William Shatner
☼ Born on 22 December 1931, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Biography
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 The Brothers Karamazov (1958). He was kept busy during the 1960s in films such as Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) and The Intruder (1962) and on television guest-starring in dozens of series such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955), The Defenders (1961), The Outer Limits (1963) and The Twilight Zone (1959). In 1966, Shatner boarded the USS Enterprise for three seasons of Star Trek (1966), co-starring alongside Leonard Nimoy, with the series eventually becom
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ing 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 Five-O (1968), Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969) and Ironside (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 White Comanche (1968) and the campy Kingdom of the Spiders (1977). However, the 1980s saw a major resurgence in Shatner's career with the renewed interest in the original Star Trek (1966) series culminating in a series of big-budget "Star Trek" feature films, including Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (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 Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), Loaded Weapon 1 (1993) and Miss Congeniality (2000).
He has most recently been starring in the David E. Kelley television series The Practice (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.
In the role of actor
William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill (22/03/2024)
William Shatner reflects on his life and career in William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill. Now in his 90s, William Shatner sits down to reflect on his life growing up in Montreal and his career as an actor, most famously as Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek. Shatner also reflects on what type […]
For the Love of Spock (18/07/2016)
Adam Nimoy pays tribute to the life and career of his famous father in For the Love of Spock. Leonard Nimoy had been acting since the early 1950s, when he was cast by Gene Roddenberry to play the Vulcan Spock in the 1966 series Star Trek. Spock quickly became one of the most popular characters […]
TADFF15 Interview: A discussion with the producers, writers, and cast of A Christmas Horror Story (17/10/2015)
The holiday-themed horror anthology A Christmas Horror Story screens this evening at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival. A Christmas Horror Story is the brainchild of producer/director Steve Hoban and producer Mark Smith. Throughout his 23 year career, Steve Hoban has produced many Canadian genre films, such as Ginger Snaps, Splice, Haunter, and the TV series Darknet, […]
A Christmas Horror Story (21/07/2015)
Four tales of Yuletide terror are told in A Christmas Horror Story. In the town of Bailey Downs, Dangerous Dan (William Shatner) speaks on the radio, as the town prepares for Christmas Eve. Teenager Molly (Zoé De Grand Maison) and her friends explore a school, where a crucifix-style murder happened the year before, and encounter some […]
To Be Takei (27/04/2014)
George Takei is best known to fans for his role as Hikaru Sulu on the television series Star Trek. Takei came out as homosexual in 2005 and has since become known as a gay rights activist, as well having a bit of a career renaissance through social media. To Be Takei covers Takei’s entire career, […]