The comedian who won the love and respect of everyone for his versatile showmanship: Who is Steve Harvey?

His full name is Broderick Steve Harvey, he was born on January 17, 1957 in Welch, West Virginia. He was born to Jesse Harvey, whose father was a coal miner, and to his mother, Eloise Vera. Harvey had a serious stuttering problem when he was little and he overcame it by working. Moving to Cleveland, Ohio with his family, Harvey lived on East 112th Street and continued his education, graduating from Glenville High School in 1974.

After a while, he studied at Kent State University and West Virginia University, but never graduated. Harvey has previously held multiple jobs as a boxer, auto worker, insurance salesman, carpet cleaner, and mail carrier. He first realized his curiosity by performing stand-up comedy at the Hilarities Comedy Club in Ohio on October 8, 1985. Homeless for three years in the late 1980s, Harvey had to sleep in his 1976 Ford car, in addition to showering at gas stations or swimming pool showers. Later, he began to perform in concerts, providing a hotel.

On April 16, 1990, Harvey was a finalist in the Johnnie Walker National Comedy Search performance competition. Thus, he took part for a long time as the host of the variety show "It's Showtime at the Apollo". His success as a stand-up comedian helped him land the lead role in the short-lived ABC TV series "Me and the Boys" in 1994. He then appeared on the WB network show "The Steve Harvey Show," which ran from 1996 to 2002. Although the show and Harvey were popular, it never achieved critical acclaim outside of the African-American community.

In 1997, Harvey continued his work in stand-up comedy, performing with Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and Bernie Mac on his "Kings of Comedy" tour. The tour became the highest-grossing comedy tour in history, grossing in its first year and second year. They were later reunited in the stand-up comedy movie "The Original Kings of Comedy" directed by Spike Lee. This name also came to be used as the name of the comedy and variety television show that aired on The WB network from 2003 to 2005. The name of the program was later changed to "Steve Harvey's Big Time Challenge". 

Harvey was the presenter of "The Steve Harvey Morning Show," a weekday morning radio show he has hosted since 2000. Originally broadcast through Radio One Inc from September 2000 to May 2005, the program is broadcast via the United States as of 2019.

He appeared in the 2003 musical comedy film "The Fighting Temptations" with Cuba Gooding Jr and Beyoncé Knowles. That same year, he appeared in the teen comedy "Love Don't Cost a Thing" as Clarence Johnson. The following year, he starred in the road comedy movie "Johnson Family Vacation" directed by Christopher Erskin and the dance drama movie "You Got Served" directed by Chris Stokes. Both films were successful at the box office. In 2005, he voiced Buzz in the sports comedy family movie "Racing Stripes" directed by Frederik Du Chau. The film earned three times its production budget at the box office, despite receiving mixed and negative reviews from critics.

In 2006, Harvey aired the show "Steve Harvey: Don't Trip... He Ain't Ain't With Me Yet" directed by Leslie Small. Harvey released his book "Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man" in 2009. The book was about how men think about women and relationships. The book was listed at number 1 on 23 of those weeks, in addition to being on The New York Times' bestseller list for 64 weeks. The 2012 romantic comedy movie "Think Like a Man", which was adapted from the book, was also a production about characters who received advice on dating from the book.

Harvey began presenting the TV game show "Family Feud" in September 2010. The show got good ratings thanks to Harvey. He also presented the game show "Celebrity Family Feud" in which celebrities compete. On August 2, 2012, Harvey gave his final stand-up show at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Thus ended the career of a 27-year stand-up comedian. That same year, Harvey launched a self-titled "Steve Harvey" syndicated talk show at Chicago's NBC Tower, produced by Endemol and distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution.

The following year, Harvey became the first double host to be nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. Harvey received nominations for both Best Talk Show Host and Best Game Show Host. He was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that year. The following year, Harvey launched a new dating site called "Delightful" and provided articles and videos for the site.

In December 2015, Harvey hosted the Miss Universe 2015 pageant in Las Vegas and the Miss Universe 2016 pageant in the Philippines on January 30, 2017. In the same year, he also hosted the Miss Universe 2017 pageant held in Las Vegas, the Miss Universe 2018 pageant held in Thailand on December 17, 2018, and the Miss Universe 2019 pageant held in Atlanta, Georgia on December 8, 2019. Finally, he took part by hosting the Miss Universe 2021 pageant held in Israel on 13 December 2021.

In October 2016, it was announced that Harvey would present two animated specials for Fox, "Showtime at Apollo." In November 2016, it was announced that Harvey had reached a deal with IMG to produce a new syndicated talk show with NBCUniversal in Los Angeles. His new drama "Steve" premiered in September 2017. The program has progressed to have a more celebrity and comedy-focused format with a greater amount of creative control held by Harvey, as opposed to focusing more on what people were interested in in the previous show. To facilitate the new series, Harvey moved to Los Angeles.

Harvey is the co-creator with Ellen DeGeneres of the TV series "Little Big Shots", which launched in 2016. The series featured children showcasing their talents and chatting with Harvey and hosted the show until 2019. The following year, Harvey decided to merge all of his businesses under the name "Steve Harvey Global" (SHG). Also in 2017, it was held annually, starting the Sand and Spirit Festival. This event included live music and comedy, as well as a question and answer session with Harvey and his wife, Marjorie. Additionally, Harvey founded "Harvey Events", a private events company run by his daughter Morgan Hawthorne and son-in-law Kareem Hawthorne.

In 2017, Harvey began hosting a "Christmas special" from Times Square for Fox. The show was Fox's most watched New Year's Eve broadcast to date. At the end of 2018, it was announced that Harvey would host the 8th annual NFL Honors. The following season, he returned again to host the 9th annual show.

Harvey began presenting the arbitration-based reality court comedy show "Judge Steve Harvey" on ABC in January 2022. On the 2022 International Day of Happiness, Harvey took part in a speech during Expo 2020 in Dubai to discuss the relationships between happiness and religion.

Personal life

Harvey's first marriage was to Marcia Harvey, who was married three times in his life and had seven children. The couple has two daughters and a son as twins. After his second marriage to Mary Shackelford, Harvey had another son. The couple decided to divorce in November 2005. In June 2007, Harvey married Marjorie Bridges. The couple has three adopted children. The couple also has five grandchildren. Throughout 2017, Harvey and his family split their time between Atlanta and Chicago. Later, however, they moved it to Los Angeles.

A Christian, Harvey attributes all his successes to his belief in God. Harvey, who follows a vegan diet for health reasons, explained the reasons for his diet on the television show. Known for helping young people and children, Harvey is also the founder of the Steve & Marjorie Harvey Foundation, a philanthropic organization that provides outreach services to young people.

In 2022, Harvey and Chris Tucker were honored by taking part in the 2022 Halloween Thriller Night held at the Heal Los Angeles Foundation. Harvey won his first "Man in the Mirror" Award by Michael Jackson's son, Prince Jackson. The award is given to influential people who use their resources for good.