Brent Spiner

Photo of Brent Spiner

Biography

A dark-haired actor and singer from the musical stage, Spiner made headway on television in small roles during the late 1970s. After off-Broadway work ranging from "Leave It to Beaver Is Dead" (1979) to "The Sea Gull" (1980), Spiner made it on Broadway in 1978 in "A History of the American Film" and later played two supporting roles in Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's award-winning musical biography of pointillist painter Georges Seurat, …
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Job Title

Actor, Writer, Music

Born

February 2, 1949

Career Milestones

Played Lt. Commander Data on the syndicated sci-fi adventure series, "Star Trek: The Next Generation"

1978

Earliest TV work included the role of Tom Fink in the CBS mystery miniseries, "The Dain Curse"

1979

Played one of the leading roles in the off-Broadway musical, "Leave It to Beaver Is Dead", produced by Joseph Papp as part of the New York Shakespeare Festival

1980

Returned to the NY Shakespeare Festival to play Treplev in a revival of Chekhov's "The Sea Gull"

1981

First major film work, playing a leading role in the independently made feature, "Rent Control"

1984

Performed on Broadway as "Franz, a Servant" and "Dennis, a Technician" in the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine hit musical, "Sunday in the Park with George"

1986

Played the recurring guest role of Bob Wheeler on the popular NBC sitcom, "Night Court"

1989

Returned to features to play a role in "Miss Firecracker"

1994

Reprised the role of Data in the feature "Star Trek: Generations"

1996

Again played Data in "Star Trek: Final Contact"

1996

Cast as scientists in two blockbuster hits, "Independence Day" and "Phenomenon"

1997

Played a foppish cruise director foil to Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in the comedy "Out to Sea"

1997

Returned to Broadway to star as John Adams in the musical revival of "1766"

1998

Returned as Data for "Star Trek: Insurrection"

1999

Co-starred as manager Earl Mills in the HBO biopic "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge"

1999

Voiced the animated Conon O'Brien in "South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut"

2000

Had an uncredited appearance in "Dude, Where's My Car?"

2000

Offered comic turn as Stromboli in the ABC/Disney TV musical "Geppetto"

2001

Reprised role of Data in "Star Trek: Nemesis"

2002

Played criminal mastermind Devlin Bowman in the Dana Carvey comedy "Master of Disguise"

2004

Appeared in Martin Scorsese's "The Aviator"

2005

Cast as Dr. Nigel Fenway in the failed CBS series "Threshold"

2005

Guest-stared on "Enterprise," (UPN) playing the great-great-grandfather of Dr. Noonien Soong (creator of Data)

2006

Played the CEO of a besieged cosmetics company in the comedy "Material Girls"