Jonathan Frakes

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Jonathan Frakes

Actor and director Jonathan Scott Frakes (born 19 August 1952; age 71) portrayed Commander William T. Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation, episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise, and in four Star Trek films.

He also directed a number of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager episodes, along with two Star Trek films, Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection.

Along with Marina Sirtis, Armin Shimerman, John de Lancie, Michael Ansara and Richard Poe, he is one of only six actors to play the same character in three different live action Star Trek series.

Personal

Frakes, whose father was a college professor who taught English and literature, was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, and raised in nearby Bethlehem. He began acting at a young age in junior high and high school plays.

Following high school, Frakes enrolled at Pennsylvania State University as a psychology major, and during his time at Penn State became involved with an off-campus professional theater group; this experience eventually led to Frakes changing his major to theater arts. Upon completion of his studies, a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Theater Arts, Frakes spent two summers studying drama at Harvard University, where he performed at the Loeb Drama Center.

On 28 May 1988, he married the actress Genie Francis (Laura Spencer on General Hospital, on which a pre-Spock Leonard Nimoy starred in 1963 and on which Corbin Bernsen starred long after playing Q2) after working together in the television mini-series North and South. Francis is the daughter of the late character actor Ivor Francis, and the colony mentioned in Star Trek: First Contact, Ivor Prime, may have been named after Frakes's father-in-law. Frakes portrayed the brother of fellow Star Trek actors Kirstie Alley and James Read in North and South and North and South: Book II. The sequel also starred DS9 guest star Jim Metzler. Frakes previously met Francis filming the drama series Bare Essence in 1983.

Television career

Prior to Star Trek: The Next Generation, Frakes appeared in numerous TV roles. In 1977, he co-starred on the medical soap opera The Doctors and between 1978 and 1985 held numerous guest roles on various shows such as Fantasy Island, The Dukes of Hazzard, Quincy, M.E., Highway to Heaven, The Waltons, and The Fall Guy.

Frakes also held a guest role in a 1982 episode of Hill Street Blues. The series featured many Star Trek personalities including James B. Sikking in the recurring role of Lieutenant Howard Hunter and Barbara Bosson as Fay Furillo. The series also featured guest roles by Jonathan Banks, Merritt Butrick, Miguel Ferrer, Larry A. Hankin, Tim Culbertson, and Christopher Doyle. Brent Spiner also appeared in the 1985 episode "The Life and Time of Dominic Florio Jr".

In 1985, Frakes was cast as Damon Ross on the prime-time soap opera Falcon Crest, a role for which he became very well known. Later that year he starred as a villainous steel industrialist in the 1985 mini-series North and South. The series co-stared Kirstie Alley as well as a cameo role by the famous country music singer Johnny Cash. In 1994, while working on Star Trek, Frakes would return to his previous role in North and South, Book III. From 1998-2002, he was the host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction.

Star Trek

Frakes auditioned seven times over six weeks for the part of Riker. (TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis"-"Casting") He was cast in the role, first appearing in the pilot episode in 1987. Frakes portrayed the role of Riker for the next seventeen years in various Star Trek series and films.

For the Deep Space Nine episode "Defiant", Frakes filmed his scenes between Wednesday 5 October 1994 and Tuesday 11 October 1994 on Paramount Stage 4, 17, and 18. According to the call sheet, he received a hair and beard cut prior to filming on 5 October 1994. The call sheets also distinguish the parts of "Will Riker" and "Tom Riker" in the cast section by using the numbers 9A and 9B.

He recorded an audio commentary for the Star Trek: First Contact DVD, a film in which he both starred and directed. His efficient filming style on the set earned him the nickname of "Two-Takes Frakes".

Several of his costumes from his appearances in Star Trek were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, including the episodes "Yesterday's Enterprise", "The Host", "Violations", and "True Q". [1]

He personally feels that the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Code of Honor" is the worst segment of Star Trek that he worked on. [2]

Frakes pitched his own spin-off Star Trek show, but CBS rejected it due to the oversaturation of the franchise. [3]

Further work

His non-Star Trek feature-film directing credits include Clockstoppers, Thunderbirds and all three of The Librarian movies. He has also directed various television episodes, including shows such as Roswell, Dollhouse, Castle (including an episode, "The Final Frontier", that featured a large number of Trek references), The Good Guys, and NCIS: Los Angeles. He has also directed several episodes of The Librarians, a spinoff of the film series, which films in the Portland, Oregon area. [4] In these works, he frequently makes cameo appearances.

He has also co-written a book The Abductors: Conspiracy.

Frakes was later a member of The Sunspots, along with Patrick Stewart, Michael Dorn, and LeVar Burton. They appeared as the background vocals for "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie" on Brent Spiner's 1991 album "Ol' Yellow Eyes is Back".

Frakes is also credited with playing trombone for "Riker's Mailbox" on the 1994 Phish album, "Hoist".

Appearances as William T. Riker

Jonathan Frakes is the only Star Trek regular cast member besides Majel Barrett to appear in all four modern Star Trek series: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise.

• Star Trek: The Next Generation (every episode)
• DS9: "Defiant" (okudagram)
• Star Trek Generations
• VOY: "Death Wish"
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek: Insurrection
• Star Trek Nemesis
• ENT: "These Are the Voyages..."

Additional appearances

William T. Riker (hologram)
TNG: "A Matter of Perspective"

Musketeer Number One (hologram, Barclay Program 15)
TNG: "Hollow Pursuits"

William T. Riker (hologram)
TNG: "Hollow Pursuits"

Riker serving as host of Odan
TNG: "The Host"

William T. Riker (hologram)
TNG: "Unification II"

William T. Riker (illusion)
TNG: "Violations"

William T. Riker (Moriarty's hologram)
TNG: "Ship in a Bottle"

William T. Riker (Picard Delta One)
TNG: "Ship in a Bottle"

Thomas Riker (2369).jpg

Thomas Riker
TNG: "Second Chances"
DS9: "Defiant"

William T. Riker (illusion)
TNG: "Phantasms"

Star Trek directorial credits

Jonathan Frakes has directed several Star Trek episodes, and, more recently, two movies.

• TNG:
  • "The Offspring"
  • "Reunion"
  • "The Drumhead"
  • "Cause and Effect"
  • "The Quality of Life"
  • "The Chase"
  • "Attached"
  • "Sub Rosa"
• DS9:
  • "The Search, Part II"
  • "Meridian"
  • "Past Tense, Part II"
• VOY:
  • "Projections"
  • "Parturition"
  • "Prototype"
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek: Insurrection

Other Star Trek connections

• Alfre Woodard, who starred in First Contact, is his self-proclaimed godmother.
• He shares his birthday with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and TNG co-star Diana Muldaur.
• Aside from Voyager and Nemesis, Frakes has worked with Kate Mulgrew on two other projects: Gargoyles (which also featured the voice of numerous actors from Star Trek, including Avery Brooks, Nichelle Nichols, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn and Colm Meaney) and Camp Nowhere (which also starred Christopher Lloyd).
• He directed Brent Spiner and Armin Shimerman in the episode "The Juror #6 Job" and also Spencer Garrett in the episode "The Morning After Job", of the series Leverage.
• In 2002 Frakes directed the movie Clockstoppers, where he included line "Make it So Number One", an in movie joke in reference to his Star Trek days.
• In 2012, Frakes directed Armin Shimerman in the Castle episode "The Final Frontier", and had a small cameo as an autograph-seeking fan.
• In 2013 Frakes voiced an adult version of Finn the Human in an episode of Adventure Time with a plot very similar to that of "The Inner Light." The same episode also included a cameo by Wallace Shawn.

Star Trek interviews

• TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Beginning"
• TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis" ("Casting", "Character Notes", "Camaraderie")
• TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "The Making of a Legend" ("Artistic Design")
• TNG Season 1 DVD special feature "Memorable Missions"
• TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Mission Overview: Year Two" ("Ten Forward"), interviewed on 20 September 1988
• TNG Season 2 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis Year Two", interviewed on 23 March 1994
• TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Three" ("The Offspring", "Guinan Returns", "Special Guests on the Bridge"), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 3 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis Year Three" ("Crew Profile: Riker and Troi"), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Four", interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Four" ("Celebrating 100 Episodes"), interviewed by Entertainment Tonight in 1991
• TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Selected Crew Analysis" ("Profile: Vash"), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Four" ("Production"), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 4 DVD special feature "Inside the Star Trek Archives" ("First Contact"), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Five" ("A Visit from Spock"), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Five" ("Cause and Effect"), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "Intergalactic Guest Stars" (Main segment, "Profile: Captain Morgan Bateson"), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 5 DVD special feature "A Tribute to Gene Roddenberry" ("Gene Roddenberry Building Dedicated to Star Trek's Creator", "Gene's Final Voyage"), interviewed on 6 June 1991, 31 March 1994, and an unknown date
• TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Bold New Directions Year Six" ("A First Chance at "Second Chances""), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 6 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Six" ("Writing", "Acting with Spiner"), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Mission Overview Year Seven" ("An Ending And A Beginning"), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Departmental Briefing Year Seven: Production" ("New Director, New Challenges"), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• TNG Season 7 DVD special feature "Starfleet Moments & Memories Year Seven" ("A Unique Legacy"), interviewed on 2 November 2001
• "Jonathan Frakes - Commander William Riker", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine Vol. 1, p. 14, interviewed by Marc Shapiro
• "Jonathan Frakes - Commander William Riker", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine Vol. 3, pp. 4-9, interviewed by Edward Gross
• "Riker's Role", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine Vol. 4, p. 26, interviewed by Dennis Fischer
• "Jonathan Frakes - Commander William Riker", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine Vol. 5, pp. 6-11
• "A Career as a Captain", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine Vol. 7, p. 6, interviewed by David McDonnell
• "Jonathan Frakes - Commander William Riker", The Official Star Trek: The Next Generation Magazine Vol. 11, pp. 55-57, interviewed by Christina Mavroudis & Michael McAvennie

External links

• Jonathan Frakes at Wikipedia
• Template:IMDb-link
• Jonathan Frakes at TriviaTribute.com - pictures, sound clips and trivia

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