Jonathan Frakes Biography

Jonathan Scott Frakes (born August 19, 1952) is an American actor, author and director. Frakes is best known for his portrayal of Commander William T. Riker in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and subsequent films. Frakes also hosted the television series Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, challenging viewers to discern his stories of fact-based phenomena and fabricated tales. In June 2011, Frakes narrated the History Channel documentary Lee and Grant. He was also the voice actor of David Xanatos in the Disney television series Gargoyles.

Frakes directed and also starred in Star Trek: First Contact as well as Star Trek: Insurrection. He is also the author of a book called The Abductors: Conspiracy.

Personal life

Frakes was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, the son of Doris J. (née Yingling) and James R. Frakes. He is of mostly German, and some English, descent. He grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the state. A 1970 graduate of Bethlehem's Liberty High School, he ran track and played with the Liberty High School Grenadier Band. Frakes received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Theater Arts at Penn State University in the early 1970s, where he was a member of the Thespians.

His father was a critic for the New York Times Book Review, a book editor, and professor of English literature at Lehigh University from 1958"2001, where he was the Edmund W. Fairchild Professor in American Studies. He died in early 2002. Frakes had a younger brother, Daniel, who died in 1997 from pancreatic cancer.

Frakes married soap opera actress Genie Francis on May 28, 1988. They live in California with their two children, Elizabeth and Jameson.

Career

For a time in the 1970s, Frakes worked for Marvel Comics, appearing at conventions in costume as Captain America. Frakes moved to New York City and became a member of "The Impossible Ragtime Theater". In that company, Frakes did his first off-Broadway acting in Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape directed by George Ferencz. His first Broadway appearance was in Shenandoah. At the same time, he landed a role in the NBC soap opera The Doctors. When his character was dismissed from the soap, Frakes moved to Los Angeles, California and played guest spots in many of the top television series of the 1970s and 1980s, including The Waltons, Eight Is Enough, The Dukes of Hazzard, Matlock and Steven Bochco's Hill Street Blues.

He played the part of Charles Lindbergh in a 1983 episode of Voyagers! titled "An Arrow Pointing East". In 1983, he had a role in the short-lived NBC prime time soap opera Bare Essence (which also starred his future wife Genie Francis), and a supporting role in the equally short-lived primetime soap Paper Dolls in 1984. He also had recurring roles in Falcon Crest and the miniseries North and South before signing for the role of Commander William T. Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Jonathan appeared in the 1986 miniseries Dream West.

He has done animation voice acting, most notably voicing the recurring role of David Xanatos in the animated series Gargoyles, and he provided the voice of his own head in a jar in the Futurama episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before". He had a small, uncredited role in the 1994 movie Camp Nowhere. He also reprised his role of Riker for a Next Generation cutaway on an episode of Family Guy that also featured his co-stars Patrick Stewart and Michael Dorn as their respective roles of Picard and Worf. Later, he again played himself on another Family Guy episode, where all seven main TNG (plus Denise Crosby and Wil Wheaton) actors made voice appearances. He is also one of six Star Trek actors (the other actors being Kate Mulgrew, Michael Dorn, George Takei, Avery Brooks and Majel Barrett) to lend their voices to the video game Star Trek: Captain's Chair reprising his role as Commander William T. Riker when users visit the Enterprise-D bridge featured in the game.

Frakes is one of only two Star Trek regulars to appear on four different Star Trek series (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise). (The only other regular to match or exceed that number is Majel Barrett-Roddenberry who appeared in all five television series.) He has also directed episodes in three of them (TNG, DS9 and VOY) and was a popular and innovative director on the Star Trek set, often finding completely new ways to shoot the show's familiar sets. His directing career has included the films Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection. Additionally, Frakes was an executive producer for the WB series Roswell, directed several episodes and guest-starred in three episodes. His relationship with Star Trek is made light of in the episode "Secrets and Lies", in which the alien character Max auditions for a guest role as an alien for Star Trek: Enterprise.

Frakes appeared on the 1994 Phish album Hoist, playing trombone on the track titled "Riker's Mailbox". Frakes would occasionally perform on the trombone during his tenure as Commander Riker, drawing on his college marching band experience. He was also a member of "The Sunspots", a vocal backup group of Star Trek cast members that appeared on Brent Spiner's 1991 album Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back.

Frakes hosted The Paranormal Borderline, a television series at Fox, which dealt with the paranormal and mysterious happenings and creatures. In one episode, Frakes presented an interview of reporter Yolanda Gaskins with veteran astronaut Gordon Cooper, where they discussed the possibility of aliens having visited the Earth in the past. Overall, the show was criticized and pulled off the air after it was found out that footage showing a yeti from the Himalayas was purposely faked by the show and its producers. The "Snowwalker" footage, as it is known, purportedly shows a yeti as it is crossing through a valley in the Himalayas, walking in front of a Belgian couple who are traversing the area on skis. The network finally admitted the hoax, and Frakes distanced himself from the show. He hosted Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction which also dealt in the paranormal world.

Frakes and Francis appeared together in Lois & Clark in the episode "Don't Tug on Superman's Cape" as a creepily too-good-to-be-true couple. He narrated the History Channel's That's Impossible.

Frakes has directed episodes of Burn Notice, Castle, NCIS: Los Angeles and TNT's Leverage.

Frakes works with the Workshops, the Waterfall Arts Center and the Saltwater Film Society, all located in Maine, where he teaches classes on film direction. He and Francis owned a home furnishings store in Belfast, Maine, called The Cherished Home which closed in August 2012 due to Francis being too busy with her acting to spend adequate time at the store.

He has also directed Episode 9 in Season 3 of the popular TV Series Falling Skies on TNT entitled Journey to Xilbalba, which aired in the US on July 28, 2013.

Selected acting filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1994	Camp Nowhere	Bob Spiegel
1994	Star Trek Generations	Commander William T. Riker
1996	Star Trek: First Contact	Commander William T. Riker	Nominated-Blockbuster Entertainment Award for Best Supporting Actor Nominated-Saturn Award for Best Director
1998	Star Trek: Insurrection	Commander William T. Riker
2002	Star Trek: Nemesis	Captain/Commander William T. Riker
2002	Clockstoppers	Janitor	uncredited
2004	Thunderbirds	Policeman	uncredited
2011	The Captains	Himself/Commander William T. Riker
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1979	The Waltons	Ashley Longworth Jr.	Episode: "The Lost Sheep" and "The Legacy"
1980	Beulah Land	Adam Davis
1981	The Dukes of Hazzard	Jamie Lee Hogg	Episode: "Mrs. Daisy Hogg" in a 4th Season episode entitled
	Harper Valley	Clutch Breath	Episode: "Low Noon"
1982	Hill Street Blues	Drug dealer	Episode: "Of Mouse and Man"
	Voyagers!	Charles Lindbergh	Episode: "An Arrow Pointing East"
1983	Bare Essence	Marcus Marshall	Several episodes.
1984	Highway to Heaven	Arthur Krock, Jr.	Episode: "A Devine Madness"
	Five Mile Creek	Adam Scott	Episode: "Gold Fever"
	The Fall Guy	Connors	Episode: "Always Say Always"
1985	The New Twilight Zone	Single Guy	Episode: "But Can She Type?"
	The White Shadow	uncredited as Basketball Player	Episode: "One of the Boys"
	North and South	Stanley Hazard
1986	Matlock	D.A. Park	Episode: "The Angel"
1987-1994	Star Trek: The Next Generation	Commander William T. Riker/Lt. Thomas Riker
1994	Wings	Gavin Rutledge	Episode: "All's Fare"
	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Lt. Thomas Riker	Episode: "Defiant"
1994-1996	Gargoyles	David Xanatos, Coyote (voice)
1995	Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman	Tim Lake	Episode: "Don't Tug on Superman's Cape"
	Cybill		Episode: "Starting on the Wrong Foot"
	Eight Is Enough	Chapper	Episode: "Separate Ways"
1996	Star Trek: Voyager	Commander William T. Riker	Episode: "Death Wish"
1998-2002	Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction?	Himself (presenter)
1999	Roswell	Himself	Episode: "Pilot"
2000	3rd Rock from the Sun	Larry McMichael	Episode: "Gwen, Larry, Dick and Mary"
2000	Ghosts: Caught on Tape	Himself (narrator)
2002	Futurama	Himself (voice)	Episode: Where No Fan Has Gone Before
2005	Star Trek: Enterprise	Commander William T. Riker	Episode: "These Are the Voyages..."
	Family Guy	Commander William T. Riker (voice)	Episode: Peter's Got Woods
2009	Family Guy	Himself (voice)	Episode: Not All Dogs Go to Heaven
2009	Leverage	uncredited as patient in neck brace in season one episode	Episode: The Snow Job
2010	Criminal Minds	Dr. Arthur Malcolm	Episode: "The Uncanny Valley"
	NCIS: Los Angeles	Navy Commander Dr. Stanfill	Episode: "Disorder"
2011	The Super Hero Squad Show	The Devil Dinosaur You Say!	Episode: "High Evolutionary" (voice only)
2013	Adventure Time	Adult Finn	Episode: Puhoy

Directing filmography

Feature films

• Star Trek: Klingon (1996) " interactive movie
• Star Trek: First Contact (1996)
• Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)
• Clockstoppers (2002)
• Thunderbirds (2004)
• The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines (2006)
• The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice (2008)

Television

• Star Trek: The Next Generation
  • 3.16 - The Offspring (1990)
  • 4.07 - Reunion (1990)
  • 4.21 - The Drumhead (1991)
  • 5.18 - Cause and Effect (1992)
  • 6.09 - The Quality of Life (1992)
  • 6.20 - The Chase (1993)
  • 7.08 - Attached (1993)
  • 7.14 - Sub Rosa (1994)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
  • 3.02 - The Search, Part II (1994)
  • 3.08 - Meridian (1994)
  • 3.13 - Past Tense, Part II (1995)
• Star Trek: Voyager
  • 2.03 - Projections (1995)
  • 2.07 - Parturition (1995)
  • 2.13 - Prototype (1996)
• Diagnosis Murder
  • 3.18 - Left-Handed Murder (1996)
• Roswell
  • 1.07 - River Dog (1999)
  • 1.19 - Four Square (2000)
  • 1.21 - The White Room (2000)
  • 3.04 - Secrets and Lies (2001)
  • 3.08 - Behind the Music (2001)
• Masters of Science Fiction
  • The Discarded (2007)
• Leverage
  • 1.07 - The Wedding Job (2009)
  • 1.11 - The Juror #6 Job (2009)
  • 2.04 - The Fairy Godparents Job (2009)
  • 2.11 - The Bottle Job (2010)
  • 3.02 - The Reunion Job (2010)
  • 3.06 - The Studio Job (2010)
  • 3.13 - The Morning After Job (2010)
  • 4.09 - The Queen's Gambit Job (2011)
  • 4.12 - The Office Job (2011)
  • 4.15 - The Lonely Hearts Job (2011)
  • 5.03 - The First Contact Job (2012)
  • 5.05 - The Gimme a K Street Job (2012)
• Dollhouse
  • 2.04 - Belonging (2009)
• Castle
  • 2.08 - Kill the Messenger (2009)
  • 5.06 - The Final Frontier (2012)
  • 5.20 - The Fast and the Furriest (2013)
• NCIS: Los Angeles
  • 1.14 - LD50 (2010)
  • 2.11 - Disorder (2010)
  • 3.16 - Blye, K. (2012)
  • 4.10 - Free Ride (2012)
• V
  • 1.07 - John May (2010)
• Persons Unknown
  • 1.05 - Incoming (2010)
  • 1.10 - Seven Sacrifices (2010)
  • 1.11 - And Then There Was One (2010)
• The Good Guys
  • 1.09 - Don't Taze Me, Bro (2010)
  • 1.16 - Silence of the Dan (2010)
• The Glades
  • 1.08 - Marriage Is Murder (2010)
  • 2.04 - Moonlighting (2011)
  • 4.02 - Shot Girls (2013)
• Burn Notice
  • 4.14 - Hot Property (2010)
  • 5.06 - Enemy Of My Enemy (2011)
  • 5.17 - Acceptable Loss (2011)
  • 6.09 - Official Business (2012)
  • 7.06 - All or Nothing (2013)
• Bar Karma
  • 1.09 Three Times a Lady (2011)
• Falling Skies
  • 3.09 Journey to Xilbalba (2013)
• King & Maxwell
  • 1.08 Job Security (2013)
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
  • 1.08 "The Well" (2013)