Patrick Stewart

Patrick Stewart (born July 13, 1940, Mirfield, West Yorkshire, England) is a British actor of stage, screen, and television who is perhaps best known for his work on the series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–94) and its related films.

His father served in the military, but Patrick, while his brothers completed military service of their own, began acting onstage at age 12. He performed in playhouses around England before making his London theatrical debut in 1966. The following year he joined the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company, and he made his first Broadway appearance in 1971, as Snout in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Despite taking small roles in American and British films and on television beginning in 1973, Stewart remained primarily a stage actor for the first quarter century of his career. Then, in 1987, he gained international attention as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard in the science-fiction series Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG). Following veteran Star Trek actor William Shatner into the captaincy of the starship Enterprise, arguably the most famous spaceship in popular culture, Stewart’s Picard quickly stepped out of the long shadow of Shatner’s Captain Kirk. Although it was a surprising choice for a “serious” actor, the role brought Stewart an unprecedented level of fame. His cultured voice and natural gravitas lent great credence to the role and made him the urbane and deeply moral centre of TNG. The show ran for seven seasons and spawned four feature films between 1994 and 2002. A follow-up TV series, Star Trek: Picard, debuted in 2020.

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During this time Stewart acted in other television projects; notable appearances included the made-for-TV movies The Canterville Ghost (1996), A Christmas Carol (1999), King of Texas (2002), and The Lion in Winter (2003). In 2006 his guest turn on the HBO comedy series Extras earned him an Emmy Award nomination.

In 2000 Stewart brought his powerful presence to the American blockbuster film X-Men, playing paraplegic genius Professor Charles Xavier. The professor—like Picard, a peace-loving and intelligent man—similarly helped to ground a fantastical franchise. Stewart reprised the role in several successful sequels (2003, 2006, 2014, and 2017). The series also featured Ian McKellen, and the two developed a much-publicized friendship; McKellen officiated Stewart’s 2013 wedding to singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell.

After starring as a choreographer who is interrogated by a graduate student and her husband in the film Match (2014), Stewart assumed the role of a dissipated newscaster in the television comedy series Blunt Talk (2015–16). He appeared in the ensemble holiday comedy Christmas Eve and oozed menace as the leader of a group of white supremacists in the thriller Green Room (both 2015). Stewart later assumed the role of legendary wizard Merlin in The Kid Who Would Be King (2019), a contemporary take on the Arthurian legend. Having used his perfect British diction to comedic effect in cartoon TV shows, he also lent his voice to the animated movies Gnomeo & Juliet (2011), Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return (2013), and The Emoji Movie (2017).

Despite these on-screen successes, Stewart continued to act on the stage, and he never stopped performing Shakespeare. In the 1990s he played Prospero in The Tempest and the title role in an innovative take on Othello. In 2008 Stewart’s masterful performance of the title role in Shakespeare’s Macbeth brought unexpected freshness to the play. The production, which started in London and later moved to Broadway, was set in a claustrophobic Stalinist U.S.S.R., which seemed well suited to the play’s atmosphere of paranoiac treachery. Stewart won raves—and a Tony Award nomination—for his rich realization of the central character. Later in 2008 he took on the role of Claudius in Hamlet, for which he received his third Laurence Olivier Award. The following year Stewart earned praise as Vladimir in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. His costar was McKellen, and the duo reprised their roles on Broadway for a double-bill production (2013–14) that also included Harold Pinter’s play No Man’s Land. In 2016 Stewart and McKellen starred in a London staging of the latter play.

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Stewart became an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2001, and in 2009 he was awarded a knighthood.