10 Star Trek Actors Who Suffered From Typecasting

A role in Star Trek can ensure a legacy, but sometimes at a price.

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[fallwitch]

I met James Doohan a number of times. In my life I’ve meet dozens and dozens of celebs and James was without doubt one of the nicest, most hard working people I have ever met. He was so kind to everyone and always made them feel special.

One of the times I saw him he was signing autographs in a video store that was celebrating one of the new Star Trek films. It was in the middle of summer in the Washington DC area. There was a huge queue out the door and he insisted on staying well past the time stated and talked to every single person. It was a miserable hot day, even in the store, and the poor lad was exhausted yet he took his time with every fan, never rushed anyone and had us all laughing the whole time. He was so lovely and everyone left with a smile on their face. What a man.

[Bedonkabonk]

DeForest Kelley actually had to overcome typecasting to have the opportunity to play Dr. McCoy. Before Star Trek, Kelley had been typically playing heavies, so the casters were afraid that he would not be accepted by viewers as a good guy. So, yeah. He almost missed his chance at being typecast because he had been typecast.

[luckygreentiger]

DeForest Kelley (and others) will always be a hero to me. I remember reading him saying that he always wanted to be a doctor, to help people; he couldn't make it, and therefore became an actor. As an actor playing a doctor on Star Trek, he said he received so much fan mail of people being encouraged to enter the medical profession because of his role. That alone makes him a hero to me (again there are many others too).

[brentbarr]

6:24 You left out the fact Michael Dorn had a recurring role in Castle as a therapist. A role that he was totally believable in and did an amazing job... his voice and demeanor were PERFECT for the role!!

[rossiaconis]

Leonard Nimoy also had a great role as William Bell in "Fringe", he may have only had a few appearances in the show, but he had an awesome presence as the series' over-arching antagonist.

[CasualSpud]

Spiner was the best on Night Court.. his humour is on full display

[j.tshark]

With Spiner it should be noted, like Stewart, Spiner is a full threat on the stage, He can sing and act. He did stage work while on generations. Also, on Stage he is most famous for being part of a show that got cancelled 1/2 way through the opening night. The three musketeers.

[alephbright]

James Doohan also played himself playing Scotty in Knight Rider 2000 (1991)

[vic]

I love that Zachary Quinto worked with Nimoy to ensure his version of Spock paid proper homage to Nimoy's original. While still being his own.

[donaldmacarthur]

I was never much of a Worf fan until season 3 of Picard. That was Dorn's best turn as Worf. And I loved his role in Ted 2... anytime an actor can poke fun at themselves is grand!

[jameswakeman]

Did I hear "Star Trek SG-1" for John Billings there?

[rrad]

One of the joys in my life was seeing Kate Mulgrew in the one-woman performance of "Call me Kate"; her tour deforce play about Kathrine Hepburn. She was mesmerizing; she embodied Hepburn to the n-th degree!

[sanddagger]

Frakes thinking he is a modest actor makes sense. His injuries made it impossible for him to do action despite the fact that his role was to be the James Kirk who beamed down to planets while Picard took the more realistic role of sitting in a chair giving orders.
The fact that he found his calling as a director and host is a blessing. He did not have to keep doing a job that was taking a tole on his body.

[stephenconroy]

Patrick Stewart's portrayal Ebenezer Scrooge is simply the greatest of all time. Got a lot of love for the Muppets Christmas Carol, but my god THAT laugh at the end. Watch it, people.

[countroshculla]

Nichelle Nicols recruited women to NASA, DeForest Kelley inspired others to become doctors & James Doohan inspired a whole new generation of engineers.

[danielgertler]

Type casting was definitely much more of a problem back in the TOS era. Modern hollywood and fans are more willing and excited to see actors play other characters.

[bartes]

as a professional musician, i would say what is called "typecasting" is what we would call a "residency".. ie. A reliable pay check, security for life, and tbh, what most of us mortals would consider a successful career...

[j.tshark]

Point of order on Dorn and Star Trek. He was a regular on CHIPS in the 70's. He did 60 episodes and he was type cast as a cop. That is why he handled what happened after trek better than others and enjoyed more. HE worked more after Trek than he did after CHIPS

[jokerz]

As much as people like to make fun of Shatner's acting, he's worked steady since Trek. The 70's were lean years for him but once they did the TMP and he got T.J. Hooker his career has been solid.

[sanddagger]

Dorn had the right idea. He knew he wasn't going to get anything as good ever again. I'm not surprised he was the person most willing to reprise his role on another show.
I heard he even tried getting a worf show and worf movie series made after Nemesis. It also explains why he was in the TNG movies despite his character being posted on a space station light-years away.
I actually never liked Worf as much as other characters in TNG but i noticed that he became almost as famous as Data and Picard and i'm sure that was because of his willingness to reprise the role and jump through hoops like makeup and double duty shooting movies and TV shows. Only Nana Visitor was ever as eager as him. Very ironic considering the character he played was the complete opposite.