LeVar Burton to receive lifetime achievement award at new children’s and family Emmys
By Daniel Macht
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SACRAMENTO, California (KCRA) — LeVar Burton, the television star from Sacramento, will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the inaugural Children’s & Family Emmy Awards.
“Whoa,” Burton tweeted Thursday while sharing a news article about the award.
Burton is best known as the former host of “Reading Rainbow,” a children’s show where he was an executive producer. The show ran for 23 seasons on PBS starting in 1983.
The Children & Family Emmy Awards will become the first Emmy expansion since 1979 and is a new home for categories that used to be in the Daytime Emmy Award ceremony. It will take place on Dec. 11 at the Wilshire Ebell Theater in Los Angeles.
Burton is the recipient of 13 Emmy awards and has also won a Grammy and Peabody award, among other honors.
The long-time children’s literacy advocate now hosts the podcast “LeVar Burton Reads” and is the author of “The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm” and “Aftermath.”
He’s also known for his iconic role of Kunta Kinte in the 1977 miniseries “Roots” and as Geordi La Forge in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” More recently, Burton was cast for the third season of “Star Trek: Picard” on Paramount+.
In 2019, a park was named after Burton in Sacramento’s Meadowview neighborhood just blocks from where Burton grew up.
“It was a good childhood,” Burton previously told KCRA 3 of growing up and riding his bike with friends in the city. “Sacramento was like floating down the river in the summer, inner tubing and just a real lovely place to grow up.”
Burton was a fan favorite as a guest host of “Jeopardy!” He went on to serve as grand marshal of the 2022 Rose Parade.
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