What happened to Star Trek’s small-screen stars?

Riker finally got to be a Captain before he bowed out of the 'Star Trek’ universe at the end of 'Star Trek: Nemesis’ in 2002, but he swiftly swapped the captain’s chair for the director’s chair. Having already helmed Trek movies including 'First Contact’ and 'Insurrection’, Frakes was the unlikely director behind 2004’s 'Thunderbirds’ movie. These days he balances acting gigs with directing TV episodes on series like 'Castle’, 'Falling Skies’ and 'NCIS’, and he can be heard voicing Star-Lord’s father in the 'Guardians Of The Galaxy’ TV animation.

Ironically, we all shed a tear when emotionless robot Data said goodbye to 'Star Trek’ in 2005 after a few guest spots on 'Enterprise’, but Spiner hasn’t stopped working since. He reprised his (second) most popular role in this year’s 'Independence Day’ sequel, with two revelations: not only was Dr Brakish Okun gay, but he was very much not dead as the first movie suggested. He can currently be seen in 'Walking Dead’ creator Robert Kirkman’s new possession thriller 'Outcast’, or at a 'Star Trek’ convention near you.

Born in London’s East End to Greek-born parents, Sirtis played ship’s counselor Troi in 'The Next Generation’ but didn’t really settle into the role until they gave her a proper Starfleet uniform to cover up her cleavage. Sirtis reprised her role in an episode of 'Star Trek Voyager’ in 2000 but she’s stayed with 'Star Trek’ in several small ways, not just on the convention circuit but also as the voice of the ship’s computer in unofficial fan series 'Star Trek Continues’. Watch her, if you dare, in 2016 horror 'Little Dead Rotting Hood’.

Michael Dorn is the most experienced 'Star Trek’ actor ever, having appeared in 175 episodes of 'The Next Generation’ and then a further 102 episodes when he transported to successor 'Deep Space Nine’. Six 'Star Trek’ movies bring his total appearances to 281. He’s not done with Star Trek, either: Dorn is currently trying to raise interest on social media for a proposed Worf spin-off called 'Star Trek: Captain Worf’. Ironically, Dorn says: “I had come up with the idea because I love [Worf] and I think he’s a character that hasn’t been fully developed.” Make that 281 appearances… to date.

LeVar Burton was famous before he clocked in to the Enterprise’s engine room – he brought pleasure to millions of youngsters as the host of educational show 'Reading Rainbow’, and thanks to Kickstarter, he was able to do so again in 2014 after raising £3.8 million for its triumphant return. Burton currently lends his voice to Dr Greene in animated kiddy spin-off 'Transformers: Rescue Bots’, and made a 2016 cameo in the remake of 'Roots’, the mini-series which made him famous in 1977.

The American actress originally found fame as a choreographer working on Jim Henson productions like ‘The Dark Crystal’, ‘Labyrinth’, and ‘The Muppets Take Manhattan’ before she was cast as the chief medical officer aboard the Enterprise. She starred in all four subsequent ‘TNG’ films, but acting roles soon dried up and she now teaches acting. McFadden, now 67, still appears on the Trek convention circuit and her last movie role was in the low budget comedy ‘Make the Yuletide Gay’ in 2009.

The most hated 'Star Trek’ character ever has done pretty well to turn his fortunes around, settling into his role of Ambassador of Geekdom (or 'King of the Nerds’, if you prefer). An early adopted of all forms of social media and tech, Wheaton has amassed an army of followers who adore his TV appearances, tabletop game tournaments and cameos on the likes of 'The Big Bang Theory’, where he plays Sheldon’s nemesis. Now 44, he continues to star in his own D&D web series, on series like 'Powers’ and as himself on panel shows like 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?’.

Unlike most of his fellow 'Star Trek’ actors, Avery Brooks has shown little interest in hanging onto the show’s coattails since his days on the bridge ended – Brooks’ last contribution to a 'Star Trek’ project was a voiceover for videogame 'Star Trek: Legacy’ in 2006. A keen jazz musician, Brooks lent his talents to a performance at the Springfield Symphony Hall in February 2016 to celebrate Black History Month. If you’re lucky, you can catch the ex-captain at Trek conventions around the world.

One of the more successful 'Deep Space Nine’ alumni, Siddig left Julian Bashir behind to play large roles in TV shows including '24’ (where he played former terrorist Hamri Al-Assad) and movies like 'Clash Of The Titans’ and Wikileaks dramatisation 'The Fifth Estate’ opposite Benedict Cumberbatch. He was last seen being skewered by the Sand Snakes of Dorne in season 6 of 'Game Of Thrones’ and plays Ruben Oliver in excellent drama series 'Peaky Blinders’.

As Bajoran Major turned Colonel Kira Nerys, Visitor appeared in 173 episodes of 'Deep Space Nine’ before moving on to Jessica Alba serial 'Dark Angel’ and various single-serving TV appearances. Super Trek nerd Seth MacFarlane cast her, and a wealth of other Trek actors, in 'Family Guy’ episodes and in 2015’s 'Ted 2’, and she’ll next appear in low-budget Trek-inspired comedy 'Unbelievable!!!!!’ (yes, five exclamation marks, so you know it’s going to be good). She married and later divorced co-star Siddig – the pair have a son named Django.

The theatre actor was unrecognisable as Odo, Deep Space Nine’s head of security, thanks to a headful of deeply unsettling prosthetics but fans of ‘M*A*S*H’ (the film) will have known him as Father Mulcahy too. He directed 9 episodes of ‘DS9′ and has worked steadily as a TV actor ever since. He’s also a talented singer and voice actor having played Chef Louis in ‘The Little Mermaid’, and is the current voice of Pepé Le Pew in the ‘Looney Tunes Show’.

Irish actor Meaney brought some Dublin charm to both ‘The Next Generation’ and 'Deep Space Nine’ and hasn’t wanted for work since the show was cancelled in 1999. He played Gene Hunt in a US pilot for 'Life On Mars’ (before Harvey Keitel eventually got the role), played Don Revie in 'The Damned United’, starred as Russell Brand’s dad in 'Get Him To The Greek’ and most recently took Norwich’s finest hostage in 'Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa’. You’ll be able to spy him in next year’s espionage thriller 'Felt’, about the Deep Throat informant. (He’s not playing Deep Throat).

Ferengi bartender Quark appeared in three different ‘Star Trek’ shows, but is most keenly associated with DS9 where his money-grabbing character was often at odds with Odo, the station’s security chief. He’s a TV regular appearing in shows like ‘Boston Legal’, ‘Buffy’, and ‘Stargate SG1′ but he’s probably best known now for his voice work in the ‘Ratchet & Clank’ video game series playing Dr. Nefarious.

Mulgrew made her final Trek cameo as Vice Admiral Janeway in 'Star Trek: Nemesis’ in 2002. She’s proved adept at playing serious roles in confined spaces: Mulgrew plays Russian prison chef Red in the phenomenally successful Netflix series 'Orange Is The New Black’, for which she won an Emmy nomination (fun fact: she was also nominated for a Golden Globe for playing TV detective Columbo’s wife in spin-off, 'Mrs Columbo’). Mulgrew recently used her platform to speak out for prison reform. Janeway would approve.

The lads mag favourite reportedly gave ‘Voyager’ a 60% ratings boost when joined the cast in season 4 as the liberated Borg Seven of Nine. Must have been a compelling storyline. After the show ended in 2001 she appeared in school drama ‘Boston Public’, and headlined the critically panned sci-fi comedy ‘The Last Man’, before appearing in TV shows like ‘The OC’ and ‘Boston Legal’. Aside from playing Sonya Blade in the short-lived ‘Mortal Kombat’ web series, Jeri can currently be seen in Amazon’s hit cop show ‘Bosch’.

Ship’s cook Neelix was a popular character aboard Voyager earning himself a spin-off cookbook featuring recipes contributed by actors from all iterations of the franchise. Since ‘Voyager’ he’s continued to act on stage, and has made a number of film appearances in ‘Bad Santa’, Michael Bay’s ‘The Island’, and more recently in the Coens’ ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’ playing Mr Gorfeins, the owner of the escaped cat.

Fun fact about the man who would be Tuvok – he also played the guy at the beginning of 'Spaceballs’ who yells: “We ain’t found s**t!” Work has not been so hard to come by: now 60, Russ has no less than 11 movie projects on his plate for 2016, and a few for next year too, including sci-fi TV series 'Blade Of Honor’, which sounds a lot like a 'Star Trek’ ripoff if we’re being honest. And then there’s 'Renegades’, a familiar trek through the stars that flirts with copyright law, in which he plays 'Kovok’. Hmmm.

Jolene Blalock - Commander T’Pol (Enterprise)