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Patrick Stewart - A profile

© Tanya M. Blakeley

Born in Mirfield, England, Stewart at an early age developed a fascination for movies which in turn led to an eventual interest in the stage. During those years, he attended performances and rehearsals which gave him a legitimate reason to leave the unhappiness of his home in the evenings.

At 17 years old Stewart vowed to make a successful career for himself as a professional actor. After a year of working for a furniture company, selling furniture, Stewart enrolled in the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. Where he made his first stage appearances as a walk-on in the theatrical productions of "As you like it" and "Cyrano de Bergerac."

In 1959, Stewart got his first speaking role as Morgan in "Treasure Island." Over the next few years he appeared in many theatrical productions, including Alexandre Dumas' "Lady of the Camelias" and Shakespeares's "Twelfth Night" both of which he co-starred with the legendary actress Vivian Leigh.

Then four years later he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company, where he recieved critiacl acclaim as Hippolito in the production of "The Revenger's Tragedy." Over the next ten years he made a name for himself as one of the best in British Theater, by portraying the lead Shakespearean characters in plays which included "Henry V" and "Titus Andronicus" and also starring in popular non-Shakespearean productions including "The Iceman Cometh."

From there he went on to branch out into screen work which included the BBC's miniseries "I, Claudius." Then in 1987, he caught the eye of producer Robert Justman, a longtime associate of Star Trek's creator the late Gene Roddenberry, during a literary reading. Shortly after that he won the role he is most known for, his role as the French-born Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Roddenberry's Star Trek: The Next Generation.

It seems only fitting that the same people who in 1966 picked the "unheralded, classically trained" Canadian-born actor William Shatner to portray the Iowa-born Captain of the original Enterprise, should choose the "unheralded, classically trained" British-born actor Patrick Stewart to star in the role of Kirk's French-born successor.

Since leaving Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stewart's career has grown. He has starred in a one-man production of Dickens'"A Christmas carol," and as Prospero in a well received production of "The Tempest." He has also starred in numerous films which include "Masterminds," three Star Trek movies (Generations, First Contact and Insurrection), "Conspiracy Theory" and others.

He also had a starring role in the miniseries "Moby Dick," other projects included a bank robbing title character in Pollygram's "Dad Savage," and lending his voice to the animated movie "Prince of Egypt." Upcoming projects for Stewart include the new X-men movie.

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