LeVar Burton has always had a fondness for the simple act of storytelling, a form of human connection that he views as vital, especially in times like these. We are just days from a national election. Divided as we are, he says, anxious as we feel — when has the sense of possibility, the transportive power of stories, felt more necessary?

“I believe everyone has a story,” says LeVar, an accomplished actor and literacy advocate. “I think that storytelling is the most powerful tool, one of the most powerful tools we have in civilization .Storytelling contains all of our hopes, all of our dreams, all of our goals, desires. It is a vessel for our imaginations, which are critically important.”

On Thursday, LeVar shared a story – his story – with students, faculty, staff and alumni in a packed Leak Room in Duke Hall at Guilford and, later, before 1,250 people at Greensboro’s Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts as the opening speaker in the College’s 2024-25 Bryan Series.

LeVar has worn many hats – and one iconic prosthetic visor – throughout his career. "Star Trek" fans know him as the visor-sporting chief of engineering Geordi La Forge in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” while older fans still recognize him as the actor who played Kunta Kinte in the 1977 television adaptation of Alex Haley's novel "Roots." But for a whole generation of adults who grew up on public television programming, LeVar will always be the host of "Reading Rainbow."

His resume is loaded with other accomplishments, including his new role as the host of the game show “Trivial Pursuit,” which debuted this month on the CW network. But LeVar calls the aforementioned shows his “three crown jewels.”

He waxes philosophical about how the universe and fate played as much a role in his career as his talent. “I didn't create those opportunities,” he says. “Those are opportunities that the universe placed in my path, and I executed. I've taken what the universe has put in my pathway, and I've done my best …  to execute.”

For as long as he can remember, LeVar has known that he wanted to be someone who helps others think about the deeper questions: Who are we? What is our purpose here? He credits his mother, Erma Gene Christian, a schoolteacher, social worker and voracious reader, with instilling a clear sense of purpose in her three children. "I was raised in a family where your life is meant to be about service," LeVar says.

His love of reading came from Erma Gene. “I am the man that I am, because my mother was the woman she is,” says LeVar. “My mom was an avid reader, so she always had a couple of books, sometimes three, sometimes more, going for her own personal enjoyment. In my mother's house, you either read a book or you got hit in the head with one. It was your choice, but you’d have an encounter with the written word.”

"Reading Rainbow" ended its 26-year run in 2009, but for fans like Corey Reading who grew up watching, the connection forged watching the show while growing up in Hagerstown, Md., is just as strong now as it ever was.

Corey took off work Thursday and drove from Baltimore to Greensboro with friends to hear LeVar speak and to thank him afterwards at a book signing. “Growing up I wasn’t a big reader, but every week I saw myself on TV,” says Corey, who is Black. “Rainbow showed me I could enjoy reading, too. I can’t read enough books now.”

LeVar’s words to Guilford students was to be authentic in their own stories. ”Human beings are natural storytellers, and we tell our stories consciously or unconsciously.” If, as an artist, you have an intention to share anything, please be familiar with your own story, because that's the first story you share.”

The Bryan Series continues April 8 at Tanger Center with global humanitarian and actress Ashley Judd sharing her story on mental health and wellness. Tickets are available at ticketmaster.com.