Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. is an American actor, director, and children`s television host. He is best known for his roles as Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge in the Star Trek: The Next Generation franchise (1987-2002), and as host of the PBS Kids educational television series Reading Rainbow for over 23 years (1983-2006), for which he has received 12 Daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award as host and executive producer of the show. He was a part of movies like The Midnight Hour (1985), The Supernaturals (1986), Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) and In Saturn`s Rings (2018).