William Shatner

Born: 22 March 1931
Where: Montreal, Quebec, Canada

The actor will always be known for originating the role of Captain James T Kirk in the stellar sci-fi series Star Trek.

He reprised the part in seven of the Star Trek features...but has also appeared in other movies ranging from spoof Loaded Weapon to Miss Congeniality.

As a youngster he worked as a volunteer at at Camp B'nai Brith in the Laurentian Mountains in Quebec before enrolling at McGill University in Montreal.

He went on to work on Broadway before making his feature debut as Alexei in the The Brothers Karamazov in 1958.

Shatner alternated film appearances with TV work and his early features also included 1961's Judgement At Nuremberg and The Outrage.

In 1966 he was cast as Captain Kirk in the long-running TV sci-fi series only to find himself living in a camper truck when the series was cancelled and his wife left him.

He took on minor TV roles until the call came for him to return to the bridge of the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan followed while he also enjoyed small screen success with cop TJ Hooker and even took up directing duties with 1989's Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

He published Star Trek Memories in 1993 and has also written a series of science fiction novels - Tekwar - which were adapted for TV in 1994.

Shatner returned to the helm of the Enterprise one last time in Star Trek: Generations, wherein Kirk passed the baton (and franchise) to Patrick Stewart's Captain Picard.

Entering his post-Trek phase, Shatner began to spoof his kitschy appeal in dozens of film, TV and commercial projects.

He managed this most effectively in comedy Free Enterprise, in which he had grand delusions of directing a film of Julius Caesar, with himself in all the roles.

He also played several over-the-top creations, including Murdock in Airplane II; the villain in Loaded Weapon; and the pompous pageant host of Miss Congeniality.

Ironically, he was tapped to host the real-life Miss USA pageant a year later.

At the same time, Shatner found himself making headlines when his estranged fourth wife, actress Nerine Kidd - from whom he had split due to her addiction problems - drowned in the swimming pool of their LA home.

In 2005, he returned as Stan Fields alongside Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality 2.