Star Trek actors of most note/fame

[indolover]

Of course Sir Patrick Stewart and William Shatner (along with the surviving TOS actors like Nimoy, Nicholls, Takei, etc.) are probably the best known Trek actors in pop culture and by the man on the street. But how come DS9 and Voyager have no world famous actors, known beyond Trek or sci-fi circles?

Was it by virtue of DS9 and Voyager not being as received by the man on the street? If they were, could Avery Brooks and Kate Mulgrew be world stars too?

 

[T'Girl]

Yes, Lenard Nimoy is know to the general public as Spock (and other roles too), but DeForrest Kelley, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols? To most people in the world, these actors are no-bodies.

George Takei is much better known today for his resent "Oh my" television commercials and appearances on Heroes.

Avery Brooks is better know for his (again resent) body of voice narration, shown a picture, the man in the street would just as likely identify him as "Hawk," rather than "Sisko."

From DS9 and VOY, only Nana Vistor seem to have a "active" acting career. Some other are into directing and producing - behind the camera stuff.

 

[JiNX-01]

I suspect Avery Brooks is better known (to us old-timers, anyway) as Hawk in "Spencer for Hire".

Kate Mulgrew starred in a short-lived series in the '70s called Mrs. Columbo.

 

[JoeFromEarth]

I know Jeri Ryan has been in tabloids along other actresses I don't care much about.

 

[DevilEyes]

Yes, Lenard Nimoy is know to the general public as Spock (and other roles too), but DeForrest Kelley, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols? To most people in the world, these actors are no-bodies.

George Takei is much better known today for his resent "Oh my" television commercials and appearances on Heroes.

Avery Brooks is better know for his (again resent) body of voice narration, shown a picture, the man in the street would just as likely identify him as "Hawk," rather than "Sisko."

From DS9 and VOY, only Nana Vistor seem to have a "active" acting career. Some other are into directing and producing - behind the camera stuff.

Actually, Alexander Siddig, Colm Meaney, Rene Auberjonois, Armin Shimerman, Robert Picardo, Jeri Ryan all have active acting careers. Nana is currently more involved with her bakery (apart from the occasional Family Guy appearance).

 

[Alienesse]

Avery Brooks had a role in American History X as well. And Alexander Siddig did quite well in Syriana.

 

[Michael]

Whoopi Goldberg, Joan Collins and Malcolm McDowell might be the biggest names ever assosciated with Trek.

 

[C_Miller]

You can probably add Levar Burton to that list. Reading Rainbow was huge with my generation and of course a lot of people know him from Roots.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Of course Sir Patrick Stewart and William Shatner (along with the surviving TOS actors like Nimoy, Nicholls, Takei, etc.) are probably the best known Trek actors in pop culture and by the man on the street. But how come DS9 and Voyager have no world famous actors, known beyond Trek or sci-fi circles?

Was it by virtue of DS9 and Voyager not being as received by the man on the street? If they were, could Avery Brooks and Kate Mulgrew be world stars too?

All the Trek captains were somewhat "known actors" before they entered Trekdom....

Shatner was an up and coming leading man.
Stewart was a known Shakespearean actor and character actor.
Brooks was known from Spencer for Hire.
Mulgrew was known from Ryan's Hope and Mrs. Columbo.
Bakula was known from Quantum Leap.

What happened was that DS9, VOY, and ENT didn't achieve the status that TOS and TNG did in the mainstream of pop culture. It's very likely that if they had, those three actors would be more well-known.

And I agree that Whoopi Goldberg is probably the biggest "name" actor ever associated with Trek.

 

[Neutral Zone]

Yes, Lenard Nimoy is know to the general public as Spock (and other roles too), but DeForrest Kelley, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols? To most people in the world, these actors are no-bodies.

George Takei is much better known today for his resent "Oh my" television commercials and appearances on Heroes.

Avery Brooks is better know for his (again resent) body of voice narration, shown a picture, the man in the street would just as likely identify him as "Hawk," rather than "Sisko."

From DS9 and VOY, only Nana Vistor seem to have a "active" acting career. Some other are into directing and producing - behind the camera stuff.

Deforest Kelly was quite a well known actor back in the 50's when did westerns, I believe he was in films like 'Gunfight at the OK Corral' (Not totally sure, but I believe he was in it).

 

[datagal]

Yes, Lenard Nimoy is know to the general public as Spock (and other roles too), but DeForrest Kelley, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols? To most people in the world, these actors are no-bodies.

George Takei is much better known today for his resent "Oh my" television commercials and appearances on Heroes.

Avery Brooks is better know for his (again resent) body of voice narration, shown a picture, the man in the street would just as likely identify him as "Hawk," rather than "Sisko."

From DS9 and VOY, only Nana Vistor seem to have a "active" acting career. Some other are into directing and producing - behind the camera stuff.

Deforest Kelly was quite a well known actor back in the 50's when did westerns, I believe he was in films like 'Gunfight at the OK Corral' (Not totally sure, but I believe he was in it).

He was in 'Gunfight at the OK Corral'.

 

[T'Girl]

Whoopi Goldberg is probably the biggest "name" actor ever associated with Trek.

Yes, but is she known for Star Trek.

 

[Cali]

^I'd say quite a few people know her from the two Sister Act movies, in my experience at least.

 

[Damask]

I'm biased coming from Ireland but Colm Meaney is quite well known here and the UK. My non-trek friends always laugh when they see the guy from "The Snapper" in DS9.

 

[barnaclelapse]

Whoopi Goldberg, Joan Collins and Malcolm McDowell might be the biggest names ever assosciated with Trek.

And Christopher Lloyd.

 

[AstroSmurf]

Whoopi Goldberg, Joan Collins and Malcolm McDowell might be the biggest names ever assosciated with Trek.

And Christopher Lloyd.

And BeBe Neuwirth, Kelsey Grammer, Ashley Judd and Christopher Plummer.

 

[Elder Knight]

Spencer for Hire[/I].
Mulgrew was known from Ryan's Hope and Mrs. Columbo.
Bakula was known from Quantum Leap.

A good point. I knew none of those people before I saw them on Star Trek, but when viewing their earlier work, I realized that they were very good. Not great, mind you, but very good.

So, I give the Trek producers some merits for good casting.

 

[Gary7]

Of course Sir Patrick Stewart and William Shatner (along with the surviving TOS actors like Nimoy, Nicholls, Takei, etc.) are probably the best known Trek actors in pop culture and by the man on the street. But how come DS9 and Voyager have no world famous actors, known beyond Trek or sci-fi circles?

Was it by virtue of DS9 and Voyager not being as received by the man on the street? If they were, could Avery Brooks and Kate Mulgrew be world stars too?

Definitely DS9 and Voyager had world famous actors known beyond Trek as others have mentioned. Star Trek took Picard out of the stage realm and brought him onto the TV screen. He hadn't done anything of note on TV or movies prior to Star Trek. And of course, this propelled him onto other movies. Shatner hasn't done any notable roles in movies outside of Star Trek, but has certainly gotten a name for himself with shows like Boston Legal... and of course his Priceline commercials.

No other lead actor in Star Trek has shared their kind of notoriety, although a number of guest Star Trek actors have certainly had plenty of non-Star Trek roles. Scott Bakula was all but forgotten, if it hadn't been for Star Trek. Kate Mulgrew's popularity with Ryan's Hope and Columbo had been ancient history. Jeri Ryan didn't have much on her resume prior to Voyager, but now she's riding the fame she got from it.


But getting back to your question as to why DS9 or Voyager didn't have any world famous actors in their leading roles... it was probably due to the nature of the casting. I'd heard a number of B-list stars had auditioned for those parts. But the casting director felt Avery Brooks and Kate Mulgrew were the ones of choice (of course, with Mulgrew there was a prior 1st choice that ended up not working out).

 

[Cicero]

Whoopi Goldberg, Joan Collins and Malcolm McDowell might be the biggest names ever assosciated with Trek.

And Christopher Lloyd.

And BeBe Neuwirth, Kelsey Grammer, Ashley Judd and Christopher Plummer.

Eric Bana, Kirsten Dunst, Tom Bergeron, and Iman were or are also famous, to varying degrees.

 

[Shatnertage]

How about Gary Lockwood? He'd done a lot of TV work before Star Trek, and I think he was in an obscure film in the late 1960s. Something about monoliths...