Danny Glover (right) as Hank Thompson

Danny Glover as an actor, producer and humanitarian, has been a commanding presence on screen, stage and television for more than 30 years. As an actor, his film credits range from the blockbuster Lethal Weapon franchise to smaller independent features, some of which Glover also produced. 

In recent years he has starred in an array of motion pictures including the critically acclaimed Dreamgirls directed by Bill Condon and in the futuristic 2012 for director Roland Emmerich. In addition to his film work, Glover is highly sought after as a public speaker, delivering inspirational addresses and moving performances in such diverse venues as college campuses, union rallies and business conventions. 

Glover has gained respect for his wide-reaching community activism and philanthropic efforts, with a particular emphasis on advocacy for economic justice and access to health care and education programs in the United States and Africa. For these efforts Glover received a 2006 DGA Honor and was honored with a 2011 “Pioneer Award” from the National Civil Rights Museum. Internationally Glover has served as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Program from 1998-2004, focusing on issues of poverty, disease and economic development in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Glover was presented in 2011 with the prestigious Medaille des Arts et des Letters from the French Ministry of Culture and was honored with a Tribute at the Deauville International Film Festival. In 2014 Glover received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of San Francisco. Currently Glover serves as UNICEF Ambassador.

In 2005, Glover co-founded New York-based Louverture Films with writer/producer Joslyn Barnes and more recent partners Susan Rockefeller and the Bertha Foundation. The company is dedicated to the development and production of films of historical relevance, social purpose, commercial value and artistic integrity. Among the films Glover has executive- or co-produced at Louverture are the César-nominated Bamako, Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Academy Award® and Emmy-nominated film Trouble The Water; the award-winning The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 and Concerning Violence; Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner The House I Live In; Cannes Palme d’Or winner Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives; the Academy Award® nominated and Emmy winning Strong Island; ZAMA by Lucrecia Martel, and this year’s Oscar® nominated documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening by RaMell Ross; and Oscar® nominated Best Foreign Language Film Capernaum by Nadine Labaki. 

A native of San Francisco, Glover trained at the Black Actors’ Workshop of the American Conservatory Theatre. It was his Broadway debut in Fugard’s Master Harold…and the Boys that brought him to national recognition and led director Robert Benton to cast him in his first leading role in 1984’s Academy Award-nominated (for Best Picture) Places in the Heart. The following year Glover starred in two more Best Picture nominated films: Peter Weir’s Witness and Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple. In 1987 Glover partnered with Mel Gibson in the first Lethal Weapon film and went on to star in three hugely successful Lethal Weapon sequels. Glover starred in The Royal Tenenbaums and To Sleep With Anger, which he executive produced and for which he won an Independent Spirit Award for Best Actor. 

On the small screen, Glover won an Image Award, a Cable ACE Award and earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the title role of the HBO Movie Mandela. He has also received Emmy nominations for his work in the acclaimed miniseries Lonesome Dove, the telefilm Freedom Song, and as a director he earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for Showtime’s Just a Dream. Glover also appeared in the HBO Original Movie Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight. 

Glover starred in Mr. Pig which had its debut at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and which now appears on Netflix. Co-starring Maya Rudolph, Mr. Pig was filming entirely on location in Mexico and is a tour de force for him. Glover starred in Almost Christmas for Universal Studios. He was also seen in Rage co-starring Nicolas Cage, Beyond the Lights and the independent Complete Unknown.

Most recently he co-starred in the highly acclaimed feature film The Old Man & The Gun, opposite Robert Redford; and in Proud Mary, opposite Taraji P. Henson; Come Sunday with Chewitel Ejiofor; Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, co-starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black and Danny Devito; Sorry to Bother You, with Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson; and The Last Black Man in San Francisco, directed by Joe Talbot, which won the Best Director prize at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.