The Envelope, Please: Star Trek Actors At The Oscars

The Oscars are coming, the Oscars are coming!

Star Trek itself has only won a single Oscar; in 2010, J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek took one home for make-up, with the award going to Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, and Joel Harlow. Over the years, various Trek movies have received nominations for art direction, original score, make-up, visual effects, and sound effects, starting with Star Trek: The Motion Picture all the way up through Star Trek BeyondBut when it comes to acting, the total of nominations for it in Trek movies remains at zero. Yet the movies and TV series combined boast a fair number of Oscar nominees in their ranks.

Christopher Plummer (Star Trek VI‘s General Chang), a one-time winner and now a two-time nominee, is up this year for his role in All the Money in the World. With Star Trek: Discovery‘s Doug Jones (Saru) co-starring in (but oddly not nominated for) The Shape of Water, which is up for 13 Academy Awards on March 4, and Plummer in the running for his second win, it’s time to take a look at all the previous Oscar winners and nominees in the acting categories who have appeared in the Star Trek franchise. It speaks volumes that so many talented and well-known actors want to be a part of it. Let’s take a look at those who’ve won–or come close to winning–that golden statue.

Academy Award Winners

There are just five on this list, and four of them won before they found their way to Star Trek.

Joel Grey

Star Trek role: Caylem, Star Trek: Voyager “Resistance”
Oscar win: Best Supporting Actor – Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret (1972)

Joel Grey, who’d won a Tony for the same role in Cabaret, had been pursued by Voyager producers multiple times, but it was a request from his fellow Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins actor Kate Mulgrew that sealed the deal and got him to read the script for “Resistance” and agree to play Caylem.

Joel Grey

Joel Grey as Caylem in Voyager and as Master of Ceremonies in Cabaret

Louise Fletcher

Star Trek role: Winn Adami, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 14 episodes
Oscar win: Best Actress – Nurse Mildred Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

On Oscar night, Louise Fletcher’s win was announced by Charles Bronson and his wife, Star Trek guest star Jill Ireland (Leila in “This Side of Paradise”). “I’ve loved being hated by you,” Fletcher told the audience in her funny, heartfelt speech that included a message to her deaf parents in sign language. Decades later, she was offered the part of Vedek-then-Kai Winn without ever having to read for it, and said she thought of the role as “the Pope in space.”

Louise Fletcher

Louise Fletcher as Winn Adami on Deep Space Nine and Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

F. Murray Abraham

Star Trek role: Ahdar Ru’afo, Star Trek: Insurrection
Oscar win: Best Actor – Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1984)

Like Louise Fletcher, F. Murray Abraham won his award in a film directed by Miloš Forman.  14 years later, he was in Insurrectionand felt so positive about the experience that he said in several interviews that he’d be fine just doing more Star Trek movies for the rest of his career.

F. Murray Abraham

F. Murray Abraham as Ahdar Ru’afo in Insurrection and Antonio Salieri in Amadeus

Whoopi Goldberg

Star Trek role: Guinan, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: Nemesis
Oscar win: Best Supporting Actress – Oda Mae Brown in Ghost (1990)
Oscar nomination: Best Actress – Celie Harris-Johnson in The Color Purple (1985)

Whoopi Goldberg is one of only 12 people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, and was the second black woman in history to win an Oscar for acting. A longtime Trek fan, it took Goldberg a while to convince Gene Roddenberry that her desire to appear on Star Trek: The Next Generation was both genuine and fervent. He finally got the message, and created the character of Guinan for her.

Whoop Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan in The Next Generation and Oda Mae Brown in Ghost

Christopher Plummer

Star Trek role: General Chang, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Oscar win: Best Supporting Actor – Hal Fields in Beginners (2010)
Oscar nominations: Best Supporting Actor – Leo Tolstoy in The Last Station (2009) / Best Supporting Actor – J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World (2018)

Christopher Plummer and William Shatner go way back, having both been on the CBS radio circuit in Montreal when they were young, and then working together on the stage. Shatner was Plummer’s understudy for the lead role in Henry V in 1956, and when a kidney stone brought Plummer down, Shatner had his moment. Good prep for their face-off in Star Trek VI!

Christopher Plummer

Christopher Plummer as General Chang in The Undiscovered Country and Hal Fields in Beginners

Academy Award Nominees

As anyone will tell you, it’s a huge honor just to be nominated, and this classy bunch proves it.

Judith Anderson

Star Trek role: T’Lar, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Oscar nomination: Best Supporting Actress – Mrs. Danvers, Rebecca (1940)

Dame Judith Anderson was primarily known as a stage actress, but Leonard Nimoy was determined to have her play the Vulcan High Priestess in The Search for Spock and finally convinced her to do it. 44 years earlier, her portrayal of Mrs. Danvers in the Alfred Hitchcock-directed Rebecca scored her her only Oscar nomination.

Judith Anderson

Dame Judith Anderson as T’Lar in The Search for Spock and as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca

Jean Simmons

Star Trek role: Rear Admiral Norah Satie, Star Trek: The Next Generation “The Drumhead”
Oscar nominations: Best Supporting Actress – Ophelia in Hamlet (1948) / Best Actress – Mary Wilson in The Happy Ending (1969)

Jean Simmons had already been on the covers of both Time magazine and Life magazine before she turned 20. In 1991, she gave a powerful performance in “The Drumhead,” directed by Jonathan Frakes. “I was honored to work with the talented and beautiful Jean Simmons. I just thought she was spectacular,” he told startrek.com.

Jean Simmons

Jean Simmons as Rear Admiral Norah Satie on The Next Generation, as Ophelia in Hamlet, and as Mary Wilson in The Happy Ending.

Theodore Bikel

Star Trek role: Sergey Rozhenko, Star Trek: The Next Generation “Family”
Oscar nomination: Best Supporting Actor – Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones (1958)

Theodore Bikel had a huge career, appearing in everything from The African Queen to Babylon 5. He was also the co-founder of the Newport Folk Festival, famous as one of the first modern music festivals in America and the site of Bob Dylan’s first “plugged-in” live performance indicating his shift from folk music to rock.

Theodore Bikel

Theodore Bikel as Sergey Rozhenko on The Next Generation and as Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones.

Michael Dunn

Star Trek role: Alexander, Star Trek “Plato’s Stepchildren”
Oscar nomination: Best Supporting Actor – Karl Glocken in Ship of Fools (1965)

Among Michael Dunn’s co-stars in Ship of Fools was BarBara Luna, famous to Star Trek fans as Marlena Moreau from “Mirror, Mirror.” Dunn had been considered by Gene Roddenberry for Spock in Trek’s first pilot, “The Cage,” and then for Balok in “The Corbomite Maneuver,” but it wasn’t until the show’s third season that they found just the right role for him.

Michael Dunn as Alexander on Star Trek, and Karl Glocken in Ship of Fools.

Samantha Eggar

Star Trek role: Marie Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation “Family”
Oscar nomination: Best Actress – Miranda Grey in The Collector (1965)

While shooting The Collector, about a woman kidnapped and held in a windowless room, co-star Terence Stamp was told not to even talk to Eggar during down time to preserve the mood, and when director William Wyler wanted more tension in a scene, he would throw cold water on her. Nothing like that took place on the set of TNG, where we assume everybody was happy to chat her up in the breaks, especially her fellow Brit, Patrick Stewart.

Samantha Eggar

Samantha Eggar as Marie Picard on The Next Generation and Miranda Grey in The Collector.

Michael J. Pollard

Star Trek role: Jahn, Star Trek “Miri”
Oscar nomination: Best Supporting Actor – C.W. Moss in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Although C.W. Moss was Bonnie and Clyde’s driver, Michael J. Pollard didn’t actually know how to drive, and told Roger Ebert that even though they hired someone to teach him, he still couldn’t learn how to do it. Pollard, perpetually babyfaced, was already 27 when he played the teenage Jahn on Star Trek.

Michael J. Pollard

Michael J. Pollard as Jahn on Star Trek and as C.W. Moss in Bonnie and Clyde

Paul Winfield

Star Trek roles: Captain Clark Terrell, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan / Captain Dathon, Star Trek: The Next Generation “Darmok”
Oscar nomination: Best Actor – Nathan Lee Morgan in Sounder (1972)

Director Nicholas Meyer said that the reason he cast Paul Winfield in Wrath of Khan was simply because he’d wanted to work with him ever since seeing Sounder. “There was no real reason for him to be the captain of the Reliant, other than my great desire to direct him in scenes!” he said. “I knew he could do it, without any question.”

Paul Winfield

Paul Winfield as Captain Terrell in The Wrath of Khan, as Captain Dathon on TNG, and as Nathan Lee Morgan in Sounder

Brad Dourif

Star Trek role: Lon Suder, Star Trek: Voyager, 3 episodes
Oscar nomination: Best Supporting Actor – Billy Bibbit, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Brad Dourif, who’s also famous for providing the voice of the Chucky doll in the Child’s Play movies, and was actually director Tim Burton’s first choice to play the Joker in his 1989 movie Batman. (The studio nixed it.) Dourif had no idea that Lon Suder would return after his first appearance in “Meld,” but was pleased he got to come back and finish up his storyline.

Brad Dourif

Brad Dourif as Lon Suder on Voyager and as Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

Teri Garr

Star Trek role: Roberta Lincoln, Star Trek “Assignment: Earth”
Oscar nomination: Best Supporting Actress – Sandy Lester in Tootsie (1982)

Teri Garr’s experience on Star Trek was not a positive one. In the book Inside Star Trek, Bob Justman described Gen Roddenberry’s insistence on shortening Roberta Lincoln’s skirt far past what even daring costume designer William Ware Theiss found acceptable, which likely contributed to Garr’s discomfort. Her episode, “Assignment: Earth,” was meant to be a pilot for a new series, and Garr told Starlog magazine that she would have done the series, but was relieved it didn’t sell.

Teri Garr

Teri Garr as Robert Lincoln on Star Trek and as Sandy Lester in Tootsie

Alfre Woodard

Star Trek role: Lily Sloane, Star Trek: First Contact
Oscar nomination: Best Supporting Actress – Beatrice “Geechee” in Cross Creek (1983)

First Contact director Jonathan Frakes and Alfre Woodard go way back, and despite being the same age, Woodard says she is Frakes’ “godmommy.” I got a call, and it might have been Jonathan saying ‘Godmommy, I’m going to direct First Contact.’ I said, ‘Yes!’ My godson was going to direct me. ‘Hell yeah.’ Then I thought, I don’t know anything about this. I remember that first day on set, Jonathan said, ‘You’re from a different time anyway, so you won’t even know half the things — it will work, it will work.’ That first day, I had to come through a Jefferies tube and I said, ‘Jonathan, who’s Jeffrey?’ And he looked at me and he said, ‘Oh my god, what have I done?'”

Alfre Woodard

Alfre Woodard as Lily Sloane in First Contact and as Geechee in Cross Creek

Dean Stockwell

Star Trek role: Colonel Grat, Star Trek: Enterprise “Detained”
Oscar nomination: Best Supporting Actor – Tony “The Tiger” Russo in Married to the Mob (1988)

Fans of Quantum Leap were happy to see their two stars, Scott Bakula (Jonathan Archer) and Dean Stockwell reunited on Enterprise, despite the fact that they were playing adversaries. As for Married to the Mob, director Jonathan Demme was thrilled with Stockwell’s performance, even off-camera. “Dean was completely in character–talking like a gangster, walking like a gangster, always rolling his neck around like he was ready for a massage. Then he’d look around the set–very imperially–and say, ‘It’s so nice to see how you people operate in the movie business.'”

Dean Stockwell

Dean Stockwell as Col. Grat on Enterprise and as Tony Russo in Married to the Mob

Bruce Davison

Star Trek roles: Jareth, Star Trek: Voyager “Remember” / Menos, Star Trek: Enterprise “The Seventh”
Oscar nomination: Best Supporting Actor – David in Longtime Companion (1990)

Bruce Davison’s guest appearance on Voyager made Roxann Dawson (B’Elanna Torres) particularly happy.  “I’ve always wanted to work with him,” she told The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine. “I had known of him since I lived in New York City, and he was just brilliant.” His performance in Longtime Companion helped win major accolades for the movie, the first major studio film to tackle the AIDS crisis, and won him a Golden Globe.

Bruce Davison

Bruce Davison as Jareth in Voyager, as Menos in Enterprise, and as David in Longtime Companion.

Winona Ryder

Star Trek role: Amanda Grayson, Star Trek (2009)
Oscar nominations: Best Supporting Actress – May Welland in The Age of Innocence (1994) / Best Actress – Jo March in Little Women (1995)

Winona Ryder’s Little Women co-stars included two TNG guest actors: Kirsten Dunst, who was on when she was just 11, and John Neville, who played Sir Isaac Newton in a holodeck simulation. Ryder was cast as Amanda Grayson in Star Trek by J.J. Abrams as a tribute to the 1978 movie Superman, which featured well-known actors like Marlon Brando, Susannah York, and Glenn Ford in supporting roles. Several of Ryder’s scenes were deleted from the final cut, but turned up on the Blu-ray release as extras.

Winona Ryder

Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson in Star Trek, as May Welland in The Age of Innocence and as Jo March in Little Women

James Cromwell

Star Trek roles: Prime Minister Nayrok, Star Trek: The Next Generation “The Hunted” / Jaglom Shrek, Star Trek: The Next Generation “Birthright” / Minister Hanok, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine “Starship Down” / Zefram Cochrane, Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Enterprise
Oscar nomination: Best Supporting Actor –  Farmer Arthur Hoggett in Babe (1995)

James Cromwell’s part in the TNG two-parter “Birthright” had to be trimmed down, as during the time between filming the two episodes, he broke his leg. He had two extra scenes that were never filmed as a result, one of which painted Jaglom Shrek as a more sympathetic character.

James Cromwell

James Cromwell as Nayrok, then Jaglom Shrek on TNG, as Minister Hanok on DS9, as Zefram Cochrane in First Contact and as Arthur Hoggett in Babe

Shohreh Aghdashloo

Star Trek role: Commodore Paris in Star Trek Beyond
Oscar nomination: Best Supporting Actress – Nadereh Behrani in House of Sand and Fog (2003)

While principal filming on Star Trek Beyond wrapped in October of 2015, reshoots took place on March of the following year, and Shohreh Aghdashloo was added as Commodore Paris, likely an ancestor of Star Trek: Voyager‘s Tom Paris, confirmed by co-writer Simon Pegg in an interview in China while promoting the film.

Shohreh Aghdashloo

Shohreh Aghdashloo as Commodore Paris in Star Trek Beyond and Nadi in House of Sand and Fog

Frank Langella

Star Trek role: Jaro Essa, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 3 episodes
Oscar nomination: Best Actor – Richard Nixon, Frost/Nixon (2008)

Frank Langella took the DS9 role because his kids were big fans of the series, and with that as his motivation, he asked to remain uncredited on all three episodes. He won a Tony Award for his performance in the original stage production of Frost/Nixon, and when Ron Howard was asked to direct the film, said he would only do it if both Langella and co-star Michael Sheen were cast in their original roles.

Frank Langella

Frank Langella as Jaro Essa on DS9 and as Richard M. Nixon in Frost/Nixon

Benedict Cumberbatch

Star Trek role: Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek Into Darkness
Oscar nomination: Best Actor – Alan Turing, The Imitation Game (2014)

In December of 2011, Benedict Cumberbatch shot a short video of himself on his iPhone doing three scenes he’d been given from the newest Star Trek movie being directed by J.J. Abrams. He sent the video off, and on New Year’s Day, he got the call saying he had the part. The secrecy around the true identity of his character took center stage before the movie came out, as both Cumberbatch and Abrams repeatedly denied that he was playing Khan. Abrams later admitted that they would have been better off without all the subterfuge.

Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Cumberbatch as Khan in Into Darkness and as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game

Tom Hardy

Star Trek role: Shinzon, Star Trek Nemesis
Oscar nomination: Best Supporting Actor – John Fitzgerald, The Revenant (2015)

Not only did Tom Hardy shave his head to play Shinzon, a clone of Picard, but he also wore a prosthetic nose and chin so he’d resemble him better. He got the role in The Revenant when Sean Penn dropped out, and said he watched Tom Berenger in Platoon for inspiration on how to play the role.

Tom Hardy

Tom Hardy as Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis and as John Fitzgerald in The Revenant

 

Let us know if we missed anyone, and check back on Oscar night to see if we need to update our Christopher Plummer section with another win!

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Ve Neill? Robert Wise?

This article was about ACTORS in Star Trek who had won or who had gone on to win an Oscar. Neither Ms. Neill nor Mr. Wise are actors.

Perhaps Trekmovie should do another article about the behind-the-scenes Oscar winners/nominees who have worked on Star Trek.

Tom Hardy was nominated best supporting for The Revenant

That anecdote with Alfre Woodard was adorable. And James Cromwell certainly should get the Star Trek guest actor MVP award!

What about Trek at the Razzies? Shatner and Trek V swept the board!

I’m sure there’s a Hugo or Saturn award out there to counterbalance that…

Deep Space Nine’s Frank Langella was nominated Best Actor for Frost/Nixon.

D’oh! Okay, that’s two. I will add them in.

Great performer — and performance, as usual.

Star Trek is a high-quality franchise, all right. So happy to be a lifelong fan. Christopher Plummer, by the way, was understudied in Montreal by none other than William Shatner, who played a certain starship captain of some renown. Shakespearean actors, both!

Judith Anderson
Vulcan High Priestess – Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Rebecca (1940)

Didn’t Winona Ryder play Spocks mother

Does Genevieve Bujold count? She was nominated for her role of Anne Boleyn in “Anne of a Thousand Days.”

Well, she wan’t in any episode or movie that actually aired. All that’s available of her in a Star Trek role are some outtakes.

Morgan Woodward was a guest star in Star Trek TOS twice, and he was nominated for Coolhand Luke.

That was incorrect. He was not nominated.

George Coe

He wasn’t nominated for acting, though.

Ricardo should’ve been nominated for Trek II. and Shatner too

Thanks for the article, Mrs. Ulster. Timely, informative and enjoyable to reflect on all the years of quality entertainment.

Fun article, well done.

Thats the beauty of Trek it has no problem getting a lot of talented actors, across all the shows and films. Its remarkable to see so many work on the franchise through the years.

Almost makes you feel bad for F. Murray Abraham. He’s such a terrific actor, he was enthusiastic about what he was doing – and yet it had to be that Star Trek film…
I’m not even saying that Insurrection was the worst Star Trek film, or even the worst TNG film (well, as far as TNG films are concerned, to me there’s First Contact and then there’s the three bad ones; the bad ones which all have a couple of good aspects going for them – Kirk/Picard-interaction for Generations, the general lightheartedness for Insurrection and a fine space-battle sequence for Nemesis – but always pitted against a real slew of bad aspects) but Ru’afo is a prime example of a good actor playing a bad role.

Abraham was great in Insurrection.

Excellent article, Laurie. But how long must STAR TREK bear the ignominy of having actors that played major other franchise defining character roles prior in efforts such as SPACE 1999 go on to win an Oscar? And now even LOST IN SPACE’s Dr. Smith? Oh, the pain! The pain! ;-)

Shatner will win best supporting for Tarantinos Trek

It’s unlikely QT will be making any Trek in the foreseeable future.

exactly. just like the way his Manson movie got cancelled..

Well, when you read the press Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is generating, it’s not unreasonable to conclude that its already a troubled production. Sony backing out isn’t out of the question still…
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/can-quentin-tarantino-get-away-doing-a-sharon-tate-movie-2019-1089880

Phil,

Don’t be too hasty. With a little script rewrite QT can save this dream of his by having Kirk go back in time to Manson plagued Hollywood. He loves to kill multiple birds with one stone in his flicks.

Phil you seem determined this film won’t happen. It may not, but let’s wait and see first.

If Sony backs out of his current project, there’s little chance of cash strapped Paramount throwing good money after bad…

How an earth did Patrick Stewart not get a gong with his performance in First Contact?

“The line must be drawn here!”

Don’t know about Tarantinos Trek film, but the Manson project is moving forward.

The Shape of Water was the right movie to win last night, with Doug Jones playing the fish man and all.

LOL I had no idea that was Doug Jones! Crazy the movie is making so much noise but I heard very little about him playing the pivotal role. I don’t even think he was at the Oscars or I didn’t see him.

I didn’t see him on the broadcast either, but he apparently made an appearance:http://www.justjared.com/2018/03/04/richard-jenkins-joins-shape-of-water-co-stars-at-oscars-2018/

I guess this doesn’t count, but Michael McKean (he was in an episode in Voyager) was nominated for Best Song, along his wife Anette O’Toole.

Also, Akiva Goldsman appeared as a member of the Vulcan Council in Star Trek 2009. He has an Oscar as a writer