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Creator / Patrick Stewart

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/patrick_stewart_1.jpg
Yes, I'm bald. Who said I wasn't awesome though?note 
"I wasn't campaigning for a role in a Hollywood television series, it was a fluke. So you've got to have a measure of good luck, you really have, being in the right place at the right time."

Sir Patrick Stewart, OBE (born 13 July 1940) is a British actor, best known for playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Picard, and as Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men Film Series.

Stewart was born in Mirfield, West Yorkshire, studying drama at the Bristol Old Vic theatre school before moving on to the Royal Shakespeare Company. He had lost most of his hair by the age of 19, and impressed during his audition for the Old Vic by performing both with and without a wig and proclaiming himself to be "two actors for the price of one."

While at the RSC, Stewart had small parts in several movies (including Dune (1984) and Excalibur), before being cast as a relative unknown in Star Trek.

Stewart has always laughed off those who suggest that, as a classically-trained actor, he was "slumming it" in things like Star Trek—he suggested that in fact, all the kings and emperors that he had played with the RSC were merely preparation for the iconic role of captaining the new Starship Enterprise.

Similarly, Stewart has always tried to remain in touch with his theatrical roots—spending a season at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in his native Leeds, he had little time for critics who suggested that this was all the work he could find—he was doing it because he wanted to do it. His various theatre roles include playing Othello among an otherwise entirely black cast. Amusingly, at first he was one of the few TNG castmembers who took their job fully seriously and didn't mess around on-set, until he loosened up and, according to co-star LeVar Burton, would mess around and wreak havoc with the best of them.

Stewart is also Claudius (and King Hamlet) opposite David Tennant in Hamlet and he did the same in an 1980s BBC-TV production with Derek Jacobi as Hamlet. Stewart also became a regular on Seth MacFarlane's American Dad!, as the amoral, James Bond-esque CIA Director Avery Bullock.

He is a highly vocal figure in the fight against domestic violence, his father having been abusive towards his mother. More recently, having learned of his father's experiences in World War II and the long-term effects of PTSD, he's also begun campaigning for counseling and treatment of violent men, particularly combat veterans.

Was knighted in the 2010 New Year Honours List for services to drama. He still contributes to his local community, being the chancellor of the nearby University of Huddersfield and having been president of the local football (soccer) academy since his return to the UK in 2004.

Film Roles

Television Roles

Video Game Roles

His career and roles provide examples of the following tropes and associated trivia:

  • Acting for Two: More like Acting for Fifty. He put on a one-man stage production of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, in which he played every character.
  • Adam Westing:
    • His role on American Dad! is the writers trying to cram everything that would sound ridiculous coming out of Picard's mouth into the script.
    "You are a complicated man, Smith. I would love to do mushrooms with you."
  • Alternate Show Interpretation: Instead of painting his face black to play Othello, he played the titular role in a racially inverted production, opposite an otherwise all-black cast. This was by all accounts one of the more unusual productions of the play in recent memory.
  • Ascended Fancast: He was the people's choice for the role of Professor X ahead of the X-Men Film Series, and wound up playing the iconic role.
  • Bald of Authority: One of the most iconic and visible examples of this trope in live acting, the most notable examples being Jean-Luc Picard and Professor X among many other leadership positions he's portrayed.
  • Chronically Killed Actor: He's had a good number of onscreen deaths, but, in a particularly impressive variant of the trope, manages to do this for a singular role across multiple films. To wit, through the magic of resurrections and alternate timelines, Charles Xavier dies four times, specifically in X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Days of Future Past, Logan and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
  • Classically-Trained Extra: Inverted. Once a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he said it was good practice for playing Picard, and has never tried to distance himself from the role. He's still a highly respected Shakespearian actor, though he reportedly refuses to say any of Picard's trademark lines during his other roles, though there are exceptions. Occasionally on American Dad!, but then that's one of the jokes of his character in that show. His appearance as himself in Extras, in keeping with the persona he played or this brief appearance with the Count on Sesame Street. He also likes to avoid typecasting by intentionally taking humorous and silly roles to contrast with his normally serious and stoic screen persona.
  • Facepalm: The patron saint of this from his TNG days. Facepalm reaction images on the internet are more likely to be of Picard than anyone else.
  • Ink-Suit Actor:
    • Bullock, his American Dad! character, is designed to resemble Stewart. This is particularly noticeable in Family Guy gags involving Patrick Stewart, in which they use the exact same character model as Bullock's.
    • A strange case with his role as Professor Xavier. When he was first handed an X-Men comic, his first question was, famously, 'what am I doing on a comic book?' Since then, pretty much every depiction of Xavier has been directly inspired by his take on the character, both in looks and character, especially in X-Men: Evolution, which ran alongside the film series. While he didn't voice Professor X in the series, the creators designed the character to look like him, having been inspired by his performance in the X-Men films. This continued in Wolverine and the X-Men (2009) and other animated media in which the character appears. It's even appeared, to an extent, in the comics.
  • Maurice Chevalier Accent: Sir Patrick explained in an appearance on Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me that this was the real-life reason Picard had an English accent instead of a French one: in his own words he sounded "like Inspector Clouseau" when he attempted one during pre-production on TNG. He went on to actually use this accent as part of a disguise when he reprised the role in Star Trek: Picard.
    Stewart: Space... ze final fronteerrr.
  • Money, Dear Boy:
    • His role in Wild Geese II. He urgently needed money for an expensive home repair job and that was the first role he was offered upon receiving the bill from the repairman.
    • His primary motivation for taking on the role of Picard. He wasn't particularly enthused about TNG at first and thought the show would be quickly cancelled, so he took the role thinking that he'd be able to make some cash before going back to theatre roles in Britainnote . To his surprise, the show was a success and he began to realize the impact Star Trek and its characters had on people, leading him to become one of Trek's most vocal advocates.
    • Allegedly, he also worked on Lifeforce solely to earn money for a home repair job.
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: The only man who can pull off a French captain with pure Received Pronunciation and occasional Yorkshire inflections. For example: playing a French Maitre d'. Professor X, who is fully American in the comics, has been adapted to a half-Brit in the films note  who had studied for several years at Oxford University to accommodate Stewart's accent.
  • Patrick Stewart Speech: The Trope Namer, with good reason too. Who wouldn't want to listen to him? He's also been known to give his own such speeches out of character, for instance this speech in answer to a fan's question about his work for Domestic Abuse victims.
  • Playing Against Type:
    • His flaming Camp Gay turn as an interior decorator in Jeffrey.
    • His role as Avery Bullock on American Dad!. The writers even specifically said they try to make Stewart do as much silly things as they can with him on the show.
  • Promoted Fanboy: On the 10th anniversary night for Red Dwarf, he gave the opening introduction while delivering the Rimmer salute.
  • "Sesame Street" Cred: Has appeared on Sesame Street multiple times, including once when he got to stretch his classical legs by delivering a soliloquy titled "B or not a B."
  • Shout-Out:
  • What Could Have Been:
"Make it so, Number One."

 
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Pest Control

Patrick Stewart drops a bad word in the 1998 made-for-TV film "Safe House".

Example of:
Precision F-Strike

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Patrick Stewart drops a bad word in the 1998 made-for-TV film "Safe House".

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5 (6 votes)

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