William Shatner

Acting

William Shatner

Born 1931-03-22 · Montreal, Quebec, Canada

William Shatner, OC (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the Star Trek franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship Enterprise in the second pilot of the first Star Trek television series to his final appearance as Captain Kirk in the seventh Star Trek feature film, Star Trek Generations (1994). Shatner began his screen acting career in Canadian films and television productions before moving into guest-starring roles in various American television shows. He appeared as James Kirk in all the episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series, 21 of the 22 episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series, and the first seven Star Trek movies. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences before, during and after his time in a Starfleet uniform. He has also co-written several novels set in the Star Trek universe and a series of science fiction novels, the TekWar sequence, that were adapted for television. Outside Star Trek, Shatner played the eponymous veteran police sergeant in T. J. Hooker (1982–1986), hosted the reality-based television series Rescue 911 (1989–1996), guest starred on the detective series Columbo, and acted in the comedy film Miss Congeniality (2000). After his last appearance as Captain Kirk, Shatner's television career has embraced comedy, drama and reality shows. In seasons 4 and 5 of the NBC series 3rd Rock from the Sun, he played the alien "Big Giant Head", to which the main characters reported. From 2004 until 2008, he starred as attorney Denny Crane in the final season of the legal show The Practice and in its spinoff Boston Legal, a role that earned him two Emmy Awards, one for his contribution to each series. In 2016, 2017 and 2018, he starred in both seasons of NBC's Better Late Than Never, a comical travel series in which a band of elderly celebrities toured East Asia and Europe. Aside from acting, Shatner has had a career as a recording artist, beginning in 1968 with his album The Transformed Man. His cover versions of songs are dramatic recitations of their lyrics rather than musical performances: the most notable are his versions of the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man", and Elton John's "Rocket Man". His most successful album was his third, Seeking Major Tom (2011), which includes covers of Pink Floyd's "Learning to Fly", David Bowie's "Space Oddity" and Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". In 2021, Shatner flew into space aboard Blue Origin NS-18, a Blue Origin sub-orbital capsule. At age 90, he became the oldest person to fly in space and one of the first 600 to do so. Minutes after the flight, he described experiencing the overview effect.

Acting credits

Over the Hedge poster
6.6

A scheming raccoon fools a mismatched family of forest creatures into helping him repay a debt of food, by invading the new suburban sprawl that popped up while they were hibernating – and learns a lesson about family himself.

Over the Hedge

2006

Miss Congeniality poster
6.5

When the local FBI office receives a letter from a terrorist known only as 'The Citizen', it's quickly determined that he's planning his next act at the Miss America beauty pageant. Because tough-as-nails Gracie Hart is the only female Agent at the office, she's chosen to go undercover as the contestant from New Jersey.

Miss Congeniality

2000

Star Trek: The Motion Picture poster
6.5

When an unidentified alien destroys three powerful Klingon cruisers, Captain James T. Kirk returns to the newly transformed U.S.S. Enterprise to take command.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

1979

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story poster
6.4

When megalomaniacal White Goodman, the owner of a trendy, high-end fitness center, makes a move to take over the struggling local gym run by happy-go-lucky Pete La Fleur, there's only one way for La Fleur to fight back: dodgeball. Aided by a dodgeball guru and Goodman's attorney, La Fleur and his rag-tag team of underdogs launch a knock-down, drag-out battle in which the winner takes all.

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story

2004

The Wild poster
5.6

An adolescent lion is accidentally shipped from the New York Zoo to Africa. Now running free, his zoo pals must put aside their differences to help bring him back.

The Wild

2006

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home poster
7.2

When a huge alien probe enters the galaxy and begins to vaporize Earth's oceans, Kirk and his crew must travel back in time in order to bring back whales and save the planet.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

1986

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan poster
7.4

The starship Enterprise and its crew is pulled back into action when old nemesis, Khan, steals a top secret device called Project Genesis.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

1982

Airplane II: The Sequel poster
6.1

A faulty computer causes a passenger space shuttle to head straight for the sun, and man-with-a-past Ted Striker must save the day and get the shuttle back on track – again – all the while trying to patch up his relationship with Elaine.

Airplane II: The Sequel

1982

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous poster
5.7

After her triumph at the Miss United States pageant, FBI agent Gracie Hart becomes an overnight sensation -- and the new "face of the FBI". But it's time to spring into action again when the pageant's winner, Cheryl, and emcee, Stan, are abducted.

Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous

2005

Escape from Planet Earth poster
5.8

Astronaut Scorch Supernova finds himself caught in a trap when he responds to an SOS from a notoriously dangerous alien planet.

Escape from Planet Earth

2013

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier poster
5.7

A renegade Vulcan with a startling secret hijacks the U.S.S. Enterprise in order to find a mythical planet.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

1989

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country poster
7.0

After years of war, the Federation and the Klingon empire find themselves on the brink of a peace summit when a Klingon ship is nearly destroyed by an apparent attack from the Enterprise. Both worlds brace for what may be their deadliest encounter.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

1991

Osmosis Jones poster
6.5

A white blood cell policeman, with the help of a cold pill, must stop a deadly virus from destroying the human they live in, Frank.

Osmosis Jones

2001

Virtuosity poster
5.5

The Law Enforcement Technology Advancement Centre (LETAC) has developed SID version 6.7: a Sadistic, Intelligent, and Dangerous virtual reality entity which is synthesized from the personalities of more than 150 serial killers, and only one man can stop him.

Virtuosity

1995

National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 poster
6.1

An LA detective is murdered because she has microfilm with the recipe to make cocaine cookies. Two cops partner to find and stop the fiends before they can dope the nation by distributing their wares via the 'Wilderness Girls' cookie drive.

National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1

1993

The Pixar Story poster
7.5

A look at the first years of Pixar Animation Studios - from the success of "Toy Story" and Pixar's promotion of talented people, to the building of its East Bay campus, the company's relationship with Disney, and its remarkable initial string of eight hits. The contributions of John Lasseter, Ed Catmull and Steve Jobs are profiled. The decline of two-dimensional animation is chronicled as three-dimensional animation rises. Hard work and creativity seem to share the screen in equal proportions.

The Pixar Story

2007

Showtime poster
5.6

A spoof of buddy cop movies where two very different cops are forced to team up on a new reality based T.V. cop show.

Showtime

2002

Fanboys poster
6.2

In 1999, Star Wars fanatics take a cross-country trip to George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch so their dying friend can see a screening of The Phantom Menace before its release.

Fanboys

2009

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock poster
6.6

A surprise visit from Spock's father provides a startling revelation: McCoy is harboring Spock's living essence.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

1984

Star Trek: Generations poster
6.5

Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D find themselves at odds with the renegade scientist Soran who is destroying entire star systems. Only one man can help Picard stop Soran's scheme...and he's been dead for seventy-eight years.

Star Trek: Generations

1994

Fireheart poster
7.2

The film explores the world of firefighters in 1920s New York City and tells the story of a 16-year-old girl who will have to become a hero in order to save her city.

Fireheart

2022

Judgment at Nuremberg poster
8.0

In 1947, four German judges who served on the bench during the Nazi regime face a military tribunal to answer charges of crimes against humanity. Chief Justice Haywood hears evidence and testimony not only from lead defendant Ernst Janning and his defense attorney Hans Rolfe, but also from the widow of a Nazi general, an idealistic U.S. Army captain and reluctant witness Irene Wallner.

Judgment at Nuremberg

1961

Big Bad Mama poster
5.7

Circumstances force a mother and her two daughters to get into bootlegging and bank robbing, and travel across the country pursued by the law.

Big Bad Mama

1974

American Psycho II: All American Girl poster
4.4

Rachel is a criminology student hoping to land a position as a teacher's assistant for professor Robert Starkman. She's sure this position will pave the way to an FBI career, and she's willing to do anything to obtain it -- including killing her classmates. The school psychiatrist, Dr. Daniels, becomes aware that Rachel is insane, but Rachel is skilled at her dangerous game of death and identity theft.

American Psycho II: All American Girl

2002

Behind the camera

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier poster
5.7

A renegade Vulcan with a startling secret hijacks the U.S.S. Enterprise in order to find a mythical planet.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

1989

The Captains poster
6.4

The Captains is a feature-length documentary film written and directed by William Shatner. The film follows Shatner as he interviews the other actors who have portrayed starship captains in the Star Trek franchise.

The Captains

2011

The Captains poster
6.4

The Captains is a feature-length documentary film written and directed by William Shatner. The film follows Shatner as he interviews the other actors who have portrayed starship captains in the Star Trek franchise.

The Captains

2011

TekWar poster
5.5

After four years, Jake Cardigan is prematurely awoken from his fifteen year cryogenic punishment to a world very different than the one he knew. Much more than before 'Tek', the highly-addictive electronic designer narcotic of the 21st century, seems to be prevalent. His wife has divorced him and disappeared together with their son. He wants them back and he wants justice for those undercover policemen who were murdered by unknown conspirators which led to his imprisonment for a crime he did not commit.

TekWar

1994

Groom Lake poster
4.2

When Kate discovers she has a terminal illness, she persuades boyfriend Andy to visit Groom Lake, a reputed hotbed of alien activity, hoping to discover proof of life beyond this terrestrial sphere. Soon, the pair crosses paths with desperate government scientists, eccentric locals and a surprising -- and inspiring --conspiracy of epic proportions.

Groom Lake

2002

Get a Life! poster
6.8

An EPIX Original documentary directed by William Shatner, based on his hugely popular book, in which he examines the cultural phenomena of STAR TREK, its fan-following and his own role within it.

Get a Life!

2012

Chaos on the Bridge poster
6.9

Canadian acting legend William Shatner takes viewers inside the creation of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the bold attempt in 1986 to recreate the success of the original television series, in which Shatner played Captain James T. Kirk.

Chaos on the Bridge

2014

Chaos on the Bridge poster
6.9

Canadian acting legend William Shatner takes viewers inside the creation of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the bold attempt in 1986 to recreate the success of the original television series, in which Shatner played Captain James T. Kirk.

Chaos on the Bridge

2014

The Captains: Still Kicking poster
6.0

Still Kicking: William Shatner and 'Christopher Plummer' is a one-hour television special that captures the memories and insights of these two icons. The setting is the stage of the renowned Stratford Shakespeare Festival Stage, where both men launched their careers in the 1950s, and were then propelled to international stardom. Both continue to produce incredible work. Plummer earned an Academy Award in 2012 for his performance in Beginners. He recently wrote a best-selling autobiography, and will soon be returning to the stage of the Stratford Festival for the theatre's 60th anniversary season. Shatner won four Emmys for his portrayal of Denny Crane on Boston Legal, and also recently wrote a best-selling book, and currently has an amazing four television series on air.

The Captains: Still Kicking

2013