Patrick Stewart

The Firing That Saved a Career

Patrick Stewart was born in Mirfield in 1940 into a working-class family. His father was a military man with a violent temper, and his mother worked in the Yorkshire textile industry. Theater became a necessary refuge in his life, a way to escape the tensions at home.

At fifteen, he decided to leave school to pursue acting professionally.

He got a job as a local journalist at the Dewsbury District News, but he spent more time at rehearsals than covering news. His editor gave him a clear ultimatum: journalism or the stage.

He chose the stage.

He attended the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and soon after joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966. There he spent nearly two decades performing the great classics alongside actors such as Ian McKellen. But theater prestige didn't pay the bills very well, and Stewart began looking for a foothold in British television.

In 1976, he played Sejanus in the BBC series I, Claudius. He wore a curly wig that concealed his premature baldness. That role gave him visibility, but the big change came when he crossed the Atlantic to give a lecture in California.

The Captain Who Didn't Want to Be One

Robert Justman saw him in a dramatic reading at the University of California and knew he was the right man to lead a new starship. Gene Roddenberry wasn't convinced, because he was looking for someone with a full head of hair and a more youthful look. In the end, he gave in to the producers' insistence.

In 1987, he signed the contract to star in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Stewart was convinced the series would be a failure and that he would be back in London within a few months with his shooting savings.

He was completely wrong.

The show stayed on the air for seven seasons and spawned four feature films for the big screen. The actor had to learn to handle a global fame he had never sought out in Shakespearean theater. But that success opened the door to another major franchise when director Bryan Singer called him for a project about mutants.

In 2000, X-Men was released, in which he played Charles Xavier. Filming the first installment took several months in Toronto and marked his definitive entry into big-budget films. He reprised the role many times until he shot Logan in 2017. That movie served as a twilight farewell to his character after seventeen years with the franchise.

Back to Space and the Role on Paper

Many thought his science fiction era had ended after the premiere of Star Trek: Nemesis in 2002. But in 2020 he returned to the role that made him famous in the series Picard. The show was designed to run three seasons, and the last aired in 2023, bringing together much of the original eighties cast.

And the project closed a personal chapter.

In 2023, he published his memoir titled Making It So. In its pages, he details how his lack of hair caused him massive insecurities during his youth in theater. He also recounts his experience filming Dune in 1984 under the direction of David Lynch, where he understood absolutely nothing of what was happening on set.

His professional career isn't limited to acting on camera. Stewart has lent his voice to dozens of video games and animated films, thanks to a technically precise diction that is highly valued in the industry.

In 2010, Queen Elizabeth II named him a Knight of the British Empire for his services to the performing arts. The official ceremony took place on 2 June 2010 at Buckingham Palace.