Patrick Stewart
The accolades he has received include "Sexiest Man on Television" ( TV Guide , 1992), which he considered an unusual distinction considering his age and his baldness. In an interview with Michael Parkinson, he expressed gratitude for Gene Roddenberry's riposte to a reporter who said, "Surely they would have cured baldness by the 24th century," to which Roddenberry replied, "In the 24th century, they wouldn't care."
Other works of note
In 1991, Stewart performed his adaptation of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol in which he portrayed all 40-plus characters himself, securing a nomination for that year's Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show. He later starred as Scrooge in a TV movie version of A Christmas Carol , receiving a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his performance. He was also the co-producer of the show, through the company he set up for the purpose: Camm Lane Productions, a reference to his birthplace in Camm Lane, Mirfield. He staged encore performances in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, and then again for the benefit of survivors and victims' families in the September 11 attacks. Stewart performed the play again for a 23-day run in London's West End in December 2005. For his performances in this play, he has received the Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance in 1992 and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for Solo Performance in 1994. Shakespeare roles during this period included Prospero in William Shakespeare's The Tempest , on Broadway in 1995, a role he would reprise in Rupert Goold's 2006 production of The Tempest as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Complete Works Festival, and the title role in Shakespeare's Othello in 1997. Originally a play about a black African entering a white society, Stewart had wanted to play the title role since the age of 14, so he (along with director Jude Kelly), inverted the play so Othello became a white man entering a black society.
He has played a great range of characters, from the flamboyantly gay Sterling in the 1995 film Jeffrey to King Henry II in The Lion in Winter , for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for his performance and an Emmy Award nomination for executive-producing the film. He portrayed Captain Ahab in the 1998 made-for-TV movie version of Moby Dick , receiving Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for his performance. In late 2003, during the eleventh and final season of NBC's Frasier , Stewart appeared on the show as a gay Seattle socialite who mistakes Frasier for a potential lover.
In July 2003, he appeared as himself in Series 02 (Episode 09) of Top Gear in the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment. He achieved 1:50 in the Liana.
Stewart has also starred in X-Men , X2 , X-Men: The Last Stand , and X-Men Origins: Wolverine as Charles Xavier, although he is not credited for Wolverine. The films' success has resulted in another lucrative regular genre film role in a major superhero film series. He has also since voiced the role in three video games, X-Men Legends , X-Men Legends II and X-Men: Next Dimension .
In 2005, he was cast as Professor Ian Hood in an ITV thriller 4-episode series Eleventh Hour , created by Stephen Gallagher. The first episode was broadcast on 19 January 2006. He also, in 2005, played Captain Nemo in a two part adaptation of The Mysterious Island . Stewart also appeared in Ricky Gervais's television series Extras , as a last-minute replacement for Jude Law. For playing himself, he was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2006 for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.
In October/November 2006, Stewart accompanied the Royal Shakespeare Company as they performed The Tempest , Antony and Cleopatra and Julius Caesar at the University of Michigan. He acted the role of Antony again playing opposite Harriet Walter's Cleopatra in an acclaimed performance of Antony and Cleopatra at the Novello Theatre in London in 2007. During this period, Stewart also addressed the Durham Union Society on his life in film and theatre.
He was named as the next Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre based at St Catherine's College, University of Oxford in January 2007. In 2008, Stewart played King Claudius in Hamlet alongside David Tennant. He won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for the part. When collecting his award, he dedicated the award "in part" to Tennant and Tennant's understudy Edward Bennett, after Tennant's back injury and subsequent absence from four weeks of Hamlet disqualified him from an Olivier nomination. Stewart has expressed interest in appearing in Doctor Who .
In 2009, Stewart appeared alongside Ian McKellen as the lead duo of Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), in the play Waiting for Godot . Stewart had previously only appeared once alongside McKellen on stage, but the pair had developed a close friendship while waiting around on set filming the X-Men films. Stewart stated that performing in this play was the fulfilment of a 50 year ambition, having seen Peter O'Toole appear in it at the Bristol Old Vic while Stewart was just 17. His interpretation captured well the balance between humour and despair that characterizes the work. At the end of the final performance Stewart broke down in tears off-camera in episode 6 of the Sky Arts documentary Theatreland as he expressed his simultaneous joy at performing at the Haymarket Theatre, and the fear that he may be too old to take another major part that will bring him back to the theatre.
Voice acting
Stewart has lent his voice to a number of projects. He has narrated recordings of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf , Vivaldi's The Four Seasons , C. S. Lewis's The Last Battle (conclusion of the series The Chronicles of Narnia ), Rick Wakeman's Return to the Centre of the Earth ; as well as numerous TV programs such as High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman . Stewart provided the narration for Nine Worlds , an astronomical tour of the solar system and The Secret of Life on Earth , a nature documentary. He is also heard as the voice of the Magic Mirror in Disneyland's live show, Snow White - An Enchanting Musical. He also was the narrator for the American release of Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real.
He also was a voice actor on several animated films, including The Prince of Egypt , Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius , Chicken Little , The Pagemaster , as well as the English dubbings of the Japanese anime films Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki and Steamboy . He voiced the pig Napoleon in a TV adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm and guest starred in the Simpsons episode "Homer the Great" as Number One. Patrick also narrated the introduction narration for the Disney's "Nightmare Before Before Christmas" which also appears on the movie's soundtrack. More recently, he has played a recurring role as CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock (lending his likeness as well as his voice) on the animated series American Dad! as well as making (as of 2009) four guest appearances on Family Guy in various roles: first in "Peter's Got Woods" as Captain Picard, second in "No Meals on Wheels" when Peter likens something to when he once swapped voices with him for a day, third in "Lois Kills Stewie" as his American Dad! character Bullock, and fourth in "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" as himself. In 2006, Stewart voiced Bambi's father, The Great Prince of the Forest in Disney's direct-to-video sequel, Bambi II .
He lent his voice to a number of Activision-produced Star Trek computer games, including Star Trek: Armada , Armada II , Star Trek: Starfleet Command III , Star Trek: Invasion , Bridge Commander , and Elite Force II , all reprising his role as Captain Picard. Stewart reprised his role as Picard in Star Trek: Legacy for both PC and Xbox 360, along with the four other 'major' Starfleet captains from the different Star Trek series.
In addition to voicing his characters from Star Trek and X-Men in several related computer and video games, Stewart also worked as a voice actor on games unrelated to both franchises, such as Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone , and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in which in 2006 he won a Spike TV Video Game Award for his work as Emperor Uriel Septim. He also lent his voice to several editions of the Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia.
His voice talents also appeared in a couple of commercials including the UK TV Advert for Domestos 5x Longer Bleach, an advertisement for Shell fuel, and an American advertisement for the prescription drug Crestor. He also voiced the UK and Australian TV advertisements for the PAL version of Final Fantasy XII .
Stewart also used his voice for Pontiac and Porsche automobiles and MasterCard Gold commercials in 1996, and Goodyear Assurance Tires and Crestor drugs in 2004. He also did voice-overs for RCA televisions. He provided the voice of Max Winters in TMNT in March 2007. In 2008, he is also the voice of television advertisements for Currys and Stella Artois beer.
Personal life
Stewart and his first wife, Sheila Falconer, have two children: Daniel Freedom and Sophie Alexandra. Stewart and Falconer divorced in 1990. In 1997, he became engaged to Wendy Neuss, one of the producers of Star Trek: The Next Generation , and they married on 25 August 2000, divorcing three years later. Four m
