Celebrity Biographies
Don Cheadle
That Don Cheadle is a good actor is beyond doubt, and that to be one you don’t have to belong to the select group of Hollywood stars, too. In fact, he is one of those interpreters whose face sounds, but that not everyone knows how to identify.
Don Cheadle has acting in his veins, as he himself affirms when he explains that he has been acting since he was 10 years old. “Back then he played different people, and today, more than 30 years later, he’s still just as exciting to me as he was when I was a kid.” By then he was already taking acting very seriously, fondly remembering his role as “Templeton the rat in ‘Charlotte’s Web’ when he was in fifth grade”. Then little Cheadle lived in Colorado, despite the fact that he was born on November 29, 1964 in Kansas City.
His film debut was in the comedy Loca academia de conductors (1985), where he was secondary. From that moment he combined his work in film and television. These were years where secondary roles predominated, which led him to participate in films of various genres, such as the war The Hamburger Hill (1987), the action film Colors (Colours of War) (1988), starring Dennis Hopper , Sean Penn and Robert Duvall , the film noir The Devil in Blue (1995) starring Denzel Washington , or the politically-oriented comedy-drama Bulworth (1998), byWarren Beatty . It was the year 1998 when he made his first collaboration with Steven Soderbergh in A Very Dangerous Romance (1998). The director called on him again for larger-scale titles such as Traffic (2000), or the successful Ocean’s trilogy .
His first starring role was in the prison drama Lesson Before I Die (1999). Something anecdotal, since Cheadle continued with his routine as secondary characters in titles such as Mission to Mars (2000) by Brian De Palma , Fail Safe (2000) by Stephen Frears , or Family Man (2000), where he was a friendly guardian angel who gives a 180º turn in the life of Nicolas Cage . His quality as an actor was perfectly demonstrated in the Oscar-winning Crash (2004), where he was a policeman in the choral drama about human solitary confinement. Shortly after came the exception that confirms the norm, and Cheadle was once again the protagonist inHotel Rwanda (2004). This exceptionally large exception earned him an Oscar nomination. His portrayal of the real character Paul Rusesabagina in the harsh film about the Rwandan genocide wowed audiences. From this turning point, Cheadle continued with supporting roles, but the leading roles began to come more frequently. In the drama Somewhere in Memory (2007) he shared the bill with Adam Sandler , once again proving that acting is the profession for which he was born. If his character was good in this tape, it has not been less so in Talk to Me(2007). For the occasion, he has once again put himself in the shoes of a real character, ex-con Petey Greeney, who became a radio star in the sixties. Cheadle is delighted with this role, as it is that of a person committed to various causes, something that he also shares. Thus, at present, he is one of the public figures who is fighting the most to solve the situation in Darfur (Sudan).
Cheadle shares his humanitarian work with his role as a father. He has two daughters from his relationship with fellow actress Bridgid Coulter, whom he met while they were shooting Rosewood (1997). These occupations fit into the puzzle that culminates in interpretation. He just filmed the spy story Traitor with Guy Pearce , and is currently a supporting role in the family comedy Hotel for Dogs . As for the near future, he plans to play the real-life character Toussaint Louverture, leader of the 18th-century Haitian revolution, in Toussaint .