CHILD OF TELEVISION: Patrick Stewart

Thursday, October 29, 2026

Patrick Stewart

William Shatner has one style. We have completely contrasting personalities. We're very good friends. I adore him, but we're very different people, so they were smart enough to write characters that reflected that.

-Patrick Stewart

Sir Patrick Stewart
13 July 1940 – 28 October 2026

In 1966, Stewart became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC).

He made his Broadway theatre debut in 1971 in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. In 1979, he received the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance in Antony and Cleopatra in the West End. His first television role was in Coronation Street in 1967. His first major screen roles were in the television series Fall of Eagles (1974), I, Claudius (1976) and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979). In 2008, he reprised his role as King Claudius in Hamlet and received his second Laurence Olivier Award and his first Tony Award nomination for respectively the West End and Broadway theatre productions.

Stewart gained international stardom for his leading role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), a role he reprised in a series of four films (1994–2002) and Star Trek: Picard (2020–2023). He starred as Captain Ahab in the USA Network television miniseries Moby Dick (1998), Ebenezer Scrooge in the TNT fantasy television film A Christmas Carol (1999), and King Henry II in the Showtime drama television film The Lion in Winter (2003). He was Primetime Emmy Award-nominated for his guest comedic roles in the NBC sitcom Frasier (2003) and BBC sitcom Extras (2005). A recurring collaborator of Seth MacFarlane, he starred as the lead of the MacFarlane-produced Starz sitcom Blunt Talk (2015–2016), the voice of CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock in the animated sitcom American Dad! (2005–2026), and the narrator of the two Ted films (2012, 2015).