William Shatner
Acting
- Born:
- 1931-03-22
- Place of birth:
- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Biography
William Shatner, OC (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the Star Trek franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship Enterprise in the second pilot of the first Star Trek television series to his final appearance as Captain Kirk in the seventh Star Trek feature film, Star Trek Generations (1994). Shatner began his screen acting career in Canadian films and television productions before moving into guest-starring roles in various American television shows. He appeared as James Kirk in all the episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, 21 of the 22 episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series, and the first seven Star Trek movies. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences before, during and after his time in a Starfleet uniform. He has also co-written several novels set in the Star Trek universe and a series of science fiction novels, the TekWar sequence, that were adapted for television. Outside Star Trek, Shatner played the eponymous veteran police sergeant in T. J. Hooker (1982–1986), hosted the reality-based television series Rescue 911 (1989–1996), guest starred on the detective series Columbo, and acted in the comedy film Miss Congeniality (2000). After his last appearance as Captain Kirk, Shatner's television career has embraced comedy, drama and reality shows. In seasons 4 and 5 of the NBC series 3rd Rock from the Sun, he played the alien "Big Giant Head", to which the main characters reported. From 2004 until 2008, he starred as attorney Denny Crane in the final season of the legal show The Practice and in its spinoff Boston Legal, a role that earned him two Emmy Awards, one for his contribution to each series. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, he starred in both seasons of NBC's Better Late Than Never, a comical travel series in which a band of elderly celebrities toured East Asia and Europe. Aside from acting, Shatner has had a career as a recording artist, beginning in 1968 with his album The Transformed Man. His cover versions of songs are dramatic recitations of their lyrics rather than musical performances: the most notable are his versions of the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man", and Elton John's "Rocket Man". His most successful album was his third, Seeking Major Tom (2011), which includes covers of Pink Floyd's "Learning to Fly", David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". In 2021, Shatner flew into space aboard Blue Origin NS-18, a Blue Origin sub-orbital capsule. At age 90, he became the oldest person to fly in space and one of the first 600 to do so. Minutes after the flight, he described experiencing the overview effect.
Known For
Filmography
The Sixty Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television and the World
Star Trek: Legenden
For the Love of Star Trek
Hey Jonas!
The Eagle Obsession
Aliens Among Us with William Shatner
The D-Con Chamber
The UnXplained: Mysteries of the Universe
William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill
Masters of the Universe: Revolution
Dick Van Dyke: 98 Years of Magic
The UnXplained Special Presentation
Full Moon's Roadshow Revisited
Stars on Mars
Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg
Way of Tomorrow: The Evolution of Science Fiction Movies
A Tear in the Sky
Piers Morgan Uncensored
Fireheart
2021 and Done with Snoop Dogg & Kevin Hart
Shatner in Space
Expedition Unknown: Shark Trek
WWE Hall Of Fame 2020
Senior Moment
Creators: The Past
To Your Last Death
WWE Backstage
Devil's Revenge
The Kelly Clarkson Show
The UnXplained
My Life Is Murder
The Masked Singer
Star Trek: Short Treks
The Steam Engines of Oz
Aliens Ate My Homework
The Indian Detective
Batman vs. Two-Face
Not a War Story
The Truth Is in the Stars
Heroes Manufactured
Unlocked: The World of Games, Revealed
Star Trek: The Original Series – The Roddenberry Vault
Star Trek: Inside the Roddenberry Vault
For the Love of Spock
Better Late Than Never
When Elephants Were Young
Range 15
Koko: The Gorilla Who Talks to People
Private Eyes
They Came from the Swamp: The Films of William Grefé
A Sunday Horse
The Colorful Montreal Expos
The Shannara Chronicles
Just in Time for Christmas
Baby, Baby, Baby
WWE Breaking Ground
Being Canadian
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
A Christmas Horror Story
StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson
Tom Felton Meets the Superfans
A Star Is Drawn: Rob Simone's Look Inside Comic-Con
Chaos on the Bridge
To Be Takei
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Real History of Science Fiction
Kelly Clarkson's Cautionary Christmas Music Tale
The Captains Close Up
Return to the Forest
Escape from Planet Earth
The Captains: Still Kicking
Gotham Comedy Live
Horrorween
Get a Life!
Comic Book Men
Corman's World
Eat, Fry, Love
Comedy Central Roast of Charlie Sheen
William Shatner Sings O Canada
The Captains
The Space Shuttle
Classic TV Bloopers Uncensored
Life Beyond Trek: William Shatner
Billy Blackburn's Treasure Chest: Rare Home Movies and Special Memories
The Fran Drescher Show
The Talk
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
$#*! My Dad Says
Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey
Aftermath with William Shatner
Haven
Rookie Blue
Hot in Cleveland
Weird or What?
Charles Beaumont: The Short Life of Twilight Zone's Magic Man
Vancouver 2010 Olympic Closing Ceremony
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien
William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet
Star Trek: The Captain's Summit
Fanboys
Gotta Catch Santa Claus
Shatner's Raw Nerve
Everest
Million Dollar Password
Murdoch Mysteries
Extraordinary Animals
WWE: The Best of Raw 15th Anniversary
Mars Rising
The Big Bang Theory
The Pixar Story
Show Me the Money
Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner
Psych
Over the Hedge
The Wild
The Henry Rollins Show
Stalking Santa
William Shatner in Concert
40 Years of Star Trek
Last Laugh '05
Merry F#%$in' Christmas
How William Shatner Changed the World
The Reichen Show
The Colbert Report
Hell's Kitchen
Invasion Iowa
Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous
The Annie Awards
Lil' Pimp
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
Last Laugh '04
Boston Legal
Atomic Betty
The Tony Danza Show
DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story
The Rose Parade: A Pageant for the Ages
Best Week Ever
Sci-Fi Visionaries
Kiss 'N' Tell: Romance in the 23rd Century
Birth of a Timeless Legacy
A Carol Christmas
Christmas from Hollywood
Late Night with Conan O'Brien: 10th Anniversary Special
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
Chilly Beach
Comedy Central Roasts
Halloween: A Cut Above the Rest
Real Time with Bill Maher
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
William Shatner's Spplat Attack II
Spplat Attack
Christopher Plummer: A Man For All Stages
Groom Lake
American Psycho II: All American Girl
One-Hit Wonders
NBC 75th Anniversary Special
After They Were Famous
Showtime
Cosmic Odyssey
Shoot or Be Shot!
Star Wars vs. Star Trek: The Rivalry Continues
Mind Meld: Secrets Behind the Voyage of a Lifetime
Festival in Cannes
Gahan Wilson's The Kid
Whale Shark Hunters of the Philippines
Bob Patterson
Good Day Live
Osmosis Jones
Falcon Down
Remembering 'The Intruder'
NASA: A Space Odyssey Vol. 3
NASA: A Space Odyssey Vol. 1
NASA: A Space Odyssey Vol. 2
Miss Congeniality
Atomic Journeys: Welcome to Ground Zero
Click
Saturday Night Live: Christmas
The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn
Futurama
A Twist in the Tale
Nukes in Space
Land of the Free
Hollywood Ghost Stories
Hercules
Free Enterprise
Saturday Night Live: The Best of Phil Hartman
Trekkies
Jefftowne
The View
Space Cadets
TV Guide Looks at Science Fiction
Perversions of Science
The Practice
Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond
The Prisoner of Zenda, Inc.
Star Trek Story
E! True Hollywood Story
The Daily Show
Corwin
Muppets Tonight
Dead Man's Island
William Shatner's Star Trek Memories
3rd Rock from the Sun
Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie
Virtuosity
TekWar
Janek: The Silent Betrayal
Science Fiction: A Journey Into the Unknown
Star Trek: A Captain's Log
William Shatner: Captain's Log
Star Trek: Generations
City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold
TekWar: TekJustice
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
TekWar: TekLab
TekWar: TekLords
TekWar
UFO Cover-Up Live with Larry King
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
seaQuest DSV
Late Show with David Letterman
Family of Strangers
National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1
Raw
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Your Guide to Star Trek: Generations
Gottschalk Late Night
Eek! The Cat
The Larry Sanders Show
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
The Twenty-Five Year Mission Tour
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
The Horror Hall of Fame II
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary Special
Voices That Care
Have I Got News for You
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Dream On
Happy Birthday, Bugs! 50 Looney Years
Amazon: Land of the Flooded Forest
Rescue 911
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
Hollywood on Horses
The Star Trek Saga: From One Generation to the Next
LIVE with Kelly and Mark
Broken Angel
Seasons
Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
William Shatner's Mysteries of the Way We Feel
The Canadian Conspiracy
T.J. Hooker: Blood Sport
Super Duper Bloopers
North Beach and Rawhide
The Ray Bradbury Theater
Night of 100 Stars II
Television
Hollywood's Funniest All-Star Bloopers
Secrets of a Married Man
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Prime Times
Airplane II: The Sequel
Madame's Place
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Visiting Hours
T. J. Hooker
Night of 100 Stars
Police Squad!
Late Night with David Letterman
The Babysitter
The Kidnapping of the President
Fridays
Hypnosis and Beyond
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Disaster on the Coastliner
Riel
The Crash of Flight 401
Little Women
Land of No Return
The Bastard
The Third Walker
The Oregon Trail
Kingdom of the Spiders
Testimony of Two Men
How the West Was Won
Battle of the Network Stars
A Whale of a Tale
The Tenth Level
Perilous Voyage
Mysteries of the Gods
Universe
Microworld
Saturday Night Live
The Star Trek Dream
Barbary Coast
The Devil’s Rain
Mitzi & 100 Guys
Amy Prentiss
Impulse
Big Bad Mama
Police Woman
Kodiak
Petrocelli
Pray for the Wildcats
The Six Million Dollar Man
Flick Flack
Indict and Convict
Pioneer Woman
The Magician
Star Trek
Police Story
The Horror at 37,000 Feet
Barnaby Jones
Go Ask Alice
Incident on a Dark Street
Kung Fu
The Rookies
The Hound of the Baskervilles
The People
The Sixth Sense
Columbo
Vanished
The Andersonville Trial
Sole Survivor
Swing Out, Sweet Land
Hawaii Five-O
Shadow Game
The Name of the Game
White Comanche
Alexander The Great
Mannix
Off to See the Wizard
Ironside
Space Seed
CBS Playhouse
Incubus
Mission: Impossible
Star Trek
The F.B.I.
The Big Valley
For the People
The Outrage
Reporter
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
12 O'Clock High
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Burke's Law
Channing
The Fugitive
The Outer Limits
Arrest and Trial
Miss USA
Operation Bikini
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
The Merv Griffin Show
The Virginian
The Intruder
Judgment at Nuremberg
The Mike Douglas Show
The Explosive Generation
Alcoa Premiere
Dr. Kildare
The Dick Powell Show
The Defenders
The Grim Reaper
Festival
Route 66
Outlaws
Thriller
Police Surgeon
The Twilight Zone
City Out of Time
One Step Beyond
The Christmas Tree
77 Sunset Strip
Naked City
A Town Has Turned to Dust
The Brothers Karamazov
Suspicion
The Defender (Studio One)
Oedipus Rex
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Gunsmoke
Climax!
On Camera
The Oscars
Space Command
Omnibus
General Motors Theatre
Hallmark Hall of Fame
The Butler's Night Off
Lamp Unto My Feet
Studio One
The Ed Sullivan Show
Kraft Television Theatre
Golden Globe Awards
The Atomic Bomb Collection
Keeper of the Cup
Have I Got a Bit More News for You
Inner Space
Science Fiction Film Awards