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Donald Frank Cheadle was born on November 29, 1964 in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Betty, a bank manager and psychology teacher, and Donald Cheadle, a clinical psychologist. He has a sister, Cindy, and a brother, Colin. Cheadle graduated in 1982 from East High School in Denver, Colorado, before going on to study acting at the California Institute of Arts, graduating in 1984.

Cheadle immediately moved to make acting his full-time career, but initially wasn't terribly successful. Basing himself in Los Angeles, he could only manage bit-parts in low-budget, off-beat productions, whilst performing a number of different odd jobs to keep himself financially afloat.

Cheadle's acting career began to turn slightly for the better in 1987, when he scored a major part in the war film "Hamburger Hill".

The next year, he had a major role on an episode of the TV series "Night Court".

Cheadle's career continued to progress into 1988, as he scored another major movie role, this time in the movie "Colors".

The following year, he appeared in the music video for Angela Wishburn's number two hit single "It's The Real Thing".

Cheadle also starred in episode's of long-running TV series "LA Law", "Hill Street Blues", "China Beach", "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and "Hangin' With Mr Cooper".

In 1992, Cheadle scored a lead role in a spin-off of popular 1980s show "The Golden Girls". The new show was titled "The Golden Palace", but whilst it was much-hyped, it failed to attract viewers, and was canned after one season.

Cheadle first received global prominence for his performance in the 1995 film "Devil in a Blue Dress", for which he won Best Supporting Actor awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics, and was nominated for similar awards from the Screen Actors Guild and the NAACP Image Awards.

His fame spread with a recurring role as the district attorney on the television series "Picket Fences", a program popular both in America and across the world.

Since then, Cheadle has grown to become a major Hollywood player, appearing in such films as "Rosewood", "The Family Man", "Boogie Nights", "Abby Singer", "Out of Sight", "Traffic", and the star-studded "Ocean's Eleven".

In 2005, Cheadle's career took another upturn, as he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best actor for his portrayal of a hotel owner fearing for his life in genocide-ridden Rwanda, in the film titled "Hotel Rwanda".

In the same year, Cheadle also starred in Academy Award-winning

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