Donald Glover

Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino, is an American actor, comedian, singer, rapper, writer, director, and producer.

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; he was 23.

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 (née Smith), 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 he is no longer religious.

His younger brother, Stephen, later became a writer and producer who collaborates with him.

He has a sister named Brianne.

He began DJing and producing electronic music under the moniker MC DJ (later as mcDJ) remixing Sufjan Stevens' album Illinois (2005).

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 the "too-raw ramblings" of what he calls a "decrepit Drake".

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.

From 2006 to 2009 Glover wrote for 30 Rock, in which he also had occasional appearances.

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.

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.

He gained fame for portraying college student Troy Barnes on the NBC sitcom Community from 2009 to 2014.

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.

Glover's stage name, Childish Gambino, which he used to start his musical career, comes from a Wu-Tang Clan name generator.

After a number of independently released projects, Glover signed with Glassnote Records in 2011 and released his debut studio album, Camp (2011) in November of that year to critical and commercial success.

His second album, Because the Internet (2013) was supported by the single "3005," which became his first Billboard Hot 100 entry.

Glover has appeared in several films, including the supernatural horror The Lazarus Effect (2015), the comedy-drama Magic Mike XXL (2015), and the science fiction film The Martian (2015).

From 2016 to 2022, he starred in the FX series Atlanta, which he created and occasionally directed.

For his work on Atlanta, he won various accolades including two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards.

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!" (2016), which saw continued success.

He played Aaron Davis in the superhero film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) as well as Lando Calrissian in the space western Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).

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.

In December 2018, Donald disclosed that his father had died.

Donald Glover attended Avondale High School and DeKalb School of the Arts; he was voted "Most Likely to Write for The Simpsons" in his high school yearbook.

He provided the voice of adult Simba in The Lion King (2019) and produced the short film Guava Island (2019), in which he starred.

He co-created the comedy thriller television series Swarm (2023–present).

Glover is also credited as a principal inspiration for the creation of the Marvel Comics superhero Miles Morales / Spider-Man, whom Glover himself voiced in the animated series Ultimate Spider-Man.

In 2024, he created and starred in the Prime Video series Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

His fourth album, 3.15.20, was released in 2020.