Wil Wheaton
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| Wil Wheaton | |
 Wil Wheaton (2001) |
|
| Birth name | Richard William Wheaton III |
| Born | July 29, 1972 (age 34) Burbank, California, USA |
| Official site | http://www.wilwheaton.net/ |
| Notable roles | Ensign Wesley Crusher, Star Trek: The Next Generation Gordon Lachance, Stand By Me Joey Trotta, Toy Soldiers |
Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American writer and actor. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation ("ST:TNG"), as Gordie LaChance in the film Stand By Me, and as prep-school rebel Joseph 'Joey' Trotta in Toy Soldiers.
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[edit] Biography
Wheaton was born in Burbank, California to Debbie O’Connor and Richard William Wheaton, Jr.[1] Like many actors who were popular from their work in the Star Trek franchise, much of Wheaton's career has been limited to Trek-oriented appearances. During his youth, he was a prominently featured guest at Star Trek conventions and very popular in teen magazines.
In the late 1990s, he embraced work in independent film, appearing in a number of roles. Several of his independent films have won awards: The Good Things, in which Wheaton portrays a frustrated Kansas tollbooth worker, was selected Best Short Film at the 2002 Deauville Film Festival. He also received the Best Actor award at the 2002 Melbourne Underground Film Festival for his performance in Jane White is Sick and Twisted. He was also a contestant on a Star Trek-themed episode of The Weakest Link, and performs improvisational and sketch comedy at the ACME Comedy Theater in Hollywood. He has a travelling sketch comedy/improv troupe called "EarnestBorg9" that performs Sci-Fi and geek-related comedy at conventions.
Although his character, and by extension Wheaton himself, was loudly hated by a small but vocal group of Trekkers (see Usenet group alt.ensign.wesley.die.die.die or alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die) during TNG's first run, Wheaton has emerged as a vocal member of the geek / nerd community and runs his own weblog, Wil Wheaton Dot Net. The majority of his present popularity comes from this web site, the books it has spawned, and from fans who admire his earlier work. Wheaton also contributes regularly to the Los Angeles-based Metroblogging site. His work as a voice actor can be found in such diverse places as Aqualad of the cartoon Teen Titans and, most recently, as the voice of radio newsman Richard Burns in the popular Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game.
Wheaton married Anne Prince in 1999. He lives with his wife and two step-sons in Los Angeles, California.
In the spring of 2003, Wheaton founded the independent publishing company Monolith Press and released a book of his memoirs, entitled Dancing Barefoot. Monolith Press was "founded on the idea that publication should not be limited by opportunity."[1] Most of the entries are extended versions of his online blog entries. Wheaton sold out three printings in four months, and in the winter of 2003, the book's success caught the eye of publisher Tim O'Reilly, who signed Wheaton to a three book contract. O'Reilly acquired Dancing Barefoot, and published Wheaton's extended memoirs, Just A Geek, in summer of 2004. The book's sales were apparently rather disappointing, and Wheaton has since written about his bitterness regarding how the book was marketed, believing it was pitched as a Star Trek book when he intended it as more of a personal memoir.
Wheaton had a monthly column entitled "Wil Save" in the Dungeons & Dragons based magazine Dungeon, where he related anecdotal tales of his life in relation to the famous fantasy RPG. He ceased writing the column in May 2005.
In January 2005, Wheaton began a column about early video games called Games of Our Lives in The Onion, but has not written new material for that column since October 2006.
In June 2005, he became the feature Geek editor for the SuicideGirls Newswire. A column that Wheaton wrote for Salon.com in 2005, The Real War on Christmas, attacked conservative commentators like Bill O'Reilly and detailed his arguments with his conservative parents over current political matters. [2] Wheaton's parents were very offended by the article, and Wheaton posted a lengthy apology on his site and an interview in which his parents gave their version of events. [3]
In 2003, Wheaton began noting on his blog his love for the game of poker. The following year, Wheaton began writing more extensively about his poker-playing experiences, including stories about playing Texas hold 'em tournaments locally and in Las Vegas. Eventually, Wheaton worked up to regular play, including a notable run at the 2005 World Poker Tour Championships. On June 23, 2005, Wheaton accepted an invitation to join Team PokerStars [4]. He went on to play in that year's World Series of Poker.
As of April 2006, Wheaton has been signed on to the new Nickelodeon cartoon, Kyle + Rosemary, as the titular Kyle.
In late September of 2006, Wheaton began hosting a Revision3 syndicated video podcast called InDigital along with Jessica Corbin and veteran host Hahn Choi.
Though never one to shy away from politics (he describes himself as a libertarian [5]), in September of 2006 Wheaton very stringently clarified his anti-Bush beliefs in a blog posting, stating: "Shame on President Bush. Shame on his Republican allies in congress." 1
[edit] Trivia
- Wheaton's Geek Code:
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12 GPA d-- s+: a C+++ UL+++ P+>+++ L+++ E--- W+++ N+ o+ K+++ w-- O---- M+ V-- PS++(+++) PE Y++ PGP++>+++ t++@$ 5++ X+ R+ tv- b++ DI+ D++ G++ e h---- r+++ y+++
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
- Of note, the "t++@$" tag for Star Trek decodes to:
- It's the best show around. I have all the episodes and the movies on tape and can quote entire scenes verbatim. I've built a few of the model kits too. But you'll never catch me at one of those conventions. Those people are kooks. But that varies... Getting paid for it!
- MC Frontalot's song "Penny Arcade Theme" contains the lyric "with coins in hand you've got more game than Wil Wheaton".[6]
- Wheaton occasionally posts at fark.com and even has his own news tag ('Wheaton'). The only other person so honored is actor Christopher Walken.
[edit] Filmography
[edit] Movies
- The Secret of NIMH (1982) (voice)
- Hambone and Hillie (1984)
- The Last Starfighter (1984) (scenes deleted from film but included as DVD extra)
- The Buddy System (1984)
- Stand By Me (1986)
- The Curse (1987)
- She's Having a Baby (1988) (uncredited Cameo)
- Toy Soldiers (1991)
- December (1991)
- The Liars' Club (1993)
- "Lifestories: Families In Crisis" (1995)
- Pie in the Sky (1996)
- Boys' Night Out (1996)
- Trekkies (1997)
- Flubber (1997)
- Tales of Glamour and Excess (1997)
- Fag Hag (1998)
- Foreign Correspondents (1999)
- The Girls' Room (2000)
- Deep Core (2000)
- Python (2000)
- Speechless... (2001)
- The Good Things (2001)
- Jane White Is Sick & Twisted (2002)
- Fish Don't Blink (2002)
- Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) (briefly; extended scene deleted but appears as DVD extra)
- Book of Days (2003)
- Four Fingers of the Dragon (2003)
- Neverland (2003)
[edit] Television
- Meat Puppet (1980)
- A Long Way Home (1981)
- The Shooting (1982)
- Highway to Heaven (1985)
- St. Elsewhere (1986)
- The Defiant Ones (1986)
- Long Time Gone (1986)
- Family Ties (1987)
- Young Harry Houdini (1987)
- The Man Who Fell to Earth (1987)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)
- My Dad Can't Be Crazy... Can He? (1989)
- Family Double Dare (1990)
- The Arsenio Hall Show (1991)
- The Last Prostitute (1991)
- Star Trek 25th Anniversary Special (1991)
- Tales from the Crypt (1993)
- It Was Him or Us (1995)
- Mr. Stitch (1995)
- The Outer Limits: "The Light Brigade" (1996)
- The Love Boat: The Next Wave (1998)
- Diagnosis Murder (1998)
- The Day Lincoln Was Shot (1998)
- The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001)
- Weakest Link (2001) (Star Trek-themed edition)
- Beat the Geeks (2002)
- A&E Biography: Eclipsed by Death - The Life of River Phoenix (2002)
- Walking the Tracks: The Summer of "Stand by Me" (2002)
- Arena (2002) (also as writer)
- Favorite Stars: Then & Now (2003)
- Book of Days (2003)
- The Screen Savers (2003, 2002)
- Call for Help (2004)
- Teen Titans (2004, 2005) (voice)
- Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! (2005) (voice)
- CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2005)
- I Love the 80s 3-D (2005)
- I Love Toys (2006)
- Kyle + Rosemary (2006) (voice)
- Legion of Super Heroes (2006) (voice)
[edit] Incorrectly attributed to Wil Wheaton
Numerous sources incorrectly list (or, as in the case of the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), listed) Wil Wheaton as providing "additional voices" in the Disney animated feature Brother Bear. The voice actor is "Willie Wheaton", who is not the same person as Wil Wheaton. [7]
Wheaton is often confused with Will Wheaton Jr., a jazz musician who contributed to the film Mystery Men, among other works.
[edit] Video games
- EverQuest II (2004) (voice)
- Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) (voice)
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2 (2004) (voice)
- Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Lockdown (2005) (voice)
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (2005) (voice)
- Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (2006) (voice)
[edit] Bibliography
- Dancing Barefoot (ISBN 0-596-00674-8) (2003)
- Just A Geek (ISBN 0-596-00768-X) (2004)
- Stories of Strength (ISBN 1-4116-5503-6) (2005)
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] External links
- Wil's Typepad weblog - aka WWdN: In Exile, used as Wil has currently "stirred up some epic database problems which are going to involve technical support" and the regular WWdN is out of service.
- Wil's website - Wil Wheaton Dot Net (not to be confused with wilwheaton.org, which formerly randomly redirected to a shock site) - This site is currently under reconstruction.
- Wil Wheaton at the Internet Movie Database
- Wil Wheaton article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
- Monolith Press
- The Games of our Lives - Wheaton's weekly column in The Onion AV Club.
- Google archive of the alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die newsgroup
- Wil Wheaton at the Open Directory Project (suggest site)
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Categories: 1972 births | American bloggers | American child actors | American film actors | American libertarians | American memoirists | American poker players | American television actors | Grand Theft Auto cast members | Internet personalities | Living people | People from the San Fernando Valley | People from Burbank, California
