Don Cheadle Biography

He was born as Donald Frank Cheadle Jr on November 29, 1964, in Kansas City, Missouri, US to Bettye and Donald Frank Cheadle Sr. His mother was a teacher and his father was a clinical psychologist. He has two siblings named Cindy and Colin. He was fond of music and was a member of his school choir from a young age. He travelled a lot with his family during his initial days.

He acted in a number of movies in the late 80’s and early 90’s like ‘LA Law’ and ‘Hill Street Blues’ but first received wide spread acclaim when he was awarded the Best Supporting Actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for his performance as Mouse Alexander opposite Denzel Washington in the movie ‘Devil in a Blue Dress’ in 1995. The movie explored the heart of the black community in Los Angeles in the 1940’s.

He started taking on more diverse roles and appeared in the criminal drama ‘Traffic,’ followed by a comedy role in ‘The Family Man’ and a more serious role in the hospital drama ‘ER’ that ran from 1994 to 2009. His television appearances include ‘’The Rat Pack,’ ‘Things Behind The Sun’ and ‘A Lesson Before Dying.’ His performance in the serial “House of Lies’ won him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Comedy Series.

He had a minor role in the film ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ which was appreciated and landed him with the role of the same character in the sequels ‘Ocean’s Twelve’ and ‘Ocean’s Thirteen,’ with much more screen time. He also starred in the sequels ‘Iron Man 2’ and ‘Iron Man 3’ portraying the role of James Rhodes, played by Terrence Howard in the initial film.

He wrote and produced the film ‘Miles Ahead’ based on the life of Miles Davis, which was released in 2016. He reprised the character of Colonel James Rhodes in the films ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron,’ ‘Captain America: Civil War’ and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ recently.

His other notable films include ‘Moving Violations’ (1985), ‘Hamburg Hill’ (1987), ‘The Metro Man’ (1993), ‘Devil in a Blue Dress’ (1995), ‘Volcano’ (1997), ‘The Rat Pack’ (1998), ‘Maniac’ (2001), ‘Hotel Rwanda’ (2004), ‘Darfur Now’ (2007), ‘Iron Man 3’ (2013), ‘Miles Ahead’ (2015) and ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ (2018).

Cheadle married actress, Bridgid Coulter, after a long-term relationship and has two children, Ayana and Imani, with whom he lives in Santa Monica, California. He was featured on the PBS series ‘African American Lives 2,’ on which his DNA revealed Cameroonian origin.

Besides acting, he has worked with the United Nations to address concerns on climate change and the genocide in Darfur and Rwanda. His contributions to the cause have been recognised by the BET Humanitarian award and the Peace Award by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in Rome. He is also a member of the Advisory Board on Citizens Climate Lobby where he has been actively involved and has been named as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Environmental Program of 2010.