Patrick Stewart is an English film, television and stage actor. In a career spanning over four decades, he has appeared in more than 50 feature films, several popular television shows and theatrical productions. Some of his most memorable roles include his portrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek: The Next Generation film (and television series) and Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film series. Stewart is also one of the most seasoned thespians in the English theatre world, and was knighted for his services to drama in 2010.
Early Life
Patrick Stewart was born in Mirfield, West Yorkshire to Alfred Stewart and Gladys Barrowclough. His father was in the army, while his mother was a weaver and textile worker. Stewart attended the Crowlees Junior and Infants School and the Mirfield Secondary Modern School, where he discovered his passion for acting.
After a tough childhood marked by poverty and domestic violence, he dropped out of school and joined a newspaper as a reporter. However, his passion for theatre got in the way of his work, and Stewart was soon forced to quit his job to pursue acting as a career.
The actor has two elder siblings - Geoffrey Stewart and Trevor Stewart.
Personal Life
Stewart was married to Sheila Falconer for 24 years, but the couple divorced in 1990. He has two children, Daniel and Sofia, from his first marriage. In 2000, the actor married television and film producer Wendy Neuss. They divorced three years later, in 2003. Following this, he was briefly involved with actress Lisa Dillon.
In 2013, after five years of courtship, Stewart married American singer-songwriter Sunny Ozell.
Movie Career
Prior to his film debut, Stewart had established himself as a stage and television actor. He made his film debut in the 1975 movie Hedda, which was an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s play Hedda Gabler. In the early years of his career, Stewart appeared in popular films like Excalibur (1981), Dune (1984) and Lady Jane (1986). Despite this, he largely remained obscure and was known mainly for his work in theatre.
Stewart rose to prominence following his appearance in the popular television show Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-’94), where he played the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard. The show's immense popularity and the film series that came on its heels turned Stewart into a household name in the 90's. In 1991, he appeared in a supporting role inSteve Martin’s satirical romantic comedy L.A. Story, which opened to favourable reviews and became a box office hit.
Between 1994 and 2002, Stewart reprised his role in four Star Trek movies: Star Trek: Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek: Nemesis (2002); all of which fared well at the box office. In 2000, the actor appeared as Professor Charles Xavier in the superhero movie X-Men. His portrayal of the charismatic mutant telepath who leads the X-Men was well-received in all quarters. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing close to $300 million at the box office and revamping the superhero film genre in the process. Stewart has since shared the role with Scottish actor James McAvoy, and went on to reprise his role in six more X-Men movies: X2 (2003), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), X-Men Origins: The Wolverine (2009), The Wolverine (2013), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and Logan (2017).
Stewart is also one of the foremost voice actors of his generation, having appeared in voice roles in more than 20 feature films, several documentaries, shorts and video games. His first voice role came in 1982, in the animated adventure drama The Plague Dogs. In 2001, he voiced the character King Goobot in the animation movie Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius. Since then, the actor has lent his voice to numerous popular movies like the English dub version of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (2005), Bambi II (2006), TMNT (2007), Gnomeo and Juliet (2011), Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012), Spark: A Space Tail (2017) and The Emoji Movie (2017). He has also taken on the role of a narrator in the critically acclaimed documentary Earth (2007), the comedy film Ted (2011) and its sequel Ted 2 (2015).
The voice acting and his commitment to the X-Men franchise largely kept the actor away from doing more diverse roles in the first decade of the 2000’s. Since then, he has appeared in the Israeli comedy Hunting Elephants (2013), the comedy-drama Match (2014) and the critically acclaimed horror thriller Green Room (2015), where his portrayal of the chief antagonist Darcy Banker received much praise from all circles. Stewart’s most-anticipated projects in 2017 includes the Hugh Jackman starrer Logan, the animated comedy The Emoji Movie and the romantic comedy Wilde Wedding.
Television Career
Since his television debut in the mid-1960’s, Stewart has appeared in numerous television shows and telefilms. During the early phase of his career, Stewart appeared in guest roles in popular British television shows like The Avengers and Coronation Street. He also appeared in critically acclaimed miniseries like Fall of Eagles, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and Smiley’s People during this period. Between 1987 and 1994, Stewart appeared in the enormously popular sci-fi show Star Trek: The Next Generation. The show became a cultural phenomenon, and his turn as Captain Jean-Luc Picard catapulted Stewart to stardom and made him a household name around the world.
In the 1998 adaptation of the classic novel Moby Dick, Stewart essayed the role of the monomaniacal Captain Ahab - a performance that earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination and a Golden Globes nomination for Best Actor in a Miniseries that year. In the following year, Stewart took on yet another iconic role - that of Ebenezer Scrooge in the fantasy drama A Christmas Carol. His portrayal of the misanthropic Scrooge earned him a Screen Actors Guild Awards nomination for Best Actor in a Television Movie. The actor subsequently landed his second Golden Globes nomination for his performance in The Lion in Winter in 2005, a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role in Extras in 2006 and another Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his portrayal of King Claudius in the critically acclaimed television movie Hamlet (2009). Between 2005 and 2014, Stewart also lent his voice to various roles in the popular adult animated sitcom Family Guy.
From 2015 to 2016, Stewart starred in the American sitcom Blunt Talk, which told the story of a British newscaster’s misadventures in America. His comedic turn in the show earned Stewart his third Golden Globes nomination - for Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy or Musical this time.