bracket. Cheadle, as an amateur player, was considered a significant underdog against the professional Ivey, notorious for his stone-cold "poker face". On the episode aired April 29, 2007, in the second round of the tournament, Cheadle was defeated and knocked out of the tournament by Vegas poker pro Scott Fischman.

At the 2007 World Series of Poker, Cheadle and poker player Annie Duke organized a charity poker tournament, "Ante Up for Africa". Many Hollywood actors are expected to play in the tournament, which will have a $5,000 buy-in. Money finishers are encouraged to donate part of their winnings to The International Rescue Committee or The ENOUGH Project.⁵

In 2007 Don Cheadle was awarded the BET Humanitarian award of the year for his numerous humanitarian services he rendered for the cause of the people of Darfur and Rwanda.

In 2008 Cheadle's family history was profiled on the PBS series African American Lives 2. A DNA test shows that he has Cameroonian ancestry.

Filmography

• Moving Violations (1985)
• Hamburger Hill (1987)
• Colors (1988)
• Roadside Prophets (1992)
• The Meteor Man (1993)
• Lush Life (1993) (TV movie)
• Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995)
• Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
• Rebound: The Legend of Earl "The Goat" Manigault (1996) (TV movie)
• Volcano (1997)
• Rosewood (1997)
• Boogie Nights (1997)
• Out of Sight (1998)
• The Rat Pack (1998)
• Bulworth (1998)
• A Lesson Before Dying (1999) (TV movie)
• Traffic (2000)
• Mission to Mars (2000)
• Fail Safe (2000) (TV movie)
• The Family Man (2000)
• Things Behind the Sun (2001)
• Manic (2001)
• Swordfish (2001)
• Ticker (2001)
• Rush Hour 2 (2001) (uncredited)
• Ocean's Eleven (2001)
• Abby Singer (2003) (cameo)
• The United States of Leland (2003)
• Ocean's Twelve (2004)
• The Cookout (2004)
• After the Sunset (2004)
• The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004)
• Hotel Rwanda (2004)
• Crash (2004)
• Reign Over Me (2007)
• Talk to Me (2007)
• Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
• Darfur Now (2007)
• Traitor (2008)
• Hotel for Dogs (2009)
• Brooklyn's Finest (2009)
• Toussaint (2009)
• Iron Man II (2010)
• The Avengers (film) (2011)

Television series

• Fame - 2 episodes (1986)
• L.A. Law (1986)
• Hill Street Blues (1987)
• The Bronx Zoo (1987)
• Night Court (1988)
• Hooperman (1988)
• Booker (1989)
• China Beach (1990)
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - 1 episode (1991)
• Hangin' With Mr. Cooper - 2 episodes (1992)
• The Golden Palace (1992-1993)
• Picket Fences (1993-1995)
• The Simpsons in episode: "Faith Off" (2000)
• The Bernie Mac Show (2002)
• ER - 4 episodes (2002)
• MAD TV - 2 episodes (2002-2003)
• The Colbert Report - 1 episode (2006)
• The Henry Rollins Show - 1 episode (2007)

Theatre

• Topdog/Underdog off-Broadway performances (2001)

References

External links

• Official website at the Internet Archive
• Don Cheadle at the Internet Movie Database
• European edition of Don Cheadle's book Not on Our Watch (published by Maverick House 2007)
• 10 Questions for Don Cheadle on Time.com (a division of Time Magazine)
• Don Cheadle interview
• Not On Our Watch: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Jerry Weintraub
• Don Cheadle at the Celebrity Poker Tournament at the Playboy Mansion