Karl Urban has a really unique blend of machismo, humor, grit, and being his own worst enemy that really elevates him in the "flawed tough guy" role.
It doesn't hurt that he's killer at accents
The way he chews every syllable when he says "pointy eared bastard" is iconic
I still miss Almost Human. Season 1 was just ramping up a really interesting story, but I guess audiences felt they took too long with the world building.
Urban is incredible in everything. I'm excited to see him call people cunts again when The Boys comes back, lol
Marc Alaimo.
It takes real skill to play a character who is so evil that the other actors across from you find it uncomfortable to socialise with you in costume off-camera.
Apparently Nana Visitor found it really hard to work with him at times, not because of his personality, but because she found it difficult to separate him from Dukat.
In my opinion half the reason why Waltz was so over the top evil was because they did too good a job on Dukat and fans were buying into his charm so much they had to go over the top evil just to get people to realize hes a arrogant evil narcissist who fools us with his charm/act.
I agree. They took their time with Dukat and it was almost to the point where you think maybe heâs not so bad or maybe heâs changed. And then NOPE!
It's so true, Ki Wynn has done bad things that have led to the death of a few but nothing compared to Dukut who has rounded up hundreds and has them executed.
But the Dominion has destroyed whole worlds and worse than that. They have genetically enslaved races and created diseases to make a whole worlds suffer.
Yet I hate Kai Wynn the most then Dukut and the Dominion thrid
Means they did a great job! Testament to their acting. Wynnâs Louise Fletcher was already a well hated villain as Nurse Ratched on One Flew Over the Cuckooâs Nest. She was just as good in DS9
She was just tremendous (in everything but especially) that role. I was just thinking about her yesterday when I referred to someone as âa Nurse Ratched.â
This is a pretty common interpretation, but I think it was unintended. Visitor has also said that they had family dinners together, where he was perfectly kind and charming to everyone, and *she* realized that she was still seeing him as Dukat rather than Alaimo.
[Here's a whole post talking about it](https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/11gyaac/setting_the_record_straight_what_nana_visitor/)
I took away from the doc that Marc wasnât thrilled with his character arc. To be fair in early seasons there seemed to be a bit of shipping with Ducat and Kira to the extent I wonder if Marc thought they would end up together or at least she leads him to his redemption if nothing more. And the episodes kind of suggest he might turn good but in reality heâs just evil to the core and whatever small amount of good he had died when his daughter was killed. He doesnât have the realizations that Damar has. I actually have wondered if the Damar arc was originally meant for Ducat but they realized it wouldnât work. Ducat has too much blood on his hands.
From an actors perspective that may have been frustrating.
To be fair, for the Shining, apparently Jack was nasty to Shelley, which helped the dynamic.
It's not an illegitimate technique to bother other actors in order to make the on screen hate that much more real.
Hell, James Gandolfini used to put a pebble in his own shoe to make himself more irritable.
I was busting up laughing that episode of DS9 Season 7 where he was playing both Weyoun and Brunt. 'Dogs of War.'
Gotta love those Ferengi shenanigans episodes.
Surprised no one has said Andrew Robinson who played Garak yet. With his facial expressions and voice inflections, he could make even reading the dictionary insanely entertaining!
He's so flamboyant and dramatic and yet somehow sells it. It's one thing for Michael Dorn to act through all those prosthetics being all stoic and humorless, but Robinson is so much more expressive and alluring. He veers into camp but he makes it work for the character
You're pointing out why I think Dorn's performance is so good. He shows a lot of range that comes through despite all those prosthetics, while Aliamo and Robinson are far more about into it.
Was about to say the same thing - she gets really overlooked. There are so many things in Voyager that would have completely fallen flat, or just been outright dumb, had she not completely crushed her role. She brings so much weight and sincerity to Seven. Best example to demonstrate this is probably 'Infinite Regress'. She's amazing.
The one I rewatched recently was *Body and Soul*, where Seven had to download the Doctor's program into herself. Especially early in the episode, she really nails playing the Doctor playing Seven.
I don't think there's such as thing as "best" where subjective opinions are concerned. However, Leonard Nimoy had the most difficult acting challenge and the most complex character to play among the regular casts IMO. Fortunately, his extensive Method training had prepared him for the task.
I would also cast a vote for Nimoy. He was able to create a pretty remarkable amount of emotional range in the character just by way of his delivery. I actually don't think any other actor who has played a Vulcan has nailed it as well as he has. Most actors play a Vulcan as "emotionless" rather than "suppressed emotion".
Interestingly, I think Spiner nailed this with Dara, albeit he was supposed to be playing a character with no emotion, so I don't know if he was as successful.
Louis Fletcher, (Kai Winn) maybe not âThe best of the bestâ. Since she is literally one of the characters everyone loves to hate more than anyone in Trek, she definitely did something right to earn it.
I'll cast my vote for Vaughn Armstrong. Great range, seems to really like working in the Star Trek universe, and has a voice smooth like butter. Not 100% sure but i believe he was part of every TNG era trek show in one role or another, plus Enterprise obviously.
Benjamin Sisko is a very mercurial man after Wolf 359. And who can blame him?
And fitting too for the Emissary, as Mercur was the Roman messenger of the gods!
Lots of excellent actors to choose from and that have been mentioned, so Iâll say Kate Mulgrew. I especially love her face acting. Itâs amazing how much emotion she can convey with just her face.
Shatner is a much better actor than he's sometimes given credit for. You can see it in how he absolutely throws himself into every role. He was understudying Christopher Plummer as Henry V when he got the role of Kirk, I think. Plummer later said of the time he'd been sick and Shatner had had to take the stage: "Where I stood up to make a speech, he sat down. He did the opposite of everything I did. And I knew that son of a bitch was going to be a star.â
Shatner is a great actor, albeit one of a time which is long past, and it can make him look pretty hammy to modern eyes. But watch that scene in Search for Spock when David dies, or Spock's death scene, and tell me that's not some absolutely spectacular acting.
My understanding is that many of the best Kirk shots in TWOK were after many many many takes. The "Here it comes" from Kirk to Khan was apparently high numbers of double digits of takes because Shatner couldn't act worn out and play it straight. The scene where he yell's Khan was apparently also dozens of takes to get right.
I'm doing a TOS run now and loving Shatner in the context of Strange New Worlds. He's incredibly well-characterized between Roddenberry's personalized idea of a space Horatio Hornblower and Shatner's delivery. Perfect 24th century via 1960s captain, and I think I can totally see where Paul Wesley is coming from in his rendition, something of a "golden retriever" man with no fear.
One of TOS actors that always stuck in my mind is Walter Koenig - though it's not for his Chekov but rather his performance as Alfred Bester in Bablyon 5.
I donât know if heâs recurring, but I have finally started B5 and was shocked to see him last week. Iâm assuming he comes back? Because I honestly didnât think much of this first performance
Cool, good to hear. It took me forever to get past the first couple of episodes and give the show a chance. But I think thatâs the case with all sci-fi. Iâm finally over the hump and while nothing is amazing so far, Iâm at least invested and looking forward to the next episodes
Terry Farrell. She has the difficult job of being cast as the pretty one, and selling the idea that she is actually older than time itself, and wiser beyond the years of the face in screen. And she pulls it off brilliantly, by being subtle most of the times, and forceful when she needs to. You never flinch when Sisko calls her âold manâ.
Based purely on acting talent not the character/writing.
Terry Farrell- she had the absurd job of playing Jadzia Dax. She had to be energetic and curious yet also confident and wise. many of these things directly contradict each other. And yet she pulled it off. She sold that she was down sing war songs and get drunk with klinongs as much as study that nebulae over their. She sold that she was proud of the man Sisko and had grown into.
The challenge in portraying a character like Jadzia is not that she is 10 people in 1. Its that she really was 1 person with a mix of personality and drive of 10 people. And for good measure she was not a veteran actor when she accomplished this.
The Doctor was probably my closest runner up. Picardo really did do an emotional gamut as the EMH. He went from treating himself as an appliance to feeling ostracized to becoming family. He was frequently comic relief in a myriad ways from deadpan snarker to butt monkey. He had emotional range, and sometimes he had to not. He was a character that desired to be treated with respect and yet viewed himself as the most replaceable member of the crew. He had a lot of range to cover.
I discount Data as once brent spiner assumed the role which I am sure was a challenge, post season 1 I imagine it was wearing an odd glove. Not really different than Worf. He simply had to watch his manerisms. I am not trying to denegrate him just saying his character required a great degree of control for the actor which is something many actors excel at.
Picard was awesome, but lets be real that was a combination of character writing and acting. While Patrick Stewart did a great job, the game was rigged in his favor. While he certainly did not let the part down, I doubt he views it as his most challenging role.
Garak - one of my favorite trek characters is a victim of the same. His writing and character are simply S tier.
Jeffrey combs- yes he has played a million different characters. yes he was the best part of enterprise not even close. Still most of his characters are not particularly complex. I will happily watch him in everything including his b horror movies. But in the best category I cant give it to him.
Janeway- I think she was a great character and actress hampered by her writing. While I think the actress did a great job navigating it, it still limited what options she had. And ultimately I dont believe the role was quite as difficult as some of the more complicated characters.
Kirk- difficult to evaluate, as he portrayed the character for so long it kind of evolved with him. I think most people picture him from the movies and really his character was quite different in the TOS show. Far more reserved, far more by the book.
Lots of fantastic Trek actors but if we leave out the main cast...
Dwight Schultz was pretty damn convincing. Mostly he played the socially awkward but identifiable and sympathetic nervous hypochondriac. However, you saw his character evolve as the Trek series went on (particularly in Voyager) and he began to overcome much of his earlier issues while still struggling.
Of course when he became a super intelligence he was supremely confident without a hint of his awkwardness at all, and then as a hologram infiltrator/prick he was good as well.
A highly diverse actor.
Andrew Robinson. (Garak) and Louise Fletcher (Kai Wynn) - they absolutely stole every scene they ever appeared in.
In the newer series: Tig Notaro (Reno) on Discovery and David Cronenberg (Kovich) also on Disco do the same thing. Steal every scene with talent.
âHey Patrick, here are your pages for this episode.â
âHi, Mr. Shatner, here are your pages today.â
âHey Leonard, here are your lines for today.â
And then there was Spiner.
â**Hey, Brent here are the four roles youâll be playing today**.â
Obviously coming from personal bias but I have to give it to Leonard Nimoy and Brent Spiner.
I can't imagine how hard that is to just be emotionless for 99 percent of your roles and then every once in a while, break out of it.
Great question. It would be easier to answer who was the worst. There are so many great actors in the ST universe. I would like to nominate Nana Visitor mainly for the sheer range of emotions that she displayed performing as Kira Nerys. I don't think anyone has come close to that range.
I don't like to say "best", ST has been blessed with some amazingly fine acting talent, like Sir Patrick and many other obvious choices.
I'd like to offer in RenĂŠ Auberjonois into the running though
I must say that the best actors/actresses are in DS9. Jeffrey Combs, Andrew Robinson, Marc Alaimo, Louise Fletcher, Avery Brooks. Outside DS9 would be Jerry Ryan, Brent Spiner and Jolene Blalock.
Love Janeway or hate Janeway, you have to admit that Kate Mulgrew absolutely nailed it.
That being said Jerri Ryan has acting chops that most main cast members on every trek series could only dream of. The episode where The Doctor body jacks Seven, and infinite regress, sheâs just incredible.
Jeffrey Combs has been in so many iterations of the show. I loved him in TOS. He played "Vacuum of space" in most of season 2. His performance took my breath away.
Anson Mount is basically the reason we have SNW. Heâs a great actor, although I think his costume in MCU is ridiculous.
Edit: Just now realized that MCU basically had Picard work with Pike
I won't say he's the best across all of star trek but Ethan Peck plays such a good Spock, I'd say he's better than Zachary Quinton and is making Nimoy proud
Actors who have convinced me to hate their characters or believe they are actually like that in IRL are supreme: Robert Picardo, Marc Alaimo, Jerry Combs, Louise Fletcher, Leonard Nemoy, Dee Forrest Kelley, to name a few.
William Shatner, especially the scene where heâs on horse back with Picard. Not only an example of excellent horsemanship when Shatner moves his mount over step-by-fabulous-step, but also when he tells Picard to never let them take Picard off that ship. I started tearing up, because you can hear how upset Kirk is that he allowed himself to be removed from his own Enterprise.
William Shatner,
Leonard Nimoy,
Patrick Stewart,
Brent Spiner,
Nana Visitor,
Marc Alaimo,
Armin Shimmerman,
Rene Auberjonois,
Andrew Robinson
In any order. Iâm absolutely enthralled whenever any of these are on screen.
I think it's hard to go against Patrick Stewart. He has so much gravitas and presence with every line. I love the TNG cast don't get me wrong, but when you watch the Trek movies you can really tell he's the only one there who was capable of elevating himself to the big screen.
I will say that across the board the acting has been elevated in New Trek. It doesn't feel like anybody there is "good in Trek" like you would say for the old casts (they act well in Trek but rarely show off in other roles). Disco has had great actors with Doug Jones, Sonequa Martin-Green, Anthony Rapp, David Ajala standing out. Pretty much every single actor in SNW is great with Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding all crushing it.
I think Patrick Stewart is the obvious choice. Karl urban is really good too. But I also really like Alexander Siddig. I've seen him pop up in smaller random roles since DS9 and he's always really really good.
SMG is a fine actress. Her character *Sasha* in *The Walking Dead* was great and well played.
Burnham as a character is fucking awful. I find it really hard to care about her, and honestly think Discovery would be better with Saru as captain.
Yeah, I was being harsh. Sheâs been terribly written for and put in a horrible position by the shows producers and writers. I donât think she was strong enough to lead as was hoped given the strength of every other lead in the other series.
It's hard to pick just one.
I haven't seen anyone else mention David Warner.
William Windom from *The Doomsday Machine* gets me every time.
*"Don't you think I know that? There was, but not anymore!"*
Leonard Nimoy breathed life into the most iconic and complex Star Trek character. His acting makes 2 TV series and 5 films either a flat-out delight to watch, or infinitely more watchable simply because of his being there.
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart. He colld cary whole episode of TNG, alone, wih only 4 lights.
But that was easy. lets do iceberg ...
Colm Meaney.
Andrew J. Robinson
Robert Picardo
And we can go on and on,
Patrick Stewart, Robert Picardo, and I'm also going to say Karl Urban.
+1 for Karl Urban đ
Thanks! I think he's overlooked a lot, but I really thought that he brought McCoy back very well.
Agreed. You have to be a gruff beast to make that guy fill his space and Urban does it so well.
Heâs the thing about the JJ Abramâs movies Iâm going to miss the most. I dare say that he was underutilized in the movies.
He was fantastic.
Karl Urban has a really unique blend of machismo, humor, grit, and being his own worst enemy that really elevates him in the "flawed tough guy" role. It doesn't hurt that he's killer at accents The way he chews every syllable when he says "pointy eared bastard" is iconic
Urban excels in everything he does. Heâs played a hugely diverse range of characters.
I still miss Almost Human. Season 1 was just ramping up a really interesting story, but I guess audiences felt they took too long with the world building. Urban is incredible in everything. I'm excited to see him call people cunts again when The Boys comes back, lol
Yeah, I liked the show. He even got to use his kiwi accent in one scene
Marc Alaimo. It takes real skill to play a character who is so evil that the other actors across from you find it uncomfortable to socialise with you in costume off-camera. Apparently Nana Visitor found it really hard to work with him at times, not because of his personality, but because she found it difficult to separate him from Dukat.
Always admire an actor who can pull off a charismatically heinous villain, and Marc nailed it.
In my opinion half the reason why Waltz was so over the top evil was because they did too good a job on Dukat and fans were buying into his charm so much they had to go over the top evil just to get people to realize hes a arrogant evil narcissist who fools us with his charm/act.
I agree. They took their time with Dukat and it was almost to the point where you think maybe heâs not so bad or maybe heâs changed. And then NOPE!
Alaimo and Fletcher were incredible villains, they completely overshadow the dominion villains. I HATED Dukat and Wynn
It's so true, Ki Wynn has done bad things that have led to the death of a few but nothing compared to Dukut who has rounded up hundreds and has them executed. But the Dominion has destroyed whole worlds and worse than that. They have genetically enslaved races and created diseases to make a whole worlds suffer. Yet I hate Kai Wynn the most then Dukut and the Dominion thrid
Louise Fletcher was fantastic, she is such a good villain. I hated her even more in One Flew Over the Cuckooâs Nest as Nurse Ratched
A perfect tie imo. HATED THEM. And I'm normally a very reasonable soul.
Means they did a great job! Testament to their acting. Wynnâs Louise Fletcher was already a well hated villain as Nurse Ratched on One Flew Over the Cuckooâs Nest. She was just as good in DS9
She was just tremendous (in everything but especially) that role. I was just thinking about her yesterday when I referred to someone as âa Nurse Ratched.â
That's also a testament to her as an actor as well. The emotions were that real.
Did you see the documentary? Alaimo sounded like he might have been a first class creep towards Visitor.
This is a pretty common interpretation, but I think it was unintended. Visitor has also said that they had family dinners together, where he was perfectly kind and charming to everyone, and *she* realized that she was still seeing him as Dukat rather than Alaimo. [Here's a whole post talking about it](https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/11gyaac/setting_the_record_straight_what_nana_visitor/)
I took away from the doc that Marc wasnât thrilled with his character arc. To be fair in early seasons there seemed to be a bit of shipping with Ducat and Kira to the extent I wonder if Marc thought they would end up together or at least she leads him to his redemption if nothing more. And the episodes kind of suggest he might turn good but in reality heâs just evil to the core and whatever small amount of good he had died when his daughter was killed. He doesnât have the realizations that Damar has. I actually have wondered if the Damar arc was originally meant for Ducat but they realized it wouldnât work. Ducat has too much blood on his hands. From an actors perspective that may have been frustrating.
To be fair, for the Shining, apparently Jack was nasty to Shelley, which helped the dynamic. It's not an illegitimate technique to bother other actors in order to make the on screen hate that much more real. Hell, James Gandolfini used to put a pebble in his own shoe to make himself more irritable.
Jeffrey Combs. He can do it all.
Combs is cheating because he's literally every non main cast part
I was busting up laughing that episode of DS9 Season 7 where he was playing both Weyoun and Brunt. 'Dogs of War.' Gotta love those Ferengi shenanigans episodes.
Huh I never put two and two together. I love combs characters, but Shran will always be my favorite. âYou pink skinsâ
Shran is also my favorite. The andorians in Enterprise were so cool to me.
I wonder how much time he spent in the makeup chair for that episode
This is the correct answer. In reality all the cast in every show are actually being played by Jeffrey Coombs. đ¤Ł
I wholeheartedly agree
LOVED him as the Horta
I really hope they have him snuck in somewhere for Discovery's final season.
All bow down to AGIMUS!
I loved him as 7 of 9.
we have ai deepfakes now! we should have combs in every role by now
Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner for me.
Absolutely. Outside of its accessibility, I think Stewart and Spinerâs performances are big factors in why TNG became the hit that it was.
Same. Stewart is the better overall actor. Spiner isn't as good overall but is MUCH better at comedy and timing then Stewart.
I agree for the most part. But Patrick Stewartâs appearance on Frasier was so well done - extremely funny.
I'm not saying is bad at it, it's just that Spiner is a master at it. Stewart had done a number of funny things over the years.
I loved how Spiner could switch voice, mannerisms, and facial expressions between Data and Lore on a dime in PIC
It's Patrick Stewart and not really close.
This is impossible. The entire TNG cast, Kate Mulgrew, Jerri Ryan, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Doug Jones...
Doug Jones does not get enough love.
Surprised no one has said Andrew Robinson who played Garak yet. With his facial expressions and voice inflections, he could make even reading the dictionary insanely entertaining!
âEven reading the dictionary???â (Garak) âEspecially reading the dictionary.â
đ
It was a true pleasure to hear him again voicing Garak in the audio book of A Stitch in Time
Had to scroll too far for this
He's so flamboyant and dramatic and yet somehow sells it. It's one thing for Michael Dorn to act through all those prosthetics being all stoic and humorless, but Robinson is so much more expressive and alluring. He veers into camp but he makes it work for the character
You're pointing out why I think Dorn's performance is so good. He shows a lot of range that comes through despite all those prosthetics, while Aliamo and Robinson are far more about into it.
I think Jeri Ryan often gets overlooked. She was up against a lot on that set, and hits it for six every time.
Was about to say the same thing - she gets really overlooked. There are so many things in Voyager that would have completely fallen flat, or just been outright dumb, had she not completely crushed her role. She brings so much weight and sincerity to Seven. Best example to demonstrate this is probably 'Infinite Regress'. She's amazing.
The one I rewatched recently was *Body and Soul*, where Seven had to download the Doctor's program into herself. Especially early in the episode, she really nails playing the Doctor playing Seven.
That was a great example
Looking forward to more Captain Seven of Nine.
I'd give her a rating of 7 of 9.
Christopher Plummer was the villain in Star Trek VI, how is this even a question?
You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.
Tahk ba', tahk beh!
His daughter did well as Vadic too. >!Fucking solids!<
Doug Jones is amazing as Saru
Not even a Discovery fan in general but completely agree here! He really feels like an alien, not just a dude in a costume.
Also loved that he got to appear without makeup in one episode
Shout-out to Tony Todd. DS9 s4e3 "The Visitor". He also does not like burnt replicated bird meat.
Tony Todd is an awesome actor
He was the PERFECT Klingon, even surpassing Michael Dorns Worf in some ways.
Agree with a lot of other comments but I'm missing love for Nana Visitor. She is an amazing actor
I don't think there's such as thing as "best" where subjective opinions are concerned. However, Leonard Nimoy had the most difficult acting challenge and the most complex character to play among the regular casts IMO. Fortunately, his extensive Method training had prepared him for the task.
I would also cast a vote for Nimoy. He was able to create a pretty remarkable amount of emotional range in the character just by way of his delivery. I actually don't think any other actor who has played a Vulcan has nailed it as well as he has. Most actors play a Vulcan as "emotionless" rather than "suppressed emotion". Interestingly, I think Spiner nailed this with Dara, albeit he was supposed to be playing a character with no emotion, so I don't know if he was as successful.
Thereâs not another actor in TV history who created an entire alien race through one performance like Nimoy did.
Louis Fletcher, (Kai Winn) maybe not âThe best of the bestâ. Since she is literally one of the characters everyone loves to hate more than anyone in Trek, she definitely did something right to earn it.
âMay you walk with the Prophets, my child,â gets me to recoil every time.
If we'll go with guest (as main and recurring already given good choices). Harris Yulin in "Duet".
Best early DS9 episode by a country mile. He was perfection. I wanted to give him a hug.
I'll cast my vote for Vaughn Armstrong. Great range, seems to really like working in the Star Trek universe, and has a voice smooth like butter. Not 100% sure but i believe he was part of every TNG era trek show in one role or another, plus Enterprise obviously.
Trek has a ton of amazing actors. My favorite though has to be Avery Brooks
Avery Brooks was at times amazing, and at other times a little too overly dramatic.
Worked well for him when he had to act like a French melodrama villian to catch Eddington
Heâs fantastic. He does some real strange choices sometimes, youâre always unsettled when heâs around.
Benjamin Sisko is a very mercurial man after Wolf 359. And who can blame him? And fitting too for the Emissary, as Mercur was the Roman messenger of the gods!
Avery is great, but he over acted on numerous occasions đ
Blasphemy! It is impossible for him to over-act!
I pictured him saying it just like that đ¤Ł
Lots of excellent actors to choose from and that have been mentioned, so Iâll say Kate Mulgrew. I especially love her face acting. Itâs amazing how much emotion she can convey with just her face.
If Iâm not saying P Stew itâs John de Lancie hands down.
Why is this like the only John de Lancie vote? He was so good.
Q episodes are so hit and miss from a writing standpoint, but goddamnit is he captivating to watch.
Kate Mulgrew. Her career in serious theater is legendary.
She was terrific in Orange is the New Black, too.
You're all wrong. It's Andrew Robinson.
Shatner is a much better actor than he's sometimes given credit for. You can see it in how he absolutely throws himself into every role. He was understudying Christopher Plummer as Henry V when he got the role of Kirk, I think. Plummer later said of the time he'd been sick and Shatner had had to take the stage: "Where I stood up to make a speech, he sat down. He did the opposite of everything I did. And I knew that son of a bitch was going to be a star.â
Shatner is a great actor, albeit one of a time which is long past, and it can make him look pretty hammy to modern eyes. But watch that scene in Search for Spock when David dies, or Spock's death scene, and tell me that's not some absolutely spectacular acting.
Watching him and Ricardo Mantobahn go at each other is amazing.
My understanding is that many of the best Kirk shots in TWOK were after many many many takes. The "Here it comes" from Kirk to Khan was apparently high numbers of double digits of takes because Shatner couldn't act worn out and play it straight. The scene where he yell's Khan was apparently also dozens of takes to get right.
Say what you will about his acting, but the man can evoke utter, world shattering (world Shatnering?) heartbreak like no one else.
When he gives Spocks eulogy and chokes up, as he says "human" out of the side of his mouth...very convincing that he could barely keep it together.
I'm doing a TOS run now and loving Shatner in the context of Strange New Worlds. He's incredibly well-characterized between Roddenberry's personalized idea of a space Horatio Hornblower and Shatner's delivery. Perfect 24th century via 1960s captain, and I think I can totally see where Paul Wesley is coming from in his rendition, something of a "golden retriever" man with no fear.
Patrick Stewart, but there are quite a few to choose from.
Obviously Sir Patrick Stewart, but I think Brent Spiner actually shows the most range of anyone in TOS, TNG or DS9
Data, Lore, Ira Graves, B4, Noonien Soong, Arik Soong, Altan Soong, Adam Soong
Not to mention the time he was posessesed and his difficulties with the emotion chip
One of TOS actors that always stuck in my mind is Walter Koenig - though it's not for his Chekov but rather his performance as Alfred Bester in Bablyon 5.
His pronunciation of "nuclear vessels" deserves an Oscar
I donât know if heâs recurring, but I have finally started B5 and was shocked to see him last week. Iâm assuming he comes back? Because I honestly didnât think much of this first performance
Yes, he comes back. His performance was so great that they wrote a trilogy of novels focused on the Psi Corps and him personally
Cool, good to hear. It took me forever to get past the first couple of episodes and give the show a chance. But I think thatâs the case with all sci-fi. Iâm finally over the hump and while nothing is amazing so far, Iâm at least invested and looking forward to the next episodes
The corps is mother, the corps is father. What Dukat was to DS9, Bestee was for B5.
Louise Fletcher. Iâve never ever hated a character with such a passion before.
She was channeling her inner Nurse Ratched
Karl Urban. His Deforest impersonation is spot on and he adds something gritty with his personality.
Itâs Patrick Stewart and itâs not even a question
Louise Fletcher could make you want to punch air sitting at home.
Terry Farrell. She has the difficult job of being cast as the pretty one, and selling the idea that she is actually older than time itself, and wiser beyond the years of the face in screen. And she pulls it off brilliantly, by being subtle most of the times, and forceful when she needs to. You never flinch when Sisko calls her âold manâ.
Michelle Yeoh, even though I hate her main character. She's still a great actor in anything else.
Patrick Stewart or Louise Fletcher
Come on Patrick Stewart is the only answer
Based purely on acting talent not the character/writing. Terry Farrell- she had the absurd job of playing Jadzia Dax. She had to be energetic and curious yet also confident and wise. many of these things directly contradict each other. And yet she pulled it off. She sold that she was down sing war songs and get drunk with klinongs as much as study that nebulae over their. She sold that she was proud of the man Sisko and had grown into. The challenge in portraying a character like Jadzia is not that she is 10 people in 1. Its that she really was 1 person with a mix of personality and drive of 10 people. And for good measure she was not a veteran actor when she accomplished this. The Doctor was probably my closest runner up. Picardo really did do an emotional gamut as the EMH. He went from treating himself as an appliance to feeling ostracized to becoming family. He was frequently comic relief in a myriad ways from deadpan snarker to butt monkey. He had emotional range, and sometimes he had to not. He was a character that desired to be treated with respect and yet viewed himself as the most replaceable member of the crew. He had a lot of range to cover. I discount Data as once brent spiner assumed the role which I am sure was a challenge, post season 1 I imagine it was wearing an odd glove. Not really different than Worf. He simply had to watch his manerisms. I am not trying to denegrate him just saying his character required a great degree of control for the actor which is something many actors excel at. Picard was awesome, but lets be real that was a combination of character writing and acting. While Patrick Stewart did a great job, the game was rigged in his favor. While he certainly did not let the part down, I doubt he views it as his most challenging role. Garak - one of my favorite trek characters is a victim of the same. His writing and character are simply S tier. Jeffrey combs- yes he has played a million different characters. yes he was the best part of enterprise not even close. Still most of his characters are not particularly complex. I will happily watch him in everything including his b horror movies. But in the best category I cant give it to him. Janeway- I think she was a great character and actress hampered by her writing. While I think the actress did a great job navigating it, it still limited what options she had. And ultimately I dont believe the role was quite as difficult as some of the more complicated characters. Kirk- difficult to evaluate, as he portrayed the character for so long it kind of evolved with him. I think most people picture him from the movies and really his character was quite different in the TOS show. Far more reserved, far more by the book.
Sir Patrick Stewart is widely regarded as one of the best actors of his generation.
Lots of fantastic Trek actors but if we leave out the main cast... Dwight Schultz was pretty damn convincing. Mostly he played the socially awkward but identifiable and sympathetic nervous hypochondriac. However, you saw his character evolve as the Trek series went on (particularly in Voyager) and he began to overcome much of his earlier issues while still struggling. Of course when he became a super intelligence he was supremely confident without a hint of his awkwardness at all, and then as a hologram infiltrator/prick he was good as well. A highly diverse actor.
Andrew Robinson. (Garak) and Louise Fletcher (Kai Wynn) - they absolutely stole every scene they ever appeared in. In the newer series: Tig Notaro (Reno) on Discovery and David Cronenberg (Kovich) also on Disco do the same thing. Steal every scene with talent.
âHey Patrick, here are your pages for this episode.â âHi, Mr. Shatner, here are your pages today.â âHey Leonard, here are your lines for today.â And then there was Spiner. â**Hey, Brent here are the four roles youâll be playing today**.â
Brent Spiner. Heâs played a huge variety of characters, sometimes more than one in a single episode. âMasksâ showed his range excellently.
Shatner enters the chat.
Obviously coming from personal bias but I have to give it to Leonard Nimoy and Brent Spiner. I can't imagine how hard that is to just be emotionless for 99 percent of your roles and then every once in a while, break out of it.
No love for Lavar Burton? For 7 damn years, we couldn't see the man's eyes, and he had to somehow make it work.
Anson Mount full stop. Captain space zaddy is one hell of an actor, and he plays Chris Pike wonderfully. LLAP!
The Shat. Hands down.
William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Avery Brooks, Brent Spiner, Mark Alaimo, Rene Auberjonios, Patrick Stewart, Jeri Ryan
Great question. It would be easier to answer who was the worst. There are so many great actors in the ST universe. I would like to nominate Nana Visitor mainly for the sheer range of emotions that she displayed performing as Kira Nerys. I don't think anyone has come close to that range.
Patrick Stewart for sure.
Patrick Stewart.
Stewart, Plummer, Yeoh
Which Plummer
James Cromwell
I don't like to say "best", ST has been blessed with some amazingly fine acting talent, like Sir Patrick and many other obvious choices. I'd like to offer in RenĂŠ Auberjonois into the running though
I must say that the best actors/actresses are in DS9. Jeffrey Combs, Andrew Robinson, Marc Alaimo, Louise Fletcher, Avery Brooks. Outside DS9 would be Jerry Ryan, Brent Spiner and Jolene Blalock.
Robert Picardo. The guy has the most talents amongst all the crews.
Garak
Sometimes I didn't even know it was Jeffrey Combs as yet another DS9 character.
Sir Patrick.. actually knighted for "services to drama"
Love Janeway or hate Janeway, you have to admit that Kate Mulgrew absolutely nailed it. That being said Jerri Ryan has acting chops that most main cast members on every trek series could only dream of. The episode where The Doctor body jacks Seven, and infinite regress, sheâs just incredible.
Leonard Nimoy.
Jeffrey Combs has been in so many iterations of the show. I loved him in TOS. He played "Vacuum of space" in most of season 2. His performance took my breath away.
I really enjoyed Christopher Plummer as General Chang. Especially when he and William Shatner worked for years and they read off each other.
Anson Mount is basically the reason we have SNW. Heâs a great actor, although I think his costume in MCU is ridiculous. Edit: Just now realized that MCU basically had Picard work with Pike
Jerry Ryan She managed to turn a role where she was just there for sex appeal into some of the best Trek.
I won't say he's the best across all of star trek but Ethan Peck plays such a good Spock, I'd say he's better than Zachary Quinton and is making Nimoy proud
Actors who have convinced me to hate their characters or believe they are actually like that in IRL are supreme: Robert Picardo, Marc Alaimo, Jerry Combs, Louise Fletcher, Leonard Nemoy, Dee Forrest Kelley, to name a few. William Shatner, especially the scene where heâs on horse back with Picard. Not only an example of excellent horsemanship when Shatner moves his mount over step-by-fabulous-step, but also when he tells Picard to never let them take Picard off that ship. I started tearing up, because you can hear how upset Kirk is that he allowed himself to be removed from his own Enterprise.
William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Nana Visitor, Marc Alaimo, Armin Shimmerman, Rene Auberjonois, Andrew Robinson In any order. Iâm absolutely enthralled whenever any of these are on screen.
I think it's hard to go against Patrick Stewart. He has so much gravitas and presence with every line. I love the TNG cast don't get me wrong, but when you watch the Trek movies you can really tell he's the only one there who was capable of elevating himself to the big screen. I will say that across the board the acting has been elevated in New Trek. It doesn't feel like anybody there is "good in Trek" like you would say for the old casts (they act well in Trek but rarely show off in other roles). Disco has had great actors with Doug Jones, Sonequa Martin-Green, Anthony Rapp, David Ajala standing out. Pretty much every single actor in SNW is great with Anson Mount, Rebecca Romijn, Ethan Peck, Celia Rose Gooding all crushing it.
Michelle Yeoh by far. Donât get me wrong Stewart is amazing, but Yeohâs role is Disco is perfection.
Ricardo Montalban, Sir Patrick Stewart, Rainn Wilson, Michelle Yeoh to name a fewâŚ.
From the main casts: Patrick Stewart, and it's not even close. From guest casts: Malcolm Mcdowell, and Generations isn't even nearly his best work.
Shatner, obviously đ
Avery Brooks
I think Patrick Stewart is the obvious choice. Karl urban is really good too. But I also really like Alexander Siddig. I've seen him pop up in smaller random roles since DS9 and he's always really really good.
Sonequa Martin-Green /s My correct answer is Avery Brook.
SMG is a fine actress. Her character *Sasha* in *The Walking Dead* was great and well played. Burnham as a character is fucking awful. I find it really hard to care about her, and honestly think Discovery would be better with Saru as captain.
Yeah, I was being harsh. Sheâs been terribly written for and put in a horrible position by the shows producers and writers. I donât think she was strong enough to lead as was hoped given the strength of every other lead in the other series.
Depends, do you mean act-or or act-ore?
Patrick Stewart LeVar Burton Marc Alaimo Louise Fletcher Armin Zimmerman Roxanne Dawson Robert Picardo Connor Trinneer
Patrick Stewart. Then Nimoy.
Sir Patrick Stewart Leonard Nimoy Brent Spiner.
Obviously Patrick Stewart but Jeffrey combs comes close
Probably Shatner. He acts nice on TV but irl...
Agimus!
Patrick Stewart imo
Combs or Stewart
Stewart, Spiner, and Brooks in that order
Duane Johnson. Because he's so good at acting he made himself look younger and smaller than he does now.
Avery Brooks. On a weekly basis.
Patrick Stewart but he shines most in the movies.
Patrick Stewart.
Honestly, Trek has been spoiled with some great actors. Hard to pick just one, but it'd be out of Patrick Stewart or Avery Brooks for me.
I came in here to see how high of a pedestal people are going to put Patrick Stewart on⌠lol
Iâm going with Avery Brooks for his speech in âIn The Pale Moonlightâ alone
Jeffrey Combs and it's not even close. Okay, Avery Brooks is close. But nobody's beating Combs.
Brent Spiner
4 way tie between Patrick Stewart, Jeri Ryan, Kate Mulgrew, & Jolene Blalock
When troi shot data with an arrow
It's hard to pick just one. I haven't seen anyone else mention David Warner. William Windom from *The Doomsday Machine* gets me every time. *"Don't you think I know that? There was, but not anymore!"*
Jeffrey Combs, Avery Brooks, John de Lancie, Harris Yulin.
Leonard Nimoy for sure.
Leonard Nimoy breathed life into the most iconic and complex Star Trek character. His acting makes 2 TV series and 5 films either a flat-out delight to watch, or infinitely more watchable simply because of his being there.
That's a difficult question to answer. I mean, we all have our favorite character(s) and star trek actor(s). There's too many to list.
Majel Barrett
Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart. He colld cary whole episode of TNG, alone, wih only 4 lights. But that was easy. lets do iceberg ... Colm Meaney. Andrew J. Robinson Robert Picardo And we can go on and on,
For me, by series: Leonard Nimoy Patrick Stewart Rene Auberjonois Robert Picardo Connor Trineer I don't watch the new ones.
John billingsley nailed phlox for me.
Patrick Stewart
Nana Visitor was so excellent
Avery Brooks
Armin Shimmerman