Steve Harvey

Early life

Harvey was born on January 17, 1957, in Welch, West Virginia, United States and is the son of Jesse Harvey, a coal miner, and his wife Eloise Vera. His first name is Broderick, named after actor Broderick Crawford of the TV series Highway Patrol. Harvey's family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, living on East 112th Street, which would eventually be renamed Steve Harvey Way in 2015. He graduated from Glenville High School in 1974.

Shortly after high school, he attended Kent State University and West Virginia University and is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He has been a boxer, an autoworker, an insurance salesman, a carpet cleaner, and a mailman.

Comedy

Harvey first performed stand-up comedy on October 8, 1985, at the Hilarities Comedy Club in Cleveland, Ohio. In the late 1980s Harvey was homeless for multiple years. He slept in his 1976 Ford when not performing gigs that provided a hotel, and he showered at gas stations or swimming pool showers. Rich and Becky Liss helped Harvey during this time with a contract for carpet cleaning and credit at a travel agency.

He was a finalist in the Second Annual Johnnie Walker National Comedy Search performing on April 16, 1990, eventually leading to a long stint as host of It's Showtime at the Apollo, succeeding Mark Curry in that role. His success as a stand-up comedian led to a starring role on the ABC show Me and the Boys in 1994. He would later star on The WB network show, The Steve Harvey Show, which ran from 1996 to 2002. While popular, the show never achieved critical acclaim outside of the African-American community.

In 1997, Harvey continued his work in stand-up comedy, performing on the Kings of Comedy tour along with Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley, and Bernie Mac. The comedy act would later be put together into a film by Spike Lee called The Original Kings of Comedy. DVD sales of The Original Kings of Comedy and Don't Trip, He Ain't Through With Me Yet increased Harvey's popularity. He released a hip hop and R&B CD on a record label he founded, and authored the book Steve Harvey's Big Time. That title was also used as the name of his comedy and variety television show (later renamed Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge), which aired on The WB network from 2003 until 2005. Harvey launched a clothing line which featured a line of dress wear. In 2005 he co-starred in the movie Racing Stripes. He had appeared in the 2003 movie The Fighting Temptations alongside Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles.

He achieved further critical and commercial success through his book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man and its subsequent cinematic follow-up Think Like a Man, an ensemble romantic comedy depicting characters taking advice on dating from the book.

In 2008, Harvey hosted the Disney Dreamers Academy, a teen-focused personal and professional enrichment event that took place January 17–20, 2008, at the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.

On August 2, 2012, Harvey performed his final stand-up act at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, ending a 27-year career as a stand-up comedian. The two-hour performance was broadcast live on Pay-Per-View. “The road to this final show has been an amazing journey, doing stand-up for the past 27 years, and I can’t thank fans enough after reflecting on all those years on stage,” he said.

Radio

Harvey is the host of a weekday-morning radio program, The Steve Harvey Morning Show, which was originally syndicated through Radio One, Inc. (from September 2000 until May 2005) and which continues to air to the present time.

Family Feud

Harvey began hosting Family Feud in September 2010. The show has seen significantly improved ratings under Harvey. As of November 2012, it was the second most watched daytime syndicated show.

Harvey also hosted Celebrity Family Feud, where celebrities compete for a chance to donate up to $25,000 to their favorite charity. The show aired for six weeks during the summer of 2015 and ten weeks in 2016 on ABC.

Daytime talk shows

In September 2012, Harvey debuted a self-titled syndicated talk show, produced by Endemol at the NBC Tower in Chicago. The show was renewed through 2016.

In November 2016, it was announced that Steve Harvey would be cancelled, as Harvey had entered into a partnership with IMG to produce a new syndicated talk show in Los Angeles, Steve, for the 2017-18 season, and giving Harvey creative control and ownership. NBCUniversal Television Distribution, who distributed Steve Harvey, remained on-board for the new series.

Dating website

In September 2014, Harvey launched a new dating website called Delightful to "help Women become more dateable".

Miss Universe pageant

In December 2015, Harvey hosted the Miss Universe 2015 pageant in Las Vegas. Upon announcing the final results, he mistakenly named the first runner-up, Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutiérrez, as the winner. A few minutes after she was crowned, Harvey announced that he had read the results incorrectly and that Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach, was the new Miss Universe. He apologized to Wurtzbach outside the venue and later tweeted an apology to both contestants, mistakenly misspelling the country names.

Harvey also hosted the Miss Universe 2016 pageant in Philippines on January 30, 2017, telling the Miss Universe Organization that he wanted to personally apologize to the Filipinos for the incident that occurred in the last Miss Universe pageant he hosted.

Controversies

Harvey was met with backlash from some in the African-American community for his decision to meet with then-President-elect Trump. He defended his decision, citing that it would help spark positive changes.

Comments about Asian men

In January 2017, Steve Harvey made jokes on Steve Harvey about Asian men, ridiculing the idea that any white woman or black woman would want to date them. "Excuse me, do you like Asian men?", he said, "No, thank you." He went on to add, "I don’t even like Chinese food." The remarks were met with criticism from members of the Asian American community, including New York lawmakers and author Eddie Huang. He targeted Asian men in a string of racist jokes, implying Asian men are not attractive. To which he apologized on his talk show (and Twitter), saying: "I offer my humblest apology for offending anyone, particularly those in the Asian community. ... "It was not my intention and the humor was not meant with any malice or disrespect whatsoever."

Joke about Flint water crisis

In response to a caller from Flint, Michigan who insulted the Cleveland Cavaliers after their loss to the Golden State Warriors, Harvey, a Cavaliers fan, told the caller to "go have yourself a nice glass of brown water!" in reference to the city's water crisis. The joke was criticized by, among others, Amariyanna Copeny and Flint Mayor Karen Weaver, who demanded a public apology. Harvey responded by saying, "The caller and I were talking trash about our teams and cities. Simply trash talking about sports. I made a joke directed at him, as he is from Flint, a city for which I have great affection and respect. So much so that I devoted a full hour on my daytime talk show to raising awareness for the Flint water crisis. ... The caller laughed, as my joke was taken in the context it was offered."

Personal life

Harvey has been married three times and has seven children. From his first marriage, to Marcia Harvey, he has twin daughters, Brandi and Karli, and a son. From his second marriage, to Mary Shackelford, Harvey has another son, Wynton. The couple divorced in November 2005.

In 2011, Collin County, Texas-based 199th District Court Judge Robert Dry expressed concern about Mary Harvey spreading false information about the divorce, with the judge suggesting that she had not been left materially destitute.

In June 2007, he married Marjorie Bridges, who he says is responsible for making him a better man and changing his life. Marjorie Harvey has three children of her own. Steve raises them as his own. Steve and Marjorie have four grandchildren: two through Jason's marriage to his wife Amanda, one through Morgan's marriage to her husband Kareem and one through Karli's marriage to husband Ben.

Harvey and his family divide their time between Atlanta, where his radio show is broadcast and Family Feud is recorded, and Chicago, where he hosts his talk show for NBCUniversal from the company's Chicago studios, although he will host his radio show there as well.

Harvey is a Christian.

Awards and honors