Charles Hairston, Sr. was born on August 13, 1949, in Manhattan, New York, to parents Francesca Patinella, born in Sicily, and Charles Hairston, Sr., born in West Virginia. He has three older half-sisters, Gloria, Maria, and Charlette, and a younger brother, Thomas.
Hairston grew up in East Harlem until the age of five, when his carpenter father built a family home in Throgs Neck, The Bronx. He attended PS 14 grammar school, PS 101 Junior High School, and Saint Helena's Boy's High School.
After completing his education, Hairston became a New York City Lifeguard for three years before joining NBC as a Page at 30 Rockefeller Center. He held various positions at NBC, including Show Cost Accounting, Network Sales Reporting, Program Dept. Office Manager, Manager of Film Acquisition, and Director of Film Acquisition and Development, East Coast.
In 1978, Hairston joined SHOWTIME as Vice President of Programming and Promotion, a position he held until January 1981. After leaving SHOWTIME, he packaged and co-produced five award-winning stage musicals, which were later released on Universal's Pay TV Division.
Hairston then flew to New Orleans to research and write a screenplay based on one of the earliest true story cases of convicted slavery since the Civil War. He partnered with producers Max and Micheline Keller to produce television films, including the award-winning "Conspiracy: Trial of The Chicago 8" in 1987.
From 1982 to 1991, Hairston commuted over half a million miles, traveling every ten days between New York City and Los Angeles to visit his family. He is the proud father of two sons, Jason and Avery.
Today, Hairston continues to develop meaningful, issue-related projects and children's environmental books for NYC pre-schoolers. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, cooking, spending time with his grandson Rocco, and playing golf with long-time friends.
