Stewart went to Los Angeles, California to star on the American television series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in the mid 1980’s. Stewart was initially reluctant to sign a standard six year contract to work on the show but was advised by his agent and others with whom he consulted about the show that it would probably soon fail. Stewart, who knew nothing about the original television show or its iconic status in the United States, agreed to work in Hollywood all the while imagining that he would soon be back at work on the London Stage. Unfortunately for Stewart, the series ran for seven years, from 1987-1994 with Stewart playing the star role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. For his work on the role, TV Guide, in 1993, named Stewart the Best Dramatic Actor of the 1980’s and received a Screen Actors Guild award nomination for “Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series. These acclaims are notable being that Stewart was infamously described by the Los Angeles Times as an “unknown British Shakespearean actor” when he was originally picked to star in the series.
Following the success of the television series, Stewart reprised the character of Jean Luc-Picard in the Star Trek films Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).
Unfortunately, the success of the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and its film franchises ended up in Stewart being typecast and made it difficult for studio audiences to see him in other roles. Stewart eventually overcame this typecasting and in the late 1990’s accepted a significant role in the X-Men film series playing Professor Charles Xavier, founder of the superhero team. Stewart went on to play the role in seven feature films including "X-Men" , "X2, "X-Men: The Last Stand", "X-Men Origins: Wolverine", "The Wolverine", "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and "Logan".
Charitable Causes
Stewart is known for being outspoken about domestic violence and in 2006, he made a short video for Amnesty International against it. Stewart grew up in a violent home and believes that “it is destructive and tainting.” After learning that it may have been post traumatic stress disorder that perpetuated his father’s violence Stewart became a supporter of the armed forces charity, Combat Stress. Stewart is also a patron of the United Nations Association-UK. Stewart received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth ll for services to drama.
Return to the previous page| Birth Date: | 13 Jul, 1940 |
| Age: | 79 yrs |
| Citizenship: | United Kingdom |
| Birth Place: | Mirfield |
| Education: | Bristol Old Vic Theatre School |
| Gender: | Male |
| Description: | English film, television and stage actor |
| Spouse: | Wendy Neuss[2000-2003] Sunny Ozell [M. 2013] |
| Net Worth 2021: | 70 million |
