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Richard William (Wil) Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is a former child actor, now a writer and father. He is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and Gordie LaChance in the film Stand By Me.
Biography
Like many talented actors who were popular from their work in the Star Trek franchise, much of Wheaton's career has been limited to Trek-oriented appearances. During his youth, he was a prominently featured guest at Star Trek conventions and very popular in teen magazines. However, barring teen work in the 1980s and Stand By Me, he has done little else of note in the way of performing. As he left TNG during the middle of its television run, and as three other Trek series have come since, Wheaton eventually faded from the convention scene as well, replaced by more popular actors/characters.
Like many actors attempting to revitalize their careers, he has as of the late 1990s embraced independent film with various appearances. Several of his independent films have won awards: The Good Things, in which Wheaton portrays a frustrated Kansas tollbooth worker, was selected Best Short Film at the 2002 Deauville Film Festival. He also received the Best Actor award at the 2002 Melbourne Underground Film Festival for his performance in Jane White Is Sick And Twisted. he has proved himself to be a gifted performer, although is somewhat unlucky. He was also a contestant on a Star Trek themed episode of The Weakest Link, and performs improvisational and sketch comedy at the ACME Comedy Theater in Hollywood. He has a travelling sketch comedy/improv troupe called "EarnestBorg9" that performs Sci-Fi and geek-related comedy at conventions.
Although his character (and by extension Wil himself) was loudly hated by a small but vocal group of Trekkers (see Usenet group alt.ensign.wesley.die.die.die or alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die) during TNG's first run, Wheaton has emerged as a vocal member of the geek / nerd community and runs his own weblog web site, Wil Wheaton Dot Net. The majority of his present popularity comes from this web site, the books it has spawned, and from fans who admire his earlier work. He is a frequent poster at Slashdot and Fark, and is heavily involved with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, promoting free speech and privacy issues. Wil also contributes regularly to the Los Angeles based Metroblogging site. His work as a voice actor can be found in such diverse places as the Disney animated film "Brother Bear", as Aqualad of the cartoon "Teen Titans" and, most recently, as the voice of radio newsman Richard Burns in the smash hit video game "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," latest in Rockstar Entertainment's GTA series.
In the spring of 2003, Wheaton founded the independent publishing company Monolith Press and released a book of his memoirs, entitled Dancing Barefoot. Most of the entries are extended versions of his online blog entries. Wheaton sold out three printings in four months, and in the winter 2003, the book's success caught the eye of publisher Tim O'Reilly, who signed Wheaton to a three book contract. O'Reilly acquired Dancing Barefoot, and published Wheaton's extended memoirs, Just A Geek in summer of 2004.
Wil has a monthly column "Wil Save" in the Dungeons and Dragons based magazine Dungeon, where he relates anecdotal tales of his life in relation to the famous fantasy RPG.
In January of 2005, Wil began a column about video games in The Onion.
Wheaton married Anne Prince in 1999. He lives with his wife and two step-sons in Los Angeles, California. Wheaton is often confused with Will Wheaton, Junior, a jazz musician who contributed to the film Mystery Men, among other works.
Trivia
Wesley Crusher's name first appeared on Usenet in 1987 as a quote attached to a signature in the comp.os.cpm group. see the post here (http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.os.cpm/msg/88d5472b0ce206e1)
Wil's Geek Code:
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12 GPA d-- s+: a C+++ UL+++ P+>+++ L+++ E--- W+++ N+ o+ K+++ w-- O---- M+ V-- PS++(+++) PE Y++ PGP++>+++ t++@$ 5++ X+ R+ tv- b++ DI+ D++ G++ e h---- r+++ y+++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
Filmography
- Neverland (2003)
- Book of Days (2003) (TV)
- Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) (scene deleted but appears as DVD extra)
- Four Fingers of the Dragon (2002)
- Arena (2002) (TV)
- Fish Don't Blink (2001)
- The Good Things (2001)
- Jane White Is Sick & Twisted (2001)
- Speechless... (2001)
- Python (2000)
- Deep Core (2000)
- The Girls' Room (2000)
- Foreign Correspondents (1999)
- Fag Hag (1998)
- The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1998) (TV)
- Tales of Glamour and Excess (1997)
- Flubber (1997)
- Trekkies (1997)
- Boys Night Out (1996)
- Pie in the Sky (1996)
- "Lifestories: Families In Crisis" (1995)
- Mr. Stitch (1995) (TV)
- It Was Him or Us (1995) (TV)
- The Liars' Club (1993)
- December (1991)
- Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special (1991) (TV)
- The Last Prostitute (1991) (TV)
- Toy Soldiers (1991)
- My Father Can't Be Crazy... Can He? (1989) (TV)
- She's Having a Baby (1988)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) (TV)
- The Curse (1987/I)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Encounter at Farpoint (1987) (TNG pilot episode)
- The Man Who Fell to Earth (1987) (TV)
- Young Harry Houdini (1987) (TV)
- Stand By Me (1986)
- Long Time Gone (1986) (TV)
- The Defiant Ones (1986) (TV)
- The Buddy System (1984)
- The Last Starfighter (1984) (scenes deleted from film but included as DVD extra)
- Hambone and Hillie (1984)
- The Shooting (1982) (TV)
- The Secret of NIMH (1982)
- A Long Way Home (1981) (TV)
External links
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