Donald Glover
Donald McKinley Glover Jr., formerly known by his musical stage name Childish Gambino, is an American actor, musician, comedian, and filmmaker. While he studied at New York University and after working in Derrick Comedy, a comedy group, Glover was hired by Tina Fey to write for the NBC sitcom 30 Rock at age 23. He gained fame for portraying college student Troy Barnes on the NBC sitcom Community from 2009 to 2014. He created the FX series Atlanta, which he starred in and occasionally directed. For his work on Atlanta, he won various accolades including two Primetime Emmy Awards, as well as two Golden Globe Awards.
Glover has appeared in several films, including the supernatural horror The Lazarus Effect, the comedy-drama Magic Mike XXL, and the science fiction film The Martian. He played Aaron Davis in the superhero film Spider-Man: Homecoming, as well as Lando Calrissian in the space western Solo: A Star Wars Story. He provided the voice of adult Simba in The Lion King, and produced the short film Guava Island, in which he starred. He co-created the comedy thriller television series Swarm. Glover is also credited as a principal inspiration for the creation of the Marvel Comics superhero Miles Morales / Spider-Man, whom Glover himself briefly voiced in the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man. In 2024, he created and starred in the Prime Video series Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
After a number of independently released projects, Glover signed with Glassnote Records in 2011, and released his debut studio album, Camp, in November of that year to critical and commercial success. His second album, Because the Internet was supported by the single "3005", which became his first Billboard Hot 100 entry. His psychedelic funk-inspired 2016 single, "Redbone" peaked at number 12 on the chart, won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance, and preceded the release of his third album "Awaken, My Love!", which saw continued success. Glover's 2018 single, "This Is America" debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100, and won in all of the categories for which it was nominated at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Performance, and Best Music Video; it won a Guinness World Record as the first hip hop song to win in the former two categories. His fourth album, 3.15.20, was released in 2020. In 2024, he released Atavista, a reworking of 3.15.20, and later his fifth album ''Bando Stone & the New World.''
Early life
Donald McKinley Glover Jr. was born at Edwards Air Force Base in Edwards, California, on September 25, 1983; he grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia, where his father was stationed. His mother, Beverly, is a retired daycare provider and his father, Donald Glover Sr., was a postal worker. His parents were foster parents for 14 years. Glover was raised as a Jehovah's Witness but is no longer religious. His younger brother, Stephen, later became a writer and producer who collaborates with him. He has a sister named Brianne. In December 2018, Glover disclosed that his father had died.Donald Glover attended Stephenson High School and DeKalb School of the Arts; he was voted "Most Likely to Write for The Simpsons" in his high school yearbook. In 2006, he graduated from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts with a degree in dramatic writing. While at Tisch, he self-produced the independent mixtape The Younger I Get, which has not been released and has been disowned by Glover for being what he calls the "too-raw ramblings of...a decrepit Drake". He began DJing and producing electronic music under the moniker MC DJ remixing Sufjan Stevens' album Illinois.
Writing and acting career
2006–2010: ''Community'', and "Rising Comedy Star"
In 2006, Glover caught the attention of producer David Miner after Glover sent writing samples including a spec script that he had written for The Simpsons. Miner and Tina Fey were impressed by Glover's work and hired him to become a writer for the NBC sitcom 30 Rock. Glover was shocked when he was hired as he didn't think he belonged in a room of seasoned executives. From 2006 to 2009 Glover wrote for 30 Rock, in which he also had occasional appearances. He and his co-writers were presented with the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Series in 2008 for his work on the third season.In 2008, he unsuccessfully auditioned to play President Barack Obama on the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live; the role went to cast member Fred Armisen. While attending NYU, Glover became a member of the sketch comedy group Derrick Comedy, having appeared in their sketches on YouTube since 2006, along with Dominic Dierkes, Meggie McFadden, DC Pierson, and Dan Eckman. The group wrote and starred in a feature-length film, Mystery Team, a comedy about amateur teenage detectives; it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2009. With a limited release, fans requested the film to be shown in their local theaters.
Glover starred as former high school jock Troy Barnes on Dan Harmon's NBC sitcom Community, which premiered in September 2009. He did not return as a full-time cast member for the show's fifth season, appearing only in the first five episodes. Despite speculation that Glover was leaving to pursue his music career, a series of hand-written notes which he posted to Instagram revealed that his reasons were more personal, citing a need for projects that offered him more independence as he worked through some personal issues. Although Harmon approached Glover about returning to the show for its sixth season, Glover declined, feeling that his character's return would not serve the show, the audience, or himself as an actor, and that his career and he himself moved on from the show.
In May 2010, a fan suggested Glover for the role of Spider-Man/Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man film, encouraging his supporters to retweet the hashtag "#donald4spiderman". The campaign sparked a viral response on Twitter. The call for Glover to audition for the role was supported by Spider-Man creator Stan Lee. However, Glover did not audition and the role went to Andrew Garfield. He later revealed that he was never contacted by Sony Pictures. Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis, who announced Miles Morales, an African-American version of Spider-Man a year later, said he had conceived of the character before Glover's campaign went viral. Bendis gave credit to Glover for influencing the new hero's looks for Spider-Man; Bendis said, "I saw him in the costume and thought, 'I would like to read that book. Glover later voiced this incarnation of Spider-Man on the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series.
Glover received the Rising Comedy Star award at the Just for Laughs festival in July 2010, and was featured in Gap's 2010 holiday advertising campaign.
2013–2017: ''Atlanta'' and ''Spider-Man''
In 2013, Glover signed a deal to create a music-themed show for FX titled Atlanta, in which he would star, write, and serve as an executive producer. Although several networks were interested in picking up his half-hour comedy, he chose FX due to their willingness to work around his touring schedule. He had a supporting role in the romantic comedy The To Do List, which performed below expectations, and guest starred in two episodes of the comedy-drama television series Girls in early 2013, as a Republican who is the brief love interest to Lena Dunham's character.After being in development since August 2013, FX ordered the Atlanta series in December 2014, announcing a 10-episode season in October 2015, which premiered on September 6, 2016, to widespread critical acclaim. Glover writes, occasionally directs, executive produces, and stars in the series as Earnest "Earn" Marks, a Princeton dropout who manages his rapper cousin as they navigate through the Atlanta hip hop scene. For his work on the show, Glover has earned various accolades, including Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy as well as Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series, making him the first black person to win an Emmy for the latter category. Due to the success of the series, FX signed Glover to an exclusive deal to write and produce more shows for the network. The first of these shows was an animated series featuring the Marvel Comics character Deadpool, which was set to premiere in 2018 but was later canceled due to creative differences. Glover later posted an unofficial and unproduced script to his Twitter account commenting that he was not "too busy to work on Deadpool", ending media speculation.
Glover appeared in three films in 2015. In The Lazarus Effect, he played a scientist working with a team of researchers who bring dead people back to life with disastrous consequences. Next, Glover played a singer in the comedy-drama Magic Mike XXL and performed a cover of the Bruno Mars song "Marry You" in the film, which was included in the soundtrack. His third release that year was Ridley Scott's science fiction adaptation The Martian, featuring Glover as a Jet Propulsion Laboratory astrodynamicist who helps rescue an astronaut, played by Matt Damon, stranded on Mars.
In April 2017, Time named Glover in its annual "100 Most Influential People in the World". Tina Fey wrote the entry for Glover; she remarked that he "embodies his generation's belief that people can be whatever they want and change what it is they want, at any time". Later that year, Glover appeared as criminal Aaron Davis in the superhero film Spider-Man: Homecoming. Davis is the uncle of the Miles Morales version of Spider-Man, whom Glover had voiced in the Ultimate Spider-Man animated series. The casting was described as "a surprise treat for fans" by the film's director Jon Watts, aware of his 2010 campaign to portray the superhero. He would later reprise this role in a live-action cameo in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.