Patrick Hewes Stewart, the iconic face of Captain Picard from Star Trek series and Professor Charles from the well known X-Men series, is an eminently famous English actor who paved his way through the local stage dramas and repertory theatres to the Television shows and Hollywood blockbusters.
Early Life
Patrick Stewart was born on July 13, 1940(age 77) in Mirfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. His mother, Gladys (Barrowclough) was a weaver and textile worker, while his father, Alfred Stewart, served in British Army. The pride of the military man was admired and worshiped by his little boy for all the war-stories and adventure tales he shared with him.
But, his childhood went through a long period of domestic abuse and trauma from the age of seven. A few years back, he shared his story in magazines like HELLO! about his childhood battles of protecting his mother from his drunk and violent father whom he deeply respected, yet feared.
“Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.”, he said in an interview.
It wasn’t until 2012 that he discovered his father suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) but Alfred Stewart had been dead for 32 years by then.
His father being a pretty good example of male irresponsibilities, had deep impacts on young Patrick Stewart. It followed him like trails on snow and it was only him who was capable of pulling himself out of this mental disturbance.
He was alone, piqued, depressed, but talented. It was this feeling of isolation and loneliness that drew him towards finding a refuge in acting. “The stage offered escape”, he says. He could be someone else, in some very different situation, at some very different state and could act completely normal without actually thinking about it. But then, every other role of anger, fury and playing characters having murderous instincts made him re-encounter his fears of surrendering himself to those feelings.
It was 1981 when the role of psychotic Leontes in The Winter’s Tale helped him succeed over his fears of unleashing his subdued emotions. He gave himself completely to the delusions and madness of the character. He credits the director Ronald Eyre for helping him achieve the breakthrough and he was never again afraid of his impulsive self on stage.
Later, in 2007, he became patron of Refuge, a national domestic violence charity supporting the women and children experiencing abuse.
Career Development
The Yorkshireman, since the age of 12, took keen interest in performing arts. He was a member of various local drama groups from the very beginning of his journey. He left school at 15 to work as a reporter on local newspapers and even did a job of furniture salesman for one year, just to earn some cash for attending drama school. But he soon quit the jobs as he spent most of the time at theatres, and couldn’t manage the time for work.
In 1957(age 17), he was accepted by Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
In 1959(age 19), he made his debut in a repertory theatre in Lincoln and worked at Manchester Library Theatre.
1960s marked his tour around the world with the British Old Vic Company. In 1966, he joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and soon became an Honorary Associate Artist (1968) with the Company. His debut TV appearance was the role of a fire officer on Coronation Street (1967). And his TV cameo of 1969, was the character Horatio in the Shakespeare’s tragedy Hamlet.
Being nominated multiple times for awards like the Saturn Award for Best Actor and Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in Miniseries or Television Film, Patrick Stewart has bagged three Olivier Awards, Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance and Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role for Antony and Cleopatra.
In mid 1980s, he moved to Los Angeles, California to mark the beginning of the epic Star Trek: The Next Generation series (1987-1994) as Captain Jean-Luc Picard and reprised the role in a chain of successful Star Trek films : Generations (1994), First Contact (1996), Insurrection (1998) and Nemesis (2002).
Macbeth is one of his praised theatre works (which made him one of the nominees for Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play) and Hamlet is another which brought him the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Supporting Role.
Apart from screenplays, his bold and authoritative voice makes him perfect for certain voice acts like the voice of Avery Bullock in American Dad! and Number 1 in The Simpsons.
He mentions Sesame Street (1969), The Simpsons (1989) and Extras (2005) among his favorite works of all time.
Movie Earnings
| Star Trek: The Next Generation | $100,000 per episode |
| Star Trek: First Contact | $5,000,000 |
| Star Trek: Insurrection | $9,500,000 |
| Star Trek: Nemesis | $14,000,000 |
| Wild Geese II | $2900 |
Personal Life
The Star Trek star, Stewart suffered from alopecia, from the age of 19. Most of his hair kept losing and he felt like ‘a major part of his life is over’ and that no woman will ever be interested in him again. But, talent counts.
He continued his passion for acting and married the beautiful Sheila Falconer in 1966. They had two children together, son Daniel and daughter Sophia. They divorced in 1990, after 24 years of marriage.
Time flew, and Sir Patrick discovered his obsession with the producer of Star Trek: Voyager, Wendy Neuss. They got separated after 3 years of marriage (2000-2003).
In 2013, he married the young singer and songwriter, Sunny Ozell, his present wife, who is about half his age, but the couple seems hardly bothered by the age issues.
Well, Mr. Stewart, we hope this marriage turns out to keep you forever connected to your youthfulness and enthusiasm.
Quick Summary
Full Name: Sir Patrick Hewes Stewart
Date Of Birth: July 13, 1940
Birthplace: Mirfield, Yorkshire, England, UK
Age: 77
Profession: Stage actor, voice actor
Height: 5’10” (1.78m)
Weight: 75 kgs
Net Worth: $60 million