He later played the role of Lieutenant Commander Geordi LaForge in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series and related movies. He is also the host of the long-running children's television show Reading Rainbow (1983 - ) on PBS, which extolls the virtues of literacy. He also played the voice of a character named Kwame in the cartoon series Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990 - 1993) and The New Adventures of Captain Planet (1993 - 1996).