Wil Wheaton

Born: 29 July 1972
Where: Burbank, California, USA

Wil Wheaton comes from a talented acting family. His parents must have acting in their gene pool as not only him but also his sister Amy and brother Jeremy are actors.

After a spell in TV shows and commercials Wheaton shot to fame in Rob Reiner's 1986 classic Stand By Me as Gordie Lachance and later had a role in the huge American show Star Trek the Next Generation.

He didn't waste any time in his quest for fame, starting out in a number of commercials. His first big break in acting was opposite the legendary Bill Cosby in a Jell-O Pudding Pops commercial. At the age of nine his acting career really kicked off as he starred in the TV hit A Long Way Home (1981).

Wil continued in a number of small roles until at age fourteen he starred in Rob Reiner's Stand By Me (1986), with Cory Feldman and River Phoenix. He played Gordie Lachance, a key part of a group of four friends who go trekking off to find a dead body forging their friendship forever.

A year later in 1987, Wil left the silver screen for a short while, for a chance to go to places never seen before with the StarShip Enterprise in Star Trek the Next Generation, starring as Wesley Crusher.

In this role he encapsulated the teenage innocence of the enterprise. However he soon found the strain too much and quit the show in 1990, as it was a huge constraint on his film career.

Wil's next film acting role was in Toy Soldiers (1991) starring opposite Sean Astin (now a hobbit).

In 2002 Wil wrote and co-hosted the TV show Arena. Since then although he still has done a lot of minor acting jobs Wil spends a lot of his time away from the camera, with his family in Los Angeles. Wil currently runs his own web-site that he designed himself.