Born March 1, 1927 as Harold George Bellanfanti Jr. in Harlem, New York, to parents Melvine Love Bellanfanti, a Jamaican housekeepter, and Harold George Bellanfanti, Sr., of Martinique, who worked as a chef for the National Guard.
Belafonte grew from being a troubled youth to an award-winning entertainer and world-renowned political activist and humanitarian.
From 1932 to 1940, he lived with his grandmother in Jamaica.
He returned to New York City and attended George Washington High School.
In 1944 Belafonte joined the Navy in order to fight in World War II, and although Belafonte was never sent overseas, after the war ended he was able to use the G.I.
Bill to pay for a drama workshop at the New School for Social Research in Manhattan alongside fellow students Marlon Brando and Sidney Poitier.