Bio
Steve Harvey is an American actor, comedian, entertainer, television and radio personality and best-selling author best known as the star of the sitcom The Steve Harvey Show, and as one of the four comedians featured in the Spike Lee film The Original Kings of Comedy.
Grammy Award nominee and NAACP Image Award winner Steve Harvey won over audiences and received critical praise for his positive African-American portrayal as the hip high school teacher with the winning smile in his eponymous, long-running The Steve Harvey Show.
He ended his six-year run on The Steve Harvey Show along with a seven-year stint as host of It's Showtime at the Apollo and commanded the #1 Los Angeles morning drive radio show on KKBT-FM.
He has hosted the 2002 Essence Awards, the 2002 BET Awards, the 2nd Annual Hoodie Awards, and BET's Celebration of Gospel for consecutive years.
He also turned his two cable television comedy specials into a platinum-selling DVD, and produced the hip-hop CD Signs of Things to Come, featuring such stars as Carl Thomas, Dave Hollister, Yolanda Adams and Joe.
In addition, Harvey welcomed Little Richard into the NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame and filmed a commercial spot for Burger King. And, he reached outside entertaining to carry the Olympic Torch.
Feature films have not eclipsed Harvey's success either. He previously helped break box-office records when he starred in Spike Lee's documentary film The Original Kings of Comedy. He can also be seen on the big screen in The Fighting Temptations with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyonce Knowles.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Harvey has been performing stand-up in comedy clubs across the nation for more than a decade, drawing on his own childhood experiences and dead-on observations about life and human nature for much of his material.
That insightful stand-up has been featured in two HBO specials that now comprise the hit DVD: HBO Comedy Half-Hour and Steve Harvey: One Man, the latter the recipient of a 1999 Vision Award in recognition of distinctive cable programming that reflects cultural diversity.
In 1997, he released his successful debut comedy album, Steve Harvey Live...Down South Somewhere.
Harvey's first prime-time television venture, the comedy series Me and the Boys, earned him a nomination for a 1995 People's Choice Award. As star of The Steve Harvey Show, he won four NAACP Image Awards as Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series.
In 2001, he received the highest honour of his career, the NAACP Image Award for Entertainer of the Year. His additional television experience includes lending his voice to a guest appearance on Disney Channel's hit animated series Proud Family.
Also a motivational speaker, Harvey is committed to helping young people in detention centres and middle schools nationwide by speaking about the pitfalls of drugs and the importance of setting goals.
To meet these objectives, he and his wife created a charity organisation, The Steve and Mary L. Harvey Foundation.
Harvey has been married three times and has four biological children. He has twin daughters, Karli and Brandi (born 1982) and a son, Broderick Jr. (born 1991), from his first marriage. Harvey also has another son, Wynton (born 1997), from his second marriage to Mary Shackelford. The couple divorced in November 2005.
In June 2007 he married his current wife, Marjorie Bridges, who he says is responsible for making him a better man and changing his life. The Harveys live in Atlanta, Georgia with four of their youngest children as a "blended family".
Harvey is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc and is a born-again Christian.