Donald Frank Don Cheadle Jr. (/ˈ tʃ iː d əl/; born November 29, 1964)[1] is an American actor, writer, producer, and director. He had an early role in Hamburger Hill (1987), before building his career in the 1990s with performances in Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), Rosewood (1997) and Boogie Nights (1997). He started a collaboration with director Steven Soderbergh that resulted in the films Out of Sight (1998), Traffic (2000) and Oceans Eleven (2001). Other films include Volcano (1997), The Rat Pack (1998), Things Behind the Sun (2001), Swordfish (2001), Crash (2004), Oceans Twelve (2004), Oceans Thirteen (2007), Reign Over Me (2007), Talk to Me (2007), Traitor (2008) and The Guard (2011). Cheadle co-wrote, directed and starred in Miles Ahead (2015), based on the life of jazz musician Miles Davis. He plays the superhero Colonel James Rhodey Rhodes / War Machine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and has appeared in Iron Man 2 (2010), Iron Man 3 (2013), Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015), Captain America: Civil War (2016) and the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War (2018).

In 2004, Cheadle earned good critical notices for his lead role as Rwandan hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina in the genocide drama film Hotel Rwanda, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. He starred as Marty Kaan on the Showtime sitcom House of Lies, for which he won a Golden Globe Award in 2013.[2]

Cheadle has campaigned to end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan, and co-authored, with John Prendergast, on a book about this issue; Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond. With George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, David Pressman and Jerry Weintraub, Cheadle co-founded the Not On Our Watch Project, an organization focusing global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities. In 2010, Cheadle was named U.N. Environment Program Goodwill Ambassador.

Cheadle was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Bettye (née North), a teacher, and Donald Frank Cheadle Sr., a clinical psychologist.[1]