On September 28, 1987, Star Trek: The Next Generation launched a new crew of the USS Enterprise. It aired in first-run syndication instead of on a network and ran for seven seasons and 178 episodes, ending in May 1994. The series won 19 Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award, and its stars went on to make four feature films. Decades later, many of them came back together for Star Trek: Picard and a shared Saturn Award for lifetime achievement. Here is what the crew has done since then.
Denise Crosby
Denise Crosby was born in Hollywood in 1957. Her paternal grandfather was the singer and actor Bing Crosby. She played security chief Tasha Yar in the first season and left after 22 episodes. She later said she felt the role made her "just stage dressing." Her exit didn't end her time with the franchise. She came back as Yar in the alternate-timeline episode "Yesterday's Enterprise," played Yar's half-Romulan daughter Sela, and returned again for the series finale. In 1989 she starred as Rachel Creed in the Stephen King adaptation Pet Sematary. She also co-produced and narrated the fan documentary Trekkies (1997) and its 2003 sequel. Her later screen work includes Jackie Brown, Deep Impact, Ray Donovan, Suits and The Walking Dead.
Patrick Stewart
Patrick Stewart was born in Mirfield, Yorkshire, in 1940. He was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 to 1982, and then crossed the Atlantic to play Captain Jean-Luc Picard. He went on to lead four feature films. From 2000 to 2017 he played Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film series, and he returned to Picard for Star Trek: Picard from 2020 to 2023. He was knighted in 2010 for services to drama. He earned a Tony nomination for Hamlet on Broadway in 2008 and starred opposite Ian McKellen in Waiting for Godot in London and on Broadway. He has two Olivier Awards and a Grammy. In 2023 he published Making It So: A Memoir.
Jonathan Frakes
Jonathan Frakes was born in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, in 1952. He played Commander William T. Riker, and he and Patrick Stewart were the only two actors to appear in every episode. Frakes then became one of the franchise's busiest directors. He directed the feature films Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and later Clockstoppers and Thunderbirds. On television he has directed episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, Picard and Strange New Worlds, as well as Roswell, Leverage, Castle and The Librarians. He also hosted the anthology series Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction. In 1988 he married actress Genie Francis, and they have two children.
LeVar Burton
LeVar Burton was born in 1957 in Landstuhl, West Germany. He was already famous for playing young Kunta Kinte in the 1977 miniseries Roots when he was cast as Geordi La Forge, who became the Enterprise's chief engineer. He also hosted and executive-produced PBS's Reading Rainbow for 23 seasons, winning a Peabody Award and a string of Daytime Emmys. He has directed episodes of four Star Trek series. In 2021 he was a guest host of Jeopardy! after a fan petition gathered more than 250,000 signatures. He has hosted Trivial Pursuit on The CW since 2024, and his podcast LeVar Burton Reads won a Webby Award. He returned as Geordi in Picard's third season.
Brent Spiner
Brent Spiner was born in Houston, Texas, in 1949. He played the android Data and also took on Data's "brothers," Lore and B-4. Movie fans also know him as the excitable Dr. Brackish Okun in Independence Day (1996), a role he played again in the 2016 sequel. On Broadway he appeared in Sunday in the Park with George and played John Adams in the 1997 revival of 1776. In 1991 he released Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back, an album of 1940s pop standards. He played several characters in Star Trek: Picard, and in 2021 he published Fan Fiction, a novel that blends memories of filming the show with a noir mystery.
Michael Dorn
Michael Dorn was born in Luling, Texas, in 1952. Before Star Trek, he played Officer Jebediah Turner in 31 episodes of CHiPs. He played the Klingon officer Worf through all seven seasons, then joined Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for its last four seasons. That gives him more regular-cast appearances than any other Star Trek actor. He also voiced Coldstone in Disney's Gargoyles and the title character in I Am Weasel. Away from acting, he is an accomplished pilot who has flown with the Blue Angels and the Thunderbirds. In 2023 he returned as Captain Worf in the third season of Star Trek: Picard.
Gates McFadden
Gates McFadden was born Cheryl Gates McFadden in Akron, Ohio, in 1949. She studied theater at Brandeis University and physical theater in Paris. Before Star Trek she worked as a choreographer for the Jim Henson Company, including on Labyrinth and The Muppets Take Manhattan. She played Dr. Beverly Crusher, left after the first season, and came back in season three to stay through the finale and the four films. She was later artistic director of Ensemble Studio Theatre/Los Angeles from 2009 to 2014. She hosts the podcast Gates McFadden InvestiGates and returned as Crusher in Star Trek: Picard's third season.
Marina Sirtis
Marina Sirtis was born in London in 1955 to Greek parents and trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She moved to Los Angeles in 1986 and was soon cast as Counselor Deanna Troi, a role she played in all seven seasons and four films. She later played Troi again in Voyager, Enterprise, Lower Decks and Star Trek: Picard. Animation fans also know her as the voice of Demona in Disney's Gargoyles. She became a naturalized U.S. citizen and also holds British citizenship. In 2024 she shared a Saturn Award for lifetime achievement with her castmates.
Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton was born in Burbank, California, in 1972. He was fresh from his breakout role as Gordie Lachance in Stand by Me when he joined the cast as teenage Wesley Crusher. He was a main cast member for four seasons. He later played a comic version of himself in 17 episodes of The Big Bang Theory, co-created and hosted the YouTube board game show TableTop, and voiced Aqualad in Teen Titans. He has narrated many audiobooks, including Ready Player One, and wrote books including Just a Geek and Still Just a Geek. Since 2020 he has hosted The Ready Room, an official Star Trek aftershow. He played Wesley again in the Picard season two finale.
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg was born Caryn Elaine Johnson in Manhattan in 1955. She was already an Oscar nominee for The Color Purple when she began her recurring role as Guinan, the Enterprise's wise bartender, in 1988. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Ghost (1990) and starred in the hit comedy Sister Act. In 2002 she completed the rare EGOT, winning an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony. She has been moderator of The View since 2007. During a 2020 appearance on that show, Patrick Stewart invited her to play Guinan again in Star Trek: Picard, and she accepted on the spot.
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Crosby
- https://trekmovie.com/2022/05/23/interview-denise-crosby-on-trekkies-at-25-and-looking-back-at-star-trek-the-next-generation/
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Denise_Crosby_by_Gage_Skidmore.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Denise_Crosby_GalaxyCon_Nashville_052026-3.jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Stewart
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Patrick_Stewart_(231222056).jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Patrick_Stewart_(48445240507).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Frakes
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jonathan_Frakes_(cropped).jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jonathan_Frakes_(54429147708).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LeVar_Burton
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Levar_burton.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:LeVar_Burton_(53215805271).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brent_Spiner
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brent_Spiner_at_Las_Vegas1.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brent_Spiner_at_GalaxyCon_San_Jose,_August,_30,_2026_197.jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Dorn
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_Dorn.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michael_Dorn_(53939174085).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gates_McFadden
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gates_McFadden_in_1996.JPEG
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gates_McFadden_2025.jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Sirtis
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marina_Sirtis_3.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marina_Sirtis_(49645536537).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wil_Wheaton
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gnomedex_4,_Wil_Wheaton_-_Flickr_-_Peter_Kaminski.jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Worldcon_2026_(LAcon_V)_-_Wil_Wheaton_01.jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopi_Goldberg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whoopi_Goldberg_by_John_Mathew_Smith_(cropped).jpg
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Whoopi_Goldberg_Springsteen-71_(cropped).jpg
