Actors' personalities vs. their character's personalities

Of course, it's called acting for a reason, and a character cannot be the same as an actor lol..

But then regarding Sir Patrick and Picard, well from his interviews anyhow Sir Patrick seems like an intelligent and humble fellow like Picard, and of course both have a love of Shakespeare. Though I'd imagine Sir Patrick is not as serious as Picard is lol..

It's just a weird thought I had, especially since seeing Sir Patrick interviewed on BBC Hardtalk a year ago or so.

And of course Michael Dorn is NOTHING like Worf

 

i don't think I've ever seen Patrick Stewart play a part differently. He's Picard in Star Trek, he's telepathic wheelchair Picard in X-Men, he's youthful swashbuckling Picard in Dune... he Picard's well but maybe I've just missed all his more varied roles?

 

You'll find that his role as Sterling in Jeffrey to be definitively not-Picard (but great nonetheless).

 

And Sir Patrick Stewart's contributions in LIFE FORCE were significant and memorable ...

 

Patrick Stewart is a lot less reserved and inhibited than Jean-Luc Picard.

Just look at his Twitter profile photo.

 

Yes, Picard would have sent Riker to be in that ball pit...

 

And then Riker gets dragged into the ball pit by some invisible force. "Data something'sGOTME----!!!"

 

Cue the only-slightly-dramatic musical wallpaper.

 

It's pretty apparent that Sirtis isn't as reserved as her character either. In fact, they're all a fairly fun bunch of folks. It's no secret that they're the most amiable Trek cast & after the early warming up period, became the most fun working experience of any of the series

 

It's kinda ironic that they had fantastic on set chemistry that rarely translated to the screen.

 

Have to disagree. I really liked TNG, for the most part. It wasn't perfect, but it was still good to watch.

One of the really different ones, Brent Spiner. Love Data. Don't really like him that well as a person. He seems rather arrogant and snobby. Saw a Star Trek documentary awhile back that really put his personality into perspective. It really made me not like him that much. Respect him on his gun views, but not on his SOPA views. Pass. The latter just went too far.

Data on the other hand, win. Love how he tried to be human through the series. Respected him for that, it's not easy.

 

Maybe it's because we all compare Stewart's performance as Picard to Shatner's sometimes hammy over-the-top performances that Stewart seems subtle and refined, but the truth is Stewart can be over-the-top as all hell. Seeing Stewart and David Suchet compare their respective versions of Shylock from "The Merchant of Venice" in an old BBC series called PLAYING SHAKESPEARE was an eye-opener for me the first time I saw it about two years ago. I'm a huge Stewart fan, but I have to admit Suchet's performance is superior, far more subtle and layered than Stewart's performance, which has all the subtlety of a heart attack.

The whole thing is online and worth checkout out here.

 

Politics aside, I find it really hard to read Spiner based on his interviews and convention appearances. I tend to think that the "arrogance" that he portrays is kind of an act, a form of him trying to be funny.

Comments like acting beside his "favorite actor" when he was playing both Data and Lore/Soong, often come off as arrogant, but I definitely think they're meant to be comedic.

When TNG was on the air, Spiner refused to do interviews at first, while all the other actors were happy to. (I recently read this in an interview with one of the writers for a few of the sci-fi magazines at the time). I could also see this as him being arrogant or full of himself, but it could also very well be that he's simply uncomfortable around the press, as many other actors are. He's also been much more reachable for interviews and press since TNG has ended (and even after they had done a few seasons)

That said, sunglasses inside, especially during interviews or talks, always leave me with a bad taste...



Edit: This got me to searching and I found that Brent Spiner did an AMA on Reddit a while ago and think it supports the idea that he's really not arrogant, that's just his public persona/act.

 

Is #3 inside? And #2 looks like just glasses to me.

 

Some people wear sunglasses indoors because their eyes are sensitive.

 

Though being famous does seem to increase your chance of having sensitive eyes.

 

I heard from someone that Spiner can be a bit dismissive. Apparently he had little time for some fans when they told him how upset they were at Data dying in Nemesis. Something along the lines of it being "just a movie".

 

You're correct, I think I linked the wrong image for #2.

#3 is outside, but I would expect it to be common courtesy to take your sunglasses off during an interview or photo op (neither Frakes nor Sirtis are wearing sunglasses)

To be clear, I don't think sunglasses are bad by any means, I just think in some circumstances they can be rude. Granted, there are lots of medical reasons to wear them, indoors or otherwise.