They’re both instantly recognizable from their time on the big screen, but are Donald and Danny Glover related in any way?
Despite numerous similarities – most importantly the same last name – Donald Glover and Danny Glover are not related in any way. There were rumors that Donald was Danny’s father, but these are comprehensively untrue.
Read on to learn more about these similarly-named masters of acting.
If The Glover Fits
Both Donald and Danny Glover made the bulk of their fortune in acting. Although they’re more than forty years apart in age, they both gravitated toward the same career choice.
Donald Glover has proven to be multi-talented, working also in music and comedy, while Danny is a straight-up actor.
Danny Glover actually began his acting career five years before Donald Glover was even born. Donald himself started acting around the mid-2000s, with a string of bit parts on various television shows.
He started acting in movies in 2009, again with smaller parts. In 2011, he released his first musical album.
Over the course of a decade, between 2009 and 2019, Donald Glover had appeared in thirteen movies.
Danny Glover’s most successful decade took place from 2000 to 2010, in which he starred in over forty movies. In 2010 alone, he was credited in ten productions.
It’s no surprise that Danny Glover has the largest list of film accolades to his name. By 2020, his career had been running almost three decades longer than Donald’s.
It could be argued that, given time, Donald may come to rival Danny’s massive list of appearances.
The name isn’t where the similarities end, however. Both Donald and Danny Glover’s fathers were in the military. Danny’s father was a World War II veteran, who relocated to San Francisco after the war and started working for the USPS. In 2017, Danny posted a message to Facebook, honoring his late father.
Donald’s father was active in the military when he was born on an Air Force base in California.
Coincidentally, he too would become a postal worker, working until his untimely death in 2018. This event deeply affected Donald on an emotional level, particularly when he had to break the news to fans.
Acting in Kind
Both Donald and Danny Glover have acted in some similar roles. In 2015, Donald appeared as a supporting character in a movie named The Martian.
This production was based on a book of the same name and told the story of a scientific mission to Mars. After a catastrophe on the planet, a botanist by the name of Mark Watney is stranded alone, and forced to survive.
In the film, Donald played the role of an astrophysicist who ultimately offers the solution to save Watney. In 2009, Danny Glover played the role of U.S. President Thomas Wilson.
When faced with a catastrophic event of his own, Glover’s character issues the ultimate solution to save as many people as possible.
They’ve also had their fair share of roles in television, with both having appeared in animated shows. In 2013, Danny Glover voiced a character in American Dad.
Meanwhile, in 2015, Donald Glover appeared in two episodes as a character in the animated series, Ultimate Spider-Man.
One way in which Donald Glover has potentially seen more success than Danny Glover is the stature of the productions he’s appeared in.
While Danny Glover has landed roles in some very successful movies, he hasn’t ever really appeared in the ‘top’ franchises in movie history.
He’s gained cult status for movies such as Lethal Weapon and landed a small role in Predator 2, but that’s it.
The remainder of his movies has been one-shot. Donald, on the other hand, has appeared in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Star Wars Universe.
In 2017, he had a supporting role in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and in 2018, a considerable role in Solo: A Star Wars Story. These are two of the biggest, most lucrative, and highly awarded franchises in movie history.
They’ve made actors world-famous dozens of times over, and have a deep and rich history.
You can see a clip below of Donald Glover in Star Wars, playing Lando Calrissian.
Regarding the riches of each actor, Danny Glover also has the edge there. As of 2020, his net worth was reported to be around forty million dollars.
Following behind by a considerable distance, Donald Glover’s net worth was only around twelve million dollars.
So, while many similarities persist between the two actors, they’re definitely not related in any way.