William Shatner
- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
William Shatner has notched up an impressive 70-plus years in front of the camera, displaying heady comedic talent and being instantly recognizable to several generations of cult television fans as the square-jawed Captain James T. Kirk, commander of the starship U.S.S. Enterprise.
Shatner was born in Côte Saint-Luc, Montréal, Québec, Canada, to Anne (Garmaise) and Joseph Shatner, a clothing manufacturer. His father was a Jewish emigrant from Bukovina in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while his maternal grandparents were Lithuanian Jews. After graduating from university, he joined a local Summer theatre group as an assistant manager. He then performed with the National Repertory Theatre of Ottawa and at the Stratford, Ontario, Shakespeare Festival as an understudy working with such as Alec Guinness, James Mason, and Anthony Quayle. He came to the attention of New York critics and was soon playing important roles in major shows on live television.
Shatner spent many years honing his craft before debuting alongside Yul Brynner in Die Brüder Karamasov (1958). He was kept busy during the 1960s in films such as Urteil von Nürnberg (1961) and Weißer Terror (1962) and on television guest-starring in dozens of series such as Alfred Hitchcock präsentiert (1955), Preston & Preston (1961), The Outer Limits (1963) and Unwahrscheinliche Geschichten (1959). In 1966, Shatner boarded the USS Enterprise for three seasons of Raumschiff Enterprise (1966), co-starring alongside Leonard Nimoy, with the series eventually becoming a bona-fide cult classic with a worldwide legion of fans known variously as "Trekkies" or "Trekkers".
After "Star Trek" folded, Shatner spent the rest of the decade and the 1970s making the rounds, guest-starring on many prime-time television series, including Hawaii Fünf-Null (1968), Dr. med. Marcus Welby (1969) and Der Chef (1967). He has also appeared in several feature films, but they were mainly B-grade (or lower) fare, such as the embarrassingly bad Euro western Rio Hondo (1968) and the campy Mörderspinnen (1977). However, the 1980s saw a major resurgence in Shatner's career with the renewed interest in the original Raumschiff Enterprise (1966) series culminating in a series of big-budget "Star Trek" feature films, including Star Trek - Der Film (1979), Star Trek II - Der Zorn des Khan (1982), Star Trek III - Auf der Suche nach Mr. Spock (1984), Zurück in die Gegenwart (1986), Star Trek V - Am Rande des Universums (1989) and Star Trek VI - Das unentdeckte Land (1991). In addition, he starred in the lightweight police series T. J. Hooker (1982) from 1982 to 1986, alongside spunky Heather Locklear, and surprised many fans with his droll comedic talents in Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Raumschiff (1982), Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) and Miss Undercover (2000).
He has most recently been starring in the David E. Kelley television series Practice: Die Anwälte (1997) and its spin-off Boston Legal (2004).
Outside of work, he jogs and follows other athletic pursuits. His interest in health and nutrition led to him becoming spokesman for the American Health Institute's 'Know Your Body' program to promote nutritional and physical health.
Shatner was born in Côte Saint-Luc, Montréal, Québec, Canada, to Anne (Garmaise) and Joseph Shatner, a clothing manufacturer. His father was a Jewish emigrant from Bukovina in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while his maternal grandparents were Lithuanian Jews. After graduating from university, he joined a local Summer theatre group as an assistant manager. He then performed with the National Repertory Theatre of Ottawa and at the Stratford, Ontario, Shakespeare Festival as an understudy working with such as Alec Guinness, James Mason, and Anthony Quayle. He came to the attention of New York critics and was soon playing important roles in major shows on live television.
Shatner spent many years honing his craft before debuting alongside Yul Brynner in Die Brüder Karamasov (1958). He was kept busy during the 1960s in films such as Urteil von Nürnberg (1961) and Weißer Terror (1962) and on television guest-starring in dozens of series such as Alfred Hitchcock präsentiert (1955), Preston & Preston (1961), The Outer Limits (1963) and Unwahrscheinliche Geschichten (1959). In 1966, Shatner boarded the USS Enterprise for three seasons of Raumschiff Enterprise (1966), co-starring alongside Leonard Nimoy, with the series eventually becoming a bona-fide cult classic with a worldwide legion of fans known variously as "Trekkies" or "Trekkers".
After "Star Trek" folded, Shatner spent the rest of the decade and the 1970s making the rounds, guest-starring on many prime-time television series, including Hawaii Fünf-Null (1968), Dr. med. Marcus Welby (1969) and Der Chef (1967). He has also appeared in several feature films, but they were mainly B-grade (or lower) fare, such as the embarrassingly bad Euro western Rio Hondo (1968) and the campy Mörderspinnen (1977). However, the 1980s saw a major resurgence in Shatner's career with the renewed interest in the original Raumschiff Enterprise (1966) series culminating in a series of big-budget "Star Trek" feature films, including Star Trek - Der Film (1979), Star Trek II - Der Zorn des Khan (1982), Star Trek III - Auf der Suche nach Mr. Spock (1984), Zurück in die Gegenwart (1986), Star Trek V - Am Rande des Universums (1989) and Star Trek VI - Das unentdeckte Land (1991). In addition, he starred in the lightweight police series T. J. Hooker (1982) from 1982 to 1986, alongside spunky Heather Locklear, and surprised many fans with his droll comedic talents in Die unglaubliche Reise in einem verrückten Raumschiff (1982), Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) and Miss Undercover (2000).
He has most recently been starring in the David E. Kelley television series Practice: Die Anwälte (1997) and its spin-off Boston Legal (2004).
Outside of work, he jogs and follows other athletic pursuits. His interest in health and nutrition led to him becoming spokesman for the American Health Institute's 'Know Your Body' program to promote nutritional and physical health.
