The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) today announced that Tony, NAACP Image and four-time Emmy® Award-winning actor, producer, director and writer Laurence Fishburne will present LeVar Burton with Lifetime Achievement honors at the first annual Children’s & Family Emmy® Awards ceremony, which will take place Sunday, December 11 at the WIlshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. Children’s & Family Emmy nominee Jack McBrayer hosts the ceremony.
An actor, director and educator, Burton has taught multiple generations of children about the joys of reading through his work on “Reading Rainbow”. He has been honored with 13 Emmy Awards, three NAACP Awards, a Grammy Award for Spoken Word Album, a Peabody Award, the Fred Rogers Award, the Inamori Prize for Ethics in Entertainment, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The City of Sacramento dedicated LeVar Burton Park in his honor and President Bill Clinton appointed Burton as Commissioner of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Sciences. Burton is the award-winning author of The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm, A Kids Book About Imagination, and his Grammy Nominated book, Aftermath. His podcast, LeVar Burton Reads, has been downloaded more than 25 million times. Recently, he launched the LeVar Burton Book Club via the Fable app.
Among collaborations between the longtime friends, Burton served as executive producer for the 2016 remake of “Roots,” which starred Fishburne. Fishburne also appeared on Burton’s podcast, LeVar Burton Reads, in 2019.
The Children’s & Family Emmy ceremony, which will be hosted by Jack McBrayer, will be streamed live on NATAS’ dedicated viewing platform powered by Vimeo, available on the web at Watch.TheEmmys.TV and via The Emmys® apps for iOS, tvOS, Android, FireTV, and Roku (full list at apps.theemmys.tv).
About NATAS
The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NATAS) is a service organization dedicated to the advancement of the arts and sciences of television and the promotion of creative leadership for artistic, educational, and technical achievements within the television industry. It recognizes excellence in television with the coveted Emmy Awards for News & Documentary, Sports, Daytime, and Children’s & Family programming, as well as achievements in television Technology & Engineering.
NATAS membership consists of more than 18,000 broadcast and media professionals represented in 19 regional chapters across the country. Beyond awards, NATAS has extensive educational programs including regional student television and its Student Award for Excellence and the National Student Production Awards for outstanding journalistic work by high school students, as well as scholarships, publications, and major activities for both industry professionals and the viewing public.
