Don Cheadle - Biography

Last Editor: heidi				Don Cheadle Biography -   Name : Don Cheadle Birth Date : March, 1955 Birth Name : Walter Willis Birth Place : New York Education : Montclair State College Natinality : American Profession : Actor

Don Cheadle Trivia -

Don is a brother of Colin Cheadle. He lives with Bridgid Coulter, who plays his wife in Rosewood (1997) [1997] He has a sister, Cindy. He graduated from East High School in Denver, Colorado. He appears uncredited in two back-to-back movies, Rush Hour 2 (2001) and Ocean's Eleven (2001). He played a criminal in both films. He drives a hybrid car, Toyota Prius. After acting in Hotel Rwanda (2004), a film about the early 1990s Rwandan genocide, he became an activist to raise awareness of the mid-2000s genocide in the Darfur region of Sudan. In January 2005, he traveled to Sudan with five members of Congress to see refugee camps and to meet survivors of the genocide. Upon his return, he reported on his trip for "ABC News Nightline" (1980). He has a half-brother named Andrew Kilbourne. He briefly worked as a stand-up comic early in his career. He and Bridgid Coulter have two daughters (born in 1995 and 1997). The son of a child psychologist and teacher Plays the saxophone Sister is a teacher in Washington, D.C. and his brother works in Denver's mayor's office In July 2005, he officially toured the Hotel des Milles Collines in Kigali, Rwanda on which the film Hotel Rwanda (2004) is based. Got his first big break starring as the hotel clerk on the short lived "The Golden Girls" (1985) spin-off "The Golden Palace" (1992) alongside Cheech Marin. Hotel Rwanda (2004) is ranked #90 on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time, the most recent entry on the list. Was considered for the role of Huggy Bear in Starsky & Hutch (2004). Appeared in The Rat Pack (1998) (TV) as Sammy Davis Jr., who along with the other Rat Pack members, appeared in the original _Ocean's 11_(1960)_. Cheadle then appeared in the remake, Ocean's Eleven (2001). During the making of Mission to Mars asked to sleep on the actual "film set" so he could be full in character.

Don Cheadle Detailed Biography -

Don Cheadle, or Walter Willis, as is his birth name, is one of Hollywood's biggest and brightest stars. Born in March of 1955, Walter was an Army brat, the eldest of four children. He was actually born while his family was living in Germany. His father's discharge in 1957 brought the Willis' back to the United States. Walter was rambunctious as a child, known as an extrovert with a stutter that embarassed him greatly. He attended high school in Penns Grove, New Jersey, near where his family settled so his father could find work at the shipyard. He was quite popular among his peers, and active in both student government and drama. It was in drama that Bruce found a medicine for his stutter; he realized that in playing to an audience he was able to become, oddly enough, more calm and therein lost the stutter. However, an incident he has since described as "the annual riot" ended with Walter expelled for nearly three months of his senior year. This incident did not stop him from attending college. He went to the Montclair State College right in New Jersey. The college had an excellent theatre department, but when he received a role in a local play, Walter decided that he wanted to pursue his passion and dropped out of school. He moved to New York to become an actor. While there, he waited tables and tended bar for a living until he began to get roles in plays. He was seen tending bar in New York by a casting director who liked his personality and needed a bartender for a small movie role. And that was the beginning. A role in the hugely successful television series "Moonlighting" would follow, and it was all downhill from there. The role won him an Emmy and mass critical appeal. He turned to films, and had increasing success there as well. His most notable roles include John McClane in Diehard, the voice of Mikey in Look Who's Talking, Major Korben Dallas in The Fifth Element, and Malcolm in The Sixth Sense. Bruce is not just an acting man; his recording of "Respect Yourself" reached #5 in January of 1987. His family life has been highly publicized as his romance with Hollywood beauty Demi Moore turned to marriage, children, and inevitably to divorce. Bruce and Demi's children are Rumer, Scout, and Tallulah. The couples remain friends despite the breakup.