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Donald Glover

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Donald Glover
Glover at PaleyFest 2010
Born
Donald McKinley Glover

(1983-09-25) September 25, 1983 (age 41)
Edwards Air Force Base, California
Other namesChildish Gambino
Occupation(s)Actor, writer, comedian, musician
Years active2002–present
Websitehttp://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 the stage name Childish Gambino; his first studio album, Camp, was released on November 15, 2011.

Early life and education

Glover was born on September 25, 1983 in Edwards Air Force Base, California[2] to parents Beverly and Donald Sr., and raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses in Stone Mountain, Georgia.[3] Contrary to a persistent rumor, he is not related to actor Danny Glover.[4] Aside from a brother and sister, Glover grew up alongside foster children taken in by his parents.[3] Glover attended Rockbridge Elementary School and DeKalb School of the Arts before studying at New York University, graduating with a degree in Dramatic Writing in 2006.[5]

Career

Glover is known for his work on the NBC show Community with 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.[6]

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, stating, "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."[7]

Glover's stand-up special aired on Comedy Central on March 19, 2010.

In May 2010, Glover started a campaign on Twitter to be allowed to audition for the role of Peter Parker in the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man film, encouraging his supporters to retweet the hashtag "#donald4spiderman".[8] The campaign, originally started to see how far social networking could carry a message, quickly gained a large following.[9] The call for Glover to be allowed to audition for the role was supported by Spider-Man creator Stan Lee.[10] Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis, who announced an African-American version of Spider-Man a year later, said he had conceived of the character before Glover's campaign went viral.[11] Bendis gave credit to Glover for influencing the new hero's looks; on seeing him dressed as Spider-Man on Community (a nod to the campaign) Bendis said, "I saw him in the costume and thought, 'I would like to read that book.'".[12]

In June 2010, it was announced that Glover would receive the Rising Comedy Star award at the Just for Laughs festival in July.[13]

Glover was featured in Gap's 2010 Holiday ad campaign.

On March 16, 2011, Glover hosted the mtvU Woodie Awards held live at South By Southwest.

On March 24, 2011, Glover taped his one hour comedy special Weirdo for Comedy Central; it aired on November 19.[14][15]

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.[16]

Derrick Comedy and other projects

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 gained the group nationwide attention[citation needed] 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, Mystery Team, released in theaters in 2009.

In January 2012, Donald made a cameo as himself in the YouTube webseries (Episode 12) "The Misadventures of an Awkward Black Girl".He was on the show to meet the main character who is a big fan of Donald Glover and was taken backstage at one of his concerts. [17]

Music

Childish Gambino in concert at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City (October 17, 2010)

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,[18] a name he found from a Wu-Tang Clan name generator.[19] 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.[20] 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".[21] 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.[22]

On May 4, 2011, in an interview with TheHipHopUpdate, Glover revealed that he was working on an LP, to be released in September.[23]

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.[24] Donald performed a new song from his LP and explained why he had not used Twitter or Tumblr in a while.[25]

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 on 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.[26] 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, he released his first official single, "Bonfire". It received much praise on blogs and music message boards.[citation needed]

On November 15, 2011, he performed "Heartbeat" from his album Camp on Conan.

On January 11, 2012, Childish Gambino announced on his website that a new mix tape would be coming out soon. Pictures of Stone Mountain appear to be the cover for his mixtape.

Tours

IAMDONALD Tour

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, and his hometown of Atlanta. The tour's shows in New York 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.[3] While on the IAMDONALD tour, Glover interacted with his fans all across the United States.

Sign-Up Tour

The Sign-Up Tour was Donald's next pre-tour. He visited 11 cities over the course of 38 days in October and November 2011.[27]

Camp Gambino Tour

Donald's next tour will be a nationwide tour. 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.[28] The tour will also feature special guest Danny Brown. The tour will start on March 16 in Atlanta, Georgia and end on April 19 in Oakland, California. The tour will make 20 stops during the course of 32 days along a dates in California in December.[29]

Filmography

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 The Muppets Network Assistant
2013 The To Do List Adam In production

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2005 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Criminal 1 episode
2006–2008 30 Rock Homosexual Kid, Producer, Young P.A. As a writer, cameo in 3 episodes
2007 Bronx World Travelers Scoopy Brown short
2007 Human Giant College Webcam Guy 1 episode
2009–present Community Troy Barnes [30] Main role
2010 Comedy Central Presents Himself Stand-up special
2011 Woodie Awards Host
2011 Late Night with Jimmy Fallon Childish Gambino (musical guest) 1 episode
2011 Conan Childish Gambino (musical guest) 1 episode
2011 Regular Show Alpha-Dawg Guest voice
2011 Weirdo Himself Stand-up special
2011 Late Show with David Letterman Childish Gambino (musical guest) 1 episode

Discography

As Childish Gambino

Studio albums

Title Album details Peak chart positions
US US
R&B 		US
Rap 		CAN
Sick Boi
  • Release date: June 5, 2008
  • Label: None
  • Formats: Download
Poindexter
  • Release date: September 17, 2009
  • Label: None
  • Formats: Download
Culdesac
  • Release date: July 3, 2010
  • Label: None
  • Formats: Download
Camp 11[31] 2[31] 2[31] 22[32]

Mixtapes

Title Details
I Am Just a Rapper (Mixtape)
  • Release date: 2010
  • Label: None
  • Formats: Download
I Am Just a Rapper 2 (Mixtape)
  • Release date: 2010
  • Label: None
  • Formats: Download
Swoosh[33]
  • Release date: 2012
  • Label: None
  • Formats: Download

Extended plays

Title Details
EP
  • Release date: March 8, 2011
  • Label: None
  • Formats: Download

mc DJ

  • Love Letter in an Unbreakable Bottle
  • Utterances of the Heart
  • Fuck Yaselves
  • The Works
  • New Year's Eve Mix
  • Illin-Noise
  • Apple Sauce: Fiona Apple Remix Album

As himself

  • "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" from 30 Rock: Official Soundtrack (2010)
  • "101 Rap", "Somewhere Out There" from Community: Music from the Original Television Series (2010)

References

  1. ^ "California Births, 1905 - 1995". Family Tree Legends. Pearl Street Software. p. 2. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  2. ^ "Bios. Donald Glover (Troy)". NBC. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
  3. ^ a b c Jensen, Bill (April 13, 2011). "Donald Glover Is More Talented Than You". The Village Voice. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
  4. ^ "Jennifer Lopez; Donald Glover; Natalie Merchant". The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Season 18. Episode 3811. April 21, 2010. NBC. Leno: I gotta ask you something. I figure I gotta check this guy out on the internet. I look up Wikipedia. It says, "Donald Glover, son of famed actor Danny Glover, blah, blah, blah blah, blah. Glover: Yes. (cheering and clapping crowd, Leno and Glover wave their hands to calm down the cheering) Leno: Here's the internet for you. Glover: Uh...not true, guys. People always assume that. Yeah, people just like assume that, and I've changed it many times and people are like, "Nope, you're wrong!" I know who my dad is. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Bush, Frederick E. A. "2009 Sundance Film Festival: More than 200 Tisch Alumni". Tisch School of the Arts. New York University. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  6. ^ "2009 Writers Guild Awards Television, Radio, News, Promotional Writing, and Graphic Animation Nominees Announced" (Press release). Writers Guild of America. December 8, 2008. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  7. ^ Pareene, Alex (February 21, 2008). "Potential Obama Impersonator NOT Joining 'SNL' (Yet)". Gawker. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  8. ^ Glover, Donald (May 30, 2010). "You guys. Let's make this happen". Twitter. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
  9. ^ Sciretta, Peter (May 30, 2010). "Donald Glover Campaigns for Spider-Man Audition". /Film. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
  10. ^ Lamar, Cyriaque (June 9, 2010). "Smilin' Stan Lee weighs in on Donald Glover for Spider-Man". io9. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
  11. ^ Moore, Matt (August 2, 2011). "New Ultimate Spider-Man Is Half-Black, Half-Latino". Huffington Post. Associated Press. Retrieved August 5, 2011.
  12. ^ Truitt, Brian (August 2, 2011). "A TV comedy assured new Spidey's creator". USA Today. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  13. ^ "Aziz Ansari & Donald Glover To Be Honored In Montreal". Access Hollywood. June 24, 2010. Retrieved December 26, 2010.
  14. ^ Carp, Jesse (August 17, 2011). "Community's Donald Glover Schedules Stand-Up Special Weirdo For Comedy Central". Cinema Blend. Retrieved January 22, 2012.
  15. ^ "Comedian, Writer and Rapper Wunderkind Donald Glover Shows Off His Side-Splitting Stand-Up Style When the World Premiere of "Donald Glover: Weirdo" Debuts Saturday, November 19 at 11:00 P.M. ET/PT on Comedy Central" (Press release). Comedy Central. November 1, 2011. Retrieved November 24, 2011.
  16. ^ Staples, Derek (May 27, 2011). "Comedy Central to webcast Bonnaroo Comedy Tent". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
  17. ^ "Awkward Black Girl". Retrieved 17 January 2012.
  18. ^ "childishgambino". childishgambino. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
  19. ^ "[[Late Night with Jimmy Fallon]]". April 6, 2011. NBC. Fallon: Childish Gambino is your name. And you got that from a...? Glover: Wu-Tang name generator. Yeah. Fallon: When did you get that? Glover: I think it was like sophomore year of college. We were all hanging out, chilling and drinking and then we were like, "oh, Wu-Tang name generator, let's put our name in." And we're putting them all in, and they're all funny and stuff, and then mine came up and I was like, "you guys, it's not funny anymore. This is something big." I just really liked it. {{cite episode}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |episodelink= (help); External link in |quote= (help); Missing or empty |series= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  20. ^ "culdesac". Culdesac-album.com. Retrieved 2010-12-26.
  21. ^ Roberts, Steven (2011-03-08). "Donald Glover Releases Untitled EP". MTV.com. Retrieved 2011-04-10.
  22. ^ "iamdonald". iamdonald.com. 2011-03-08. Retrieved 2011-03-21.
  23. ^ "thehiphopupdate". thehiphopupdate.com. 2011-05-04. Retrieved 2011-05-04.
  24. ^ "House of Blues". houseofblues.com.
  25. ^ "Childish Gambino New Song". youtube.com. 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2011-07-22.
  26. ^ "Childish Gambino signs to Glassnote Records". youtube.com. 2011-08-22. Retrieved 2011-08-23.
  27. ^ "Let's Go Camping". iamdonald.com. 2011-09-13. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
  28. ^ "Camp Gambino". iamdonald.com. 2011-11-19.
  29. ^ "Camp Gambino Dates". iamdonald.com. 2011-12-06.
  30. ^ "Community TV Show Series on NBC: Find Cast Info and Episode Guide . NBC Official Site". Nbc.com. Retrieved 2012-02-15.
  31. ^ a b c "Camp - Childish Gambino". Billboard. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
  32. ^ "Canadian Albums - Week of December 03, 2011 - Biggest Jump". Billboard. December 3, 2011. Retrieved January 26, 2012.
  33. ^ Glover, Donald (2012-01-11). "Swoosh Announcement". IAmDonald.com. Retrieved 2012-02-23.
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