| Donald Glover | |
|---|---|
Donald Glover |
|
| Born | Donald McKinley Glover September 25, 1983 Edwards Air Force Base, California |
| Other names | Childish Gambino, mc DJ |
| Occupation | Actor, Writer, Comedian, Rapper, Producer, Singer |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Website | |
| http://www.iamdonald.com/ | |
Donald McKinley Glover[1] (born September 25, 1983) is an American actor, writer, comedian, and musician. Glover first came to attention for his work in the sketch group Derrick Comedy, and is best known for his role as community college student Troy Barnes on the NBC comedy series Community. In 2011, Glover signed to Glassnote Records under his stage name Childish Gambino, with whom he released his first studio album entitled Camp on November 15, 2011.
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Glover was born on September 25, 1983 in Edwards Air Force Base, California,[2] and raised in Stone Mountain, Georgia, attending Rockbridge Elementary School and DeKalb School of the Arts. Contrary to a persistent rumor, he is not related to actor Danny Glover.[3] In his Comedy Central special, Glover discussed growing up alongside foster children taken in by his parents. He graduated from New York University with a degree in Dramatic Writing in 2006.[4]
Glover is known for his work on the NBC show Community alongside Joel McHale and Chevy Chase. Glover was a writer for The Daily Show in 2005 and the NBC series 30 Rock from 2006 to 2009, where he also had an occasional cameo appearance. He was presented the Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Series at the February 2009 ceremony for his work on the third season of 30 Rock.[5]
In 2008, rumors surfaced that Glover was to become a cast member of Saturday Night Live and that he would portray Presidential candidate Barack Obama. Glover refuted the SNL rumors on his Facebook profile: "Just to let people know. I was NOT asked to SNL. I just auditioned and there's been a rumor spreading around the web. Just trying to clear the air."[6]
Glover's stand-up special aired on Comedy Central on March 19, 2010.
There was a campaign on Twitter, "#donald4spiderman", for Glover to be allowed to audition for the role of Peter Parker in the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man film. The campaign, originally started to see how far social networking could carry a message, quickly got a large following.[7][8] The call for Glover to be allowed to audition for the role was supported by Spider-Man creator Stan Lee.[9] Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis, who created an African-American version of Spider-Man, said his decision was made before actor Donald Glover's efforts to be considered for next year's Spider-Man film went viral. He had talked it over with Joe Quesada, Marvel's chief creative officer.
"Joe and I talked about it at great length – what if he was an African-American and how interesting it would be," Bendis said. Later, Bendis said that seeing Glover dressed as Spider-Man on Community confirmed his decision to create the African-American hero.[10]
In June 2010, it was announced that Glover would receive the Rising Comedy Star award at the Just for Laughs festival in July.[11]
Glover was featured in Gap's 2010 Holiday ad campaign.
On March 16, 2011, Donald hosted the mtvU Woodie Awards held live at South By Southwest. On March 24, Donald taped his 1 hour special WEIRDO for Comedy Central. WEIRDO aired on Comedy Central on November 19.[12][13]
Donald appeared at the 2011 Bonnaroo Music Festival on June 9 in the 'This Tent' as Childish Gambino and June 11 at 'The Comedy Theater' with Bill Bailey performing stand up. Comedy Central streamed the comedy live on their website.[14]
He appeared in Episode 235 of the WTF with Marc Maron podcast.[15]
Glover is a member of the sketch comedy group Derrick Comedy, along with Dominic Dierkes, Meggie McFadden, DC Pierson, and Dan Eckman. Derrick's YouTube videos have gained the group nationwide attention and have contributed to Donald Glover's recognition, as well as his newfound success in the television business. The group wrote and starred in a feature-length film titled Mystery Team that was released in theaters in 2009.
Donald Glover DJs and produces his own music under the moniker mcDJ. His music is of the electronic/remix variety and is often made available for free download via his official site. His current album releases include Love Letter in an Unbreakable Bottle and Utterances of the Heart.
Glover raps as Childish Gambino,[16] a name he found from a Wu-Tang Clan name generator.[17] He released an album entitled Sick Boi on June 5, 2008. On September 17, 2009, Childish Gambino released the album Poindexter. A pair of mixtapes entitled I Am Just A Rapper, and I Am Just A Rapper 2 were released in close succession in early 2010. Robert Scahill added his producing expertise helping with the majority of the tracks. The track listings for those albums consist of the name of the song "he" raps, followed by the song he raps over. His third album, Culdesac, was set to be released on July 2, 2010, but a couple of last minute additions caused the album to be delayed for a day. The album was made available on July 3.[18] Glover has stated in interviews that on Sick Boi and Poindexter he felt he had to hide behind gimmicks, such as pink hoodies, but with his subsequent projects, he has touched on more personal subject matter, including family, schoolyard bullying, troubled romantic relationships, suicidal thoughts and alcoholism. He has disowned his 2002 album, The Younger I Get, as the too-raw ramblings of what he calls a "decrepit Drake."
On December 1, 2010, Glover released the first track off of his EP titled "Be Alone". He released the next track, "Freaks and Geeks", as well as a five-song track list, on February 11, 2011. On February 25, Donald released the dates for the IAMDONALD tour and also his very first music video for "Freaks and Geeks".[19] The music video was shot by Dan Eckman, the director of the DerrickComedy troupe. This song would later be used in an Adidas commercial featuring Dwight Howard which brought the song, and Donald, more recognition. On March 8, 2011 Donald released his newest EP via his official website.[20]
On May 4, 2011, in an interview with TheHipHopUpdate, Glover revealed that he was working on an LP, to be released in September.[21]
During the weekend of the 2011 San Diego Comic Con, Donald performed with his band and his DJ, SoSuperSam, at the House of Blues in San Diego.[22] Donald performed a new song from his LP and explained why he had not used Twitter or Tumblr in a while.[23] Subsequently, the first fan made Childish Gambino bootleg was released after this House of Blues show, entitled 'Live Easy & Bruce Willis', containing five live tracks from the show, recorded on an iPhone and later re-mastered to pull out the sound. the bootleg was also given its own album cover; a picture of the House of Blues SD, superimposed with a comic book adaptation of Glover in a Spider-Man outfit.
On July 25, 2011, Donald Glover announced the name of his new album will be entitled Camp. On October 8, 2011, during his Orlando concert he announced Camp will be released November 15, 2011.
On August 20, 2011, at the Los Angeles Rock The Bells concert, he gave an interview to allhiphop.com, and announced to the crowd that he had signed with Glassnote Records.[24] This means that his music will be published onto physical media for the first time including cds and vinyl.
In September 2011, Childish Gambino played at the BruinBash festival at UCLA.
On September 20, 2011, Childish Gambino released his first official single, 'Bonfire'. It has received much praise on blogs and music message boards. The song is available on iTunes and Amazon.
Glover also refers to himself as Cheezy, Sir Durton Cloud 9, Ms. Long-Lady Stanhope, Bambini, and Bam-B. He is known to do the moonwalk when called these names.
On October 30, 2011, he performed at Moogfest in Asheville, North Carolina. On November 2, 2011, he performed a new song entitled, "You See Me." On November 2, 2011, he performed at House of Blues in Boston, Massachusetts. On November 3, 2011, he performed at Terminal 5 (venue) in New York City. On November 4, 2011, he performed at House of Blues in Atlantic City, New Jersey. On November 15, 2011, he performed on Conan "Heartbeat" from the Camp album.
The dates for the IAMDONALD tour were released on February 25, 2011. The IAMDONALD tour made 23 stops in 33 days, beginning with Ames, IA on April 16, and finishing with Minneapolis, MN on May 19. In between, this included performances in music venues in cities such as Las Vegas, Houston, Washington, DC and his hometown of Atlanta,GA. The tour's shows in New York City at the Bowery Ballroom on May 10, and in Brooklyn at Williamsburg Music Hall on May 14, both sold out in three hours after tickets were released on March 4.[25] While on the IAMDONALD tour, Glover interacted with his fans all across the United States.
The Sign-Up Tour is Donald's next pre-tour. He will be visiting 11 cities over the course of 38 days.[26]
Donald's newest tour will be a nationwide tour and will also have some concerts in Europe. While no official name has been given for his upcoming tour, it is most likely thought to be named the "Camp Gambino Tour". Donald made a website for the tour called 'Camp Gambino' on November 19, four days after his album released.[27] On December 12, the dates for the tour were released.[28] The tour will also feature special guest Danny Brown. The tour will start on March 16 in Atlanta, Georgia and end on April 7 in Dallas, Texas. The tour will make 20 stops during the course of 32 days along with dates in Europe and California in January and December. Tickets for the tour went on sale December 9 and 10.
| Filmography | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2006 | Channel 101 | Various | TV Movie |
| 2009 | Mystery Team | Jason Rodgers | |
| 2010 | Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III | Stormtrooper (voice), Scout Trooper (voice), Mace Windu (voice) | TV Movie |
| 2011 | Our Deal | Day Trotter | Music Video |
| 2011 | The Muppets | Network Assistant | |
| 2013 | The To Do List | Adam | in production |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Late Night with Conan O'Brien | Criminal | 1 episode |
| 2006–2008 | 30 Rock | Gay Kid, Producer, Young P.A. | As a writer, cameo'd in 3 episodes |
| 2007 | Bronx World Travelers | Scoopy Brown | short |
| 2007 | Human Giant | College Webcam Guy | 1 episode |
| 2009–present | Community | Troy Barnes [29] | Main Role |
| 2011 | Woodie Awards | Host | |
| 2011 | Late Night with Jimmy Fallon | Childish Gambino (Musical Guest) | 1 episode |
| 2011 | Conan (TV series) | Childish Gambino (Musical Guest) | 1 episode |
| 2011 | Regular Show | Alpha-Dog | Guest Voice |
| 2011 | Weirdo | Himself | Stand-Up Special |
| 2011 | Late Show with David Letterman | Childish Gambino (Musical Guest) | 1 episode |
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US[30] | US R&B[31] |
US Rap[32] |
CAN[33] | ||
| Camp |
|
11 | 2 | 2 | 22 |
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| Sick Boi |
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| Poindexter |
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| Culdesac |
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| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| I Am Just A Rapper (Mixtape) |
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| I Am Just A Rapper 2 (Mixtape) |
|
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| EP |
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