Jonathan Frakes
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Categories: Articles lacking reliable references from July 2007 | All articles lacking sources | American film actors | American film directors | American television actors | American television directors | American voice actors | Harvard University alumni | Penn State University alumni | People from the Lehigh Valley | 1952 births | Living people | People from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
Jonathan Scott Frakes (born August 19, 1952) is an American actor and director best known for his portrayal of Commander William T. Riker in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and David Xanatos on Disney's Gargoyles. Moving on to directing in recent years, Frakes directed and also starred in Star Trek: First Contact, which earned him the nickname "Two-Takes" Frakes for his speed.[1] He is also the author of a book called The Abductors: Conspiracy.[2]
Personal lifeFrakes was born in Bellefonte, in central Pennsylvania to Doris J. Yingling and James R. Frakes, Ph.D.[3] He grew up in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the state. He is a 1970 graduate of Bethlehem's Liberty High School, where he ran track and played with the famous Liberty High School Grenadier Band.[4] Frakes received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Theater Arts at Penn State University in the early 1970s, where he was a member of the Thespians and also was a member of the Penn State Blue Band. He continued his studies at Harvard and spent several seasons performing at the Loeb Drama Center. For a time in the 1970s, Frakes worked for Marvel Comics, appearing at conventions in costume as Captain America.[5] His father, James R. Frakes, was a well-respected book critic for the New York Times Book Review, a book editor, and professor of English literature at Lehigh University from 1958-2001, where he was the Edmund W. Fairchild Professor in American Studies. He died in early 2002.[6] Frakes had a younger brother, Daniel, who died in 1997 from pancreatic cancer.[7] He remains close with his niece and goddaughter Julia Frakes, Daniel's daughter. His mother, Doris, still lives in the Bethlehem area. Frakes married soap opera actress Genie Francis on May 28, 1988. They live in Maine with their son, Jameson Ivor, born in 1994, and daughter, Elizabeth Francis, born in 1997. 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 co-owns a home furnishings store with his wife in Belfast, Maine called The Cherished Home.[1]. Film and television careerThe 6 ft 4 inch (193 cm) 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. His first Broadway appearance was in Shenandoah. At the same time, he landed a role in the NBC soap opera The Doctors. When his character was dismissed from the soap, Frakes moved to Los Angeles, California and played guest spots in many of the top television shows of the 1970s and 1980s, including The Waltons, The Dukes of Hazzard, Matlock, and Steven Bochco's 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). He also had recurring roles in Falcon Crest and North & South before signing for the role of Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation.[8] He has done animation voice acting, most notably voicing the recurring role of David Xanatos in the animated series Gargoyles, and he provided the voice of his own head in a jar in the Futurama episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before." He hosted Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction and had a small, uncredited role in the 1994 movie Camp Nowhere. He also reprised his role of Riker for a Next Generation cutaway on an episode of Family Guy that also featured his co-stars Patrick Stewart and Michael Dorn as their respective roles of Picard and Worf. Frakes is one of only two Star Trek regulars to appear on four different Star Trek series (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise). (The only other regular to match or exceed that number is Majel Barrett-Roddenberry who appeared in all six television series.) He has also directed episodes in three of them (TNG, DS9 and VOY) and was a popular and innovative director on the Star Trek set, often finding completely new ways to shoot the show's familiar sets. His directing career has included the films Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection. Additionally, Frakes was an executive producer for the WB show Roswell, directed several episodes and guest-starred in three episodes. His relationship with Star Trek is made light of in the episode "Secrets and Lies", in which the alien character Max ironically auditions for a guest role as an alien for Star Trek: Enterprise. Outside of acting, Frakes appeared on the Phish album Hoist, playing trombone on the track titled "Julius." Frakes would occasionally perform on the trombone during his tenure as Commander Riker. Acting filmographyFeature Films
Television Series
Directing filmographyFeature films
Individual episodes of television series
References
External links
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