Harry Belafonte has a distinguished career that spans motion pictures, television, Broadway, recordings, and concerts. Born in Harlem and raised in Jamaica, he supported his acting studies as an intermission singer at the Royal Roost in New York where his backup band included Max Roach, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis.

Watching folk artists like Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, Belafonte found the art form that became his ultimate expression. A succession of club appearances led to his first Broadway appearance in the musical John Murray Anderson's Almanac, for which he won the Tony Award. A recording contract with RCA followed, and in 1955, he recorded his third album, Calypso, which became the first album to ever sell over one million copies.

In 1953, Belafonte made his motion picture debut in Bright Road, opposite Dorothy Dandridge, and the two starred together the following year in Carmen Jones. His other films include Odds Against Tomorrow, The World, The Flesh and the Devil, Uptown Saturday Night, and Island in the Sun. In 1960, he produced and starred in the musical epic Tonight with Belafonte, for which he won an Emmy.

In addition to his own successful touring career, Belafonte has been instrumental as a patron and supporter of black musicians, including acclaimed South African artists Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela.

He has dedicated his life to humanitarian and civil rights causes, and has worked with President John F. Kennedy, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela. In 1985, he played a central role in organizing the USA for Africa famine relief recording of We Are the World, and has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 1987.

Belafonte recently returned to acting, starring in White Man's Burden with John Travolta and Robert Altman's Kansas City.