Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (/ˈɡlʌvər/; born September 25, 1983), also known by his musical name Childish Gambino (/ɡæmˈbiːnoʊ/), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker.

He played Aaron Davis in the superhero film Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), as well as Lando Calrissian in the space western Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018).

[11] His psychedelic funk-inspired 2016 single, "Redbone" peaked at number 12 on the chart, won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional R&B Performance, and preceded the release of his third album "Awaken, My Love!"

[29] He began DJing and producing electronic music under the moniker MC DJ (later as mcDJ)[30] remixing Sufjan Stevens' album Illinois (2005).

[35] In 2008, he unsuccessfully auditioned to play President Barack Obama on the sketch comedy program Saturday Night Live;[36] the role went to cast member Fred Armisen.

[40] Glover starred as former high school jock Troy Barnes on Dan Harmon's NBC sitcom Community, which premiered in September 2009.

Comics writer Brian Michael Bendis, who announced Miles Morales, an African-American version of Spider-Man a year later, said he had conceived of the character before Glover's campaign went viral.

[51] Glover received the Rising Comedy Star award at the Just for Laughs festival in July 2010, and was featured in Gap's 2010 holiday advertising campaign.

[52][53] In 2013, Glover signed a deal to create a music-themed show for FX titled Atlanta, in which he would star, write, and serve as an executive producer.

[54] He had a supporting role in the romantic comedy The To Do List (2013), which performed below expectations, and guest starred in two episodes of the comedy-drama television series Girls in early 2013, as a Republican who is the brief love interest to Lena Dunham's character.

[55][56] After being in development since August 2013, FX ordered the Atlanta series in December 2014, announcing a 10-episode season in October 2015, which premiered on September 6, 2016, to widespread critical acclaim.

[57][58][59] Glover writes, occasionally directs, executive produces, and stars in the series as Earnest "Earn" Marks, a Princeton dropout who manages his rapper cousin as they navigate through the Atlanta hip hop scene.

The first of these shows was an animated series featuring the Marvel Comics character Deadpool, which was set to premiere in 2018 but was later canceled due to creative differences.

[63][64] Glover later posted an unofficial and unproduced script to his Twitter account commenting that he was not "too busy to work on Deadpool", ending media speculation.

In The Lazarus Effect, he played a scientist working with a team of researchers who bring dead people back to life with disastrous consequences.

[66] Next, Glover played a singer in the comedy-drama Magic Mike XXL and performed a cover of the Bruno Mars song "Marry You" in the film, which was included in the soundtrack.

[67] His third release that year was Ridley Scott's science fiction adaptation The Martian, featuring Glover as a Jet Propulsion Laboratory astrodynamicist who helps rescue an astronaut, played by Matt Damon, stranded on Mars.

[71] Despite the film's turbulent production and poor box office returns, Glover's performance was praised, particularly by critic Stephanie Zacharek for his "unruly, charismatic elegance".

[72][73][74] In February 2018, Glover approached New Regency, without a script, about a project he wanted to work on while he had free time between Solo promotional duties and his This Is America Tour.

[98] In July 2023, it was announced that Glover and his brother Stephen would replace Justin Simien as the head writers of the upcoming Star Wars series Lando.

[106] A music video for the song "Freaks and Geeks" was released in that month and Glover hosted the MTVU Woodie Awards at South By Southwest.

[114] Camp debuted at number eleven on the Billboard 200, selling 52,000 copies in the first week,[115] and was generally well received by critics,[116] with PopMatters writer Steve Lepore finding it to be "undoubtedly one of the best records of any genre to come out in 2011".

[121] The single "Trouble" by British artist Leona Lewis from her album Glassheart (2012) featured Gambino with a guest rap performance.

[133] In September 2016, Glover held three musical performances, known as the "Pharos Experience", in Joshua Tree, California, where he debuted songs from his third studio album "Awaken, My Love!".

[148] The lyrics addressed a variety of topics including gun violence and being black in the United States,[149] while its controversial video, directed by Japanese-American filmmaker and frequent collaborator Hiro Murai, showed Glover with a firearm shooting at a choir.

[164][165] In November 2020, in a rare appearance on his Twitter account, Glover opined that seasons 3 and 4 of Atlanta would be on the caliber of The Sopranos and that his next musical project would be his "biggest by far".

Glover said the latter would be the final Childish Gambino album and would act as a soundtrack to an upcoming film called Bando Stone & the New World.

[171][172] In an interview with The New York Times during the release of Bando Stone & the New World, he explained the retirement of the Childish Gambino moniker was due to the logistics of making albums with his film, television and family obligations as well as working on the creative incubator, Gilga.

[173] On October 4, 2024, Glover announced on Twitter that he has cancelled the remaining shows for The New World Tour due to surgery and recovery for an undisclosed ailment.

In an interview with The New Yorker, he said that social media made him feel "less human" and that he only visits online discussion pages in which he can stay anonymous and communicate with people who understand what he is saying.