Born on July 13, 1940 in Mirfield, Yorkshire, England, Patrick Stewart is an actor best known for a theater career that spans fifty years, plus well-known roles as Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek and Professor Xavier in the X-Men films. He is also Chancellor of the University of Huddersfield. The son of a textile worker and a sergeant major in the British Army, Stewart was mostly poor growing up, an experience that would shape his political and ideological beliefs. He attended Crowlees C of E Junior and Infants School and entered Mirfield Secondary School when he was 11 to study drama.
When he turned 15, Stewart dropped out of school and instead opted to actively perform in local theaters. He worked as a newspaper reporter and even obituary writer, but after a year of juggling jobs, his editor made him choose between journalism and acting, which led to him quitting his job. When he was 17, he took on a two-year acting course at the Bristol Old Vic Theater. When he turned 19, he started losing most of his hair.
After touring with the Manchester Library Theater, Stewart joined the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 where he rubbed elbows with the likes of Ian Richardson and Ben Kingsley. He made his Broadway debut in a legendary production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. What followed as a string of television series, such as Fall of Eagles, I, Claudius, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and Smiley’s People. In 1980, he bagged the role of Cladius in a BBC adaptation of Hamlet. In 1987, he went to Los Angeles to start playing Captain Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, a role which earned him a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination in 1995. Stewart’s other screen credits include Moby Dick, Frasier, the X-Men movies, and Eleventh Hour.
-Patrick found his beloved cat (which he named 'Bella') on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).
-Patrick is a fan of the Beavis and Butthead cartoon.
-Patrick is a life-long supporter of Huddersfield Town Football Club.
-Patrick is best friends with his Star Trek cast mate, Brent Spiner, who was his best man at his wedding to Trek producer, Wendy Neuss.
-Is a fan of "Red Dwarf" (1988).
-I was brought up in a very poor and very violent household. I spent much of my childhood being afraid.
-[William Shatner] has one style. We have completely contrasting personalities. We're very good friends. I adore him, but we're very different people, so they were smart enough to write characters that reflected that.
-I would like to see us get this place right first before we have the arrogance to put significantly flawed civilizations out onto other planets, even though they may be utterly uninhabited.
-Roddenberry had created quite a complex and at times mysterious character. Guarded, cautious, careful in showing his feelings in expressing his ideas about many things-I found that very interesting.