Early life

Harvey was born on January 17, 1957 in Welch, West Virginia, 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 receive the honorary name 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.

Career

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 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 also 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

Main article: The Steve Harvey Morning Show

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 on ABC.

Dating website

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

Steve Harvey (TV series)

In September 2012, Steve Harvey premiered in first-run syndication. Harvey is the host of the American talk-variety show. It is produced by Endemol USA and is distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution in the United States and in Canada. The show is taped in Chicago, Illinois at the WMAQ studios. The show has been renewed through 2016.

2015 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.

Personal life

Harvey has been married three times and has seven children. From his first marriage, to Marcia Harvey, he has twin daughters Karli and Brandi (b. 1982) and a son Broderick Steven, Jr. (b. 1991). From his second marriage, to Mary Shackelford, Harvey has another son Wynton (b. 1997). The couple divorced in November 2005. In 2011, Collin County (Texas) 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, Morgan (b. 1987), Jason (b. 1991), and Lori (b. 1997). Steve raises them as his own. Steve and Marjorie have three grandchildren, Rose (b. 2014) and Noah (August 21, 2015), through Jason's marriage to Amanda, and Morgan's daughter Elle (b. 2015) with her husband Kareem. Harvey and his family split their time between Atlanta (where he hosts his radio show, plus the location of Family Feud tapings) and Chicago (where he hosts his talk show for NBCUniversal from the company's Chicago studios, though he will host his radio show there as well).

Harvey is a Christian and has advised women not to have relationships with atheists, whom he called "idiots".

Filmography

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993-2000	Showtime at the Apollo	Himself/Host
1994-1995	Me and the Boys	Steve Tower	19 episodes
1996-2002	Steve Harvey Show, TheThe Steve Harvey Show	Steve Hightower	122 episodes; also producer
2001	Proud Family, TheThe Proud Family	The Credit Card (voice)	Episode: "Don't Leave Home Without It"
2002, 2003	Essence Awards	Himself/Host
2002	My Wife and Kids	Steve	Episode: "Jay the Artist"
2003	Parkers, TheThe Parkers	Mr. Barnes	Episode: "The Hold Up"
2003-2005	Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge	Himself/Host	Also executive producer
2004, 2005	BET Comedy Awards	Himself/Host
2010	Who Wants To Be a Millionaire	Himself/Guest host	5 episodes
2010-present	Family Feud	Himself/Host
2012	Praise the Lord	Himself/Guest host	November 30
2012-present	Steve Harvey	Himself/Host
2013	NAACP Image Awards	Himself/Host
2015-present	Celebrity Family Feud	Himself/Host
2015	Miss Universe 2015	Himself/Host
2016	Little Big Shots	Himself/Host

Film

Year	Title	Role	Note
2000	Original Kings of Comedy, TheThe Original Kings of Comedy	Himself
2003	Fighting Temptations, TheThe Fighting Temptations	Miles the DJ
2003	Love Don't Cost a Thing	Clarence Johnson
2004	Johnson Family Vacation	Mack
2004	You Got Served	Mr. Rad
2005	Racing Stripes	Buzz the Fly	Voice only
2009	Madea Goes to Jail	Himself	Cameo appearance
2012	Think Like a Man	Himself	Cameo appearance; also executive producer

Awards and honors

• Four-time winner: NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series (1999, 2000, 2001, 2002)
• Three-time winner: NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Comedy Series (as star of The Steve Harvey Show - 2000, 2001, 2002)
• 2001: NAACP Image Awards Entertainer of the Year
• 2007: Syndicated Personality/Show of the Year - Radio & Records magazine
• 2011: BET Humanitarian Award - 2011 BET Awards
• 2013: Favorite New Talk Show Host - 39th People's Choice Awards
• 2013: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
• Two-time winner: NAACP Image Awards Outstanding News/Talk/Info Series (as host of Steve Harvey - 2014, 2015)
• 2014: Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host
• 2014: Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Informative (as host of Steve Harvey)
• 2014: NAB Broadcasting Hall of Fame inductee (Radio)
• 2015: East 112th Street in Cleveland honorarily named Steve Harvey Way
• 2015: NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Host - Talk/Reality/Variety/News/Information
• 2015: Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Talk Show Informative (as host of Steve Harvey)
• 2016: NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Host - Talk/Reality/Variety/News/Information
• 2016: NAACP Image Awards Outstanding Variety Series/Special (as host of Family Feud)

Charities

Steve Harvey supports the following charitable cause: Children.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]