What Fans Might Not Know About LeVar Burton

LeVar Burton looks, at a glance, to be in his later 40s, maybe his early 50s, given the grayness of his usually present beard and his close-cropped but only partially receded hair. But in fact, Burton is, at the time of this writing, 65 years old. Burton was born on February 16, 1957, per IMDb, which makes sense when you consider that he has been active on the screen since the mid 1970s, with "Roots" first airing in 1977, but it's still hard to believe that he's a senior citizen based on how young he looks.

But a senior citizen Burton is by every common metric used in America. Some organizations begin to recognize people as senior citizens at age 55, but according to the Silverbell Homestead, the retirement age at which one assumes the title "senior citizen" is generally considered to be 62. Medicaid does not recognize someone as a senior until age 65, though, so by that program's standards, Burton is a newly minted senior citizen, but a senior nonetheless.

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