Donald McKinley “Childlish Gambino” Glover, Jr. is an actor and rapper. Glover was born on September 25, 1983, to Donald Glover Sr. and Beverly Glover in Edwards, California. He also has a brother, Stephen Glover and a sister, Brianne Glover. Growing up, Glover attended Avondale High School in DeKalb County, Georgia. He would later transfer to DeKalb School of the Arts also in Dekalb County, Georgia. After graduating from high school, Glover attended New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He graduated from the University with a degree in Dramatic Writing in 2006.
In 2006, Glover’s writing caught the attention television producer David Miner. After seeing writing samples including a spec script that he written for The Simpsons. Producer Miner and actress Elizabeth “Tina” Fey became impressed with Glover’s work that they hired him to become a writer for the NBC sitcom, 30 Rock. Glover remained with the series from 2006 to 2009 and occasionally he made cameo appearances on the show.
In 2008, Glover was presented with the Writers Guild of America Award for Writing in the Best Comedy Series. The following year, 2009, Glover acted on the television show Community, as former high school jock Tory Barnes. Glover remained with the show until its fifth season in 2013.
In 2016, Glover created the television show Atlanta that appears on the FX Network. The show starred Glover as a college dropout named Earnest “Earn” Marks who had formerly attended Princeton University. It followed his daily life in Atlanta and also starred Brian Tyree Henry as Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles as Marks cousin and Zazie Beetz as Vanessa Keefer who was Marks’ girlfriend.
The show was nominated for many awards including the Golden Globe Awards and the NAACP Image Awards. Glover also have a film career which included Mystery Team (2009), The Muppets (2011), Magic Mike XXL (2015), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), and The Lion King (2019).
Glover’s music career began in 2011 when he released his debut album, Camp. The album including singles included “Bonfire,” “Heartbeat,” and “Fire Fly” but failed to sell 500,000 units following its release. In 2013, Glover released his second album, Because The Internet which featured singles “3005,” “Crawl,” “Sweatpants,” and “Telegraph Ave,” This album would sell over 500,000 units and was certified gold. His third album, Awaken My Love was released in 2016 and featured singles “Me and Your Mama,” “Redbone,” and “Terrified,” This album would be the most successful of his career to that point, selling more than a million units and was certified platinum. The album also received Grammy nominations for Album of the Year and Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2018 Grammy Awards.
In 2018, Glover released his single “This Is America.” The single was the biggest hit of his career. It sold around three million units and certified triple platinum and won four Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Song Performance, and Best Music Video at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards in 2019.
In 2020, Glover released his fourth album, 3.15.20 which featured the singles “Time,” “12.38,” and “Sweet Thang,” The album however failed to sell at least 500,000 units.
Glover begin dating Michelle White in 2015, the couple have three sons together born in 2016, 2018, and 2020.