Award-winning actor Rene Auberjonois was born on June 1, 1940 in New York City. He decided to become an actor at an early age, when his family lived in Paris during World War II. Upon his return to New York, he joined an artists’ colony in Rockland County, and eventually took his first job as a theater apprentice, and later trained at the Juilliard School. He later graduated from the then-called Carnegie Institute of Technology.
Auberjonois has many accomplishments in different fields of acting. He was first known as a renowned theater actor, having begun his stage career after graduating from college. He helped found several groups across the country, including San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre and Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum. He then made his name on Broadway, appearing in productions such as King Lear, Big River, The Good Doctor and City of Angels. He won a Tony award for his work on Coco, where he starred opposite Katharine Hepburn. He has also directed many stage productions.
Auberjonois’ film career was established when he starred in the comedy MASH, where he played disregarded Army chaplain Father Mulcahy. He has since appeared in numerous other films, including McCabe & Mrs. Miller, King Kong, The Big Bus, Where the Buffalo Roam, Inspector Gadget and The Patriot, as well as cameos in Batman Forever and Brewster McCloud. He also provided his voice to several animated films, including the first two Little Mermaid films and Joseph: King of Dreams.
On television, Auberjonois has been a regular in three notable series. He was the governor’s new chief-of-staff, Clayton Endicott III, in the long-running comedy Benson, which premiered in 1979. In 1993, he entered the Star Trek universe, playing indefatigable and principled security chief Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. More recently, he played legal workhorse Paul Lewiston in the legal drama Boston Legal; he joined in 2004 and was relegated to recurring status in 2007. His television work earned him two Emmy nominations, one for Benson and another for a guest role in The Practice.