Frakes attended Pennsylvania State University, where he was a member of the Thespians, and graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater Arts in 1974. Although he had enjoyed performing in plays throughout junior high and high school, it was not until he entered Penn State that he began to take acting seriously. While he was working a summer job as an usher at the Festival of America Theatre, a director spotted him and suggested he would make a great addition to his play's chorus. Transformed by the experience, Frakes immediately changed his major from psychology to theater.[5]
For a time in the late 1970s, Frakes worked for Marvel Comics, appearing in costume as Captain America at conventions and other promotional events as well as for special appearances; he credits the experience in helping to hone his skills on interacting with fans on the Star Trek convention circuit.[10] After graduating from Harvard, Frakes moved to New York City and became a member of the Impossible Ragtime Theater. In that company, Frakes did his first off-Broadway acting in Eugene O'Neill's The Hairy Ape directed by George Ferencz. His first Broadway appearance was in 1976 in the musical Shenandoah. Around the same time, he landed a role in the NBCsoap operaThe Doctors.[11] When his character, Vietnam veteran Tom Carroll, was dismissed from the show, Frakes, urged by his agent, moved to Los Angeles, where he obtained guest spots in many of the top television series of the 1970s and 1980s, including The Waltons, Eight Is Enough, Hart to Hart, Barnaby Jones, The Dukes of Hazzard, Matlock, Quincy, M.E., and Hill Street Blues.
He played the part of Charles Lindbergh in a 1983 episode of Voyagers! titled "An Arrow Pointing East". In 1983, he had a role in the short-lived NBC prime time soap opera Bare Essence (which also starred his future wife Genie Francis), and a supporting role in the equally short-lived primetime soap Paper Dolls in 1984.[11] He also had recurring roles in Falcon Crest[11] and the miniseriesNorth and South. Frakes appeared in the 1986 miniseries Dream West.
In 1987, Frakes was cast in the role of Commander William T. Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation.[12] He was one of only two actors to appear in every episode (the other being Patrick Stewart). While appearing on the show, Frakes was allowed to sit in on casting sessions, concept meetings, production design, editing, and post-production, which gave him the preparation he needed to become a director.[13] He directed eight episodes of the show[14] and 21 episodes of the Star Trek universe.[15] After the TV series ended in 1994, Frakes reprised his role in the Star Trek: The Next Generation films, two of which (Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection) he directed.[16]
Branching out from the Star Trek franchise, Frakes directed the 2002 family film Clockstoppers. However, his next film, 2004's Thunderbirds, was a box-office bomb, which he has said single-handedly almost destroyed what had been a successful directing career: "[My] name was taken off the lists ... I went from 60 to zero. It was a wake-up for me. I had been so positive, and so blessed, and so fortunate."[13] It was several years before Frakes was given another opportunity to direct for television, and Thunderbirds remains his final theatrical directorial credit.
Frakes was an executive producer for the WB series Roswell, directed several episodes, and guest-starred in three episodes. His relationship with Star Trek is downplayed in the season 3 episode "Secrets and Lies", in which the alien character Max auditions for a guest role as an alien for Star Trek: Enterprise.
Frakes appeared on the 1994 Phish album Hoist, playing trombone on the track titled "Riker's Mailbox". Frakes would occasionally perform on the trombone during his tenure as Commander Riker, drawing on his college marching band experience. He was also a member of "The Sunspots", a vocal backup group of Star Trek cast members that appeared on Brent Spiner's 1991 album Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back.
Frakes hosted The Paranormal Borderline, a short-lived television series on UPN, which dealt with the paranormal and mysterious happenings and creatures.[18] In one episode, Frakes presented an interview of reporter Yolanda Gaskins with veteran astronaut Gordon Cooper, where they discussed the possibility of aliens having visited Earth in the past.[19][20] He hosted seasons 2 through 6 of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, which also dealt with the paranormal world.
Frakes and Francis appeared together in Lois & Clark in the episode "Don't Tug on Superman's Cape" as a creepily too-good-to-be-true couple. He narrated the History Channel's That's Impossible.
Frakes works with the Workshops, the Waterfall Arts Center, and the Saltwater Film Society, all located in Maine, where he teaches classes on film direction. He has also previously taught directing and filmmaking courses at Rockport College, now called Maine Media College.[9][22][23][24] He and Francis owned a home furnishings store in Belfast, Maine, called The Cherished Home, which closed in August 2012 due to her being too busy with her acting to spend adequate time at the store.[25]
Personal life
Frakes and actress Debralee Scott met at an exercise class in Los Angeles. They married after about a year and lived in a 2-bedroom house in Sherman Oaks, California.[26]
Frakes first met actress Genie Francis on the set of the television soap opera Bare Essence, and again while filming the mini-series North and South. They began dating in 1985, became engaged in 1986, and married on May 28, 1988. The couple have two children, Jameson Ivor Frakes (born August 20, 1994) and Elizabeth Frances Frakes (born May 30, 1997).[citation needed]
^"The Lifetime Achievement Award is usually presented to an individual for their contributions to genre entertainment. Top luminaries like Stan Lee and Leonard Nimoy, Mr. Spock himself, have received this top honor. It's not new, but we extended this award to cover the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, due to its continued influence on the face of general television. It was originally doomed to failure since it was following in the footsteps of the original Star Trek, yet it carved its own identity, and its diverse cast was light years ahead of its time!" —Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films[39]
References
^Jonathan Frakes; Dean Wesley Smith (1996). The Abductors: Conspiracy. New York: Tor. ISBN978-0-312-86208-4.
^"Daniel M. Frakes". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. May 19, 1997. p. A09.
^Sylvia Lawler (September 25, 1988). "Jonathan Frakes's career beams up Bethlehem actor scores as 'Star Trek' commander". The Morning Call. Allentown, Pennsylvania. pp. T.01.
^ abcdef"Jonathan Frakes (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved February 22, 2024. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
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