Wil Wheaton

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Wil Wheaton (2001)

Richard William (Wil) Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is a former child actor, now a writer and father. He is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Gordie LaChance in the film Stand By Me.

Like most actors who were popular from their work in the Star Trek franchise, most of Wheaton's career has been limited to Trek-oriented appearances. During his youth he was a prominently featured guest at Star Trek conventions and very popular in teen magazines. However, barring teen work in the 1980s and Stand By Me, he has done little else of note in the way of performing. As he left TNG during the middle of its television run, and as three other Trek series have come since, Wheaton eventually faded from the convention scene as well, replaced by more popular actors/characters.

Like many actors attempting to revitalize their career, he has as of the late 1990s embraced independent film with various appearances. Several of his independent films have won awards: "The Good Things," in which Wheaton portrays a frustrated Kansas Tollbooth worker, was selected Best Short Film at the 2002 Deauville Film Festival. He also received the Best Actor award at the 2002 Melbourne Underground Film Festival for his performance in "Jane White Is Sick And Twisted." He was also a contestant on a Star Trek themed episode of The Weakest Link, and performs improvisational and sketch comedy at the ACME Comedy theater in Hollywood. He has a travelling sketch comedy/improv troupe called "EarnestBorg9" that performs Sci-Fi and geek-related comedy at conventions.

Although his character (and by extension Wil himself) was loudly hated by a small but vocal group of Trekkies during TNG's first run, Wheaton has emerged as a vocal member of the geek/nerd community and runs his own weblog web site, Wil Wheaton Dot Net. The majority of his popularity as of the year 2004 comes from this web site, the books it has spawned, and from fans admiring his work from the past. He is a frequent poster at Slashdot and Fark, and is heavily involved with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, promoting free speech and privacy issues.

In Spring of 2003 Wheaton founded the independent publishing company Monolith Press, and released a book of his memoirs, entitled Dancing Barefoot. Most of the entries are extended versions of his online blog entries. Wheaton sold out three printings in four months, and in Winter 2003, the book's success caught the eye of publisher Tim O'Reilly, who signed Wheaton to a three book contract. O'Reilly & Associates acquired "Dancing Barefoot", and will release Wheaton's extended memoirs, "Just A Geek" in Spring of 2004. Also in 2004 Wheaton suffered some financial issues forcing him to sell autographed memorabilia on Ebay to raise money for basic living expenses.

Wheaton married Anne Prince in 1999. He lives with his wife and two step-sons in Los Angeles, California. Wheaton is often confused with Will Wheaton, Junior, a jazz artist who contributed to the films "Mystery Men," among other works.

Filmography

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