Michael Dorn

Michael Dorn
Dorn speaks at the Galileo 7.9 Convention (2005 in Neuss, Germany)
Born	(1952-12-09) December 9, 1952 Luling, Texas, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Actor, Voice actor

Michael Dorn (born December 9, 1952) is an American actor best known for his role as the Klingon Worf from the Star Trek franchise.

Early life and career

Dorn was born in Luling, Texas, the son of Allie Lee (née Nauls) and Fentress Dorn, Jr. He grew up in Pasadena, California. He studied radio and television production at the Pasadena City College. From there he pursued a career in music as a performer with several different rock music bands, travelling to San Francisco and then back to Los Angeles.

He first appeared as a guest on the television show W.E.B. in 1978. The producer was impressed with his work, so he introduced Michael to an agent who introduced him to acting teacher Charles Conrad to study acting for six months. He then landed a regular role on the television series CHiPs. The first movie he had a role in was Rocky (1976) as Apollo Creed's bodyguard.

Star Trek

Dorn's most famous role to date is that of the Klingon Starfleet officer Lieutenant (later Lt. Commander and then Commander) Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He said he got the role by showing up at the interview with several people. He did not smile or speak or sit, but stood in a corner in rigid attention posture, like the stereotypical Klingon warrior. When called, he marched into the room, scowled, and shook the interviewer's hand sharply. After reading, he gruffly thanked the director, and walked out. He attributes this reading in character as a Klingon warrior to getting the part.

Dorn has appeared on-screen in more Star Trek episodes and movies as the same character than anyone else: he appeared in 175 episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, missing three: "Code of Honor", "Haven" and "Shades of Gray," 102 episodes of Deep Space Nine, missing four during his time on the show: "Rocks and Shoals", "The Magnificent Ferengi", "Chrysalis" and "Prodigal Daughter" and he also appeared in five Star Trek movies, including The Undiscovered Country (not as Worf), Generations, First Contact, Insurrection, and Nemesis, bringing his total to 281 appearances as Worf. Colm Meaney is the only other person who has made over 200 appearances on Star Trek with 216 episodes; Majel Barrett had 233 "appearances" but many of these were voice only.

Dorn's appearance in the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country was as Colonel Worf, representing Captain James T. Kirk and Dr. Leonard McCoy at their trial on Qo'noS and also unmasked the real assassin: Colonel West. Although never confirmed on screen, the character of Colonel Worf was intended to be the grandfather of Star Trek: The Next Generation's Worf.

Dorn is also one of six actors (the other actors being Jonathan Frakes, Kate Mulgrew, George Takei, Avery Brooks and Majel Barrett) to lend his voice to Star Trek: Captain's Chair, reprising his role of Lieutenant Commander Worf.

Dorn's voice deepened from his years of playing Worf. His two favorite episodes of The Next Generation are "The Offspring" and "The Drumhead".

Other work

Dorn has also appeared in various computer games, including Emperor: Battle for Dune, a computer game loosely based on Frank Herbert's Dune novels, as the Duke of House Atreides, Dr. John in Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers, Special Agent Frank Horrigan and Marcus the Mutant Sheriff in Fallout 2, the critically acclaimed Mission Critical as Commander Dana, captain of the spaceship, and Gatatog Uvenk the minor antagonist in Mass Effect 2. Dorn later reprised his role as Marcus in Fallout: New Vegas. He is the voice of the narrator in the 1996 DOS game, Vikings, Strategy of Ultimate Conquest!.

Dorn has been the spokesman for Neutrogena T-Gel Shampoo, and has appeared in a car commercial. Dorn appeared on Family Guy as Worf with fellow Star Trek: The Next Generation stars in the episodes "Peter's Got Woods" and "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven". One of his most known works in television was to voice I.M. Weasel, protagonist of the animated series I Am Weasel. Dorn also supplied the voice of the Martian Centurion Robots in cartoon Duck Dodgers. He provided the voice of Kraven the Hunter in Spider-Man: The New Animated Series and appeared on Martial Law. He voiced several NPCs in World of Warcraft, and King Beardbottom in "Here Thar Be Dwarves", the 30th episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Dorn also reappeared in the DC animated universe as Kalibak, in episodes of Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. He appeared in the Ben 10 episode "The Return" and Be Afraid Of The Dark as Doctor Vicktor and BenVicktor. Dorn appeared as the President of the United States on Volume 4 of Heroes. Dorn also appeared again with Sylvester Stallone in Shade as a high stakes poker player. Michael Dorn has also appeared in SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron as Mutilor the alien antagonist. He was also the voice of Rufus 3000 in the Kim Possible movie A Sitch in Time. He also appeared on Without a Trace on November 15, 2007. He voiced the former Great Spirit Mata Nui in the recent film, BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn. Months later, LEGO hired him to return to the voice of Mata Nui in "Mata Nui Saga", a illustrated blog in BIONICLE.com. In 2010 he voiced Tassadar in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. More recently, he voiced the immortal supervillain Kru'll the Eternal in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, and, fittingly, Guardship Commander Dorn in Strange Frame: Love & Sax as well as Gork and several minor characters in Adventure Time. He will voice Ironclad in Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes.

Directorial Credits

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "In the Cards"
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "Inquisition"
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: "When It Rains..."
• Star Trek: Enterprise: "Two Days and Two Nights"

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1996	Adventures from the book of Virtues	Apollo	voice
2001	"The Gristle"	"Tar"
2001	Ali	"Black Pilot"
2002	The Santa Clause 2	The Sandman
2006	The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause	The Sandman
2010	Firebreather	Jamal	voice

Television

Years	Television show	Role	Notes
1991–1994	Dinosaurs	Elders
1994–1997	Gargoyles	Coldstone
1995–2000	The Outer Limits	Pete Claridge
1996–2000	Superman: The Animated Series	Kalibak and John Henry Irons (a.k.a. Steel)
1997–1999	I Am Weasel	I.M. Weasel
2004–2005	Megas XLR	R.E.G.I.S. Mark V and Number 14
2004–2007	Danny Phantom	Fright Knight

Personal life

Dorn enjoys flying, something he was not permitted to do while in The Next Generation but was able to do after joining the cast of Deep Space Nine. He has flown with the Blue Angels as well as the Thunderbirds. Dorn has owned several aircraft, including a T-33 Shooting Star, an F-86 Sabre, and currently owns a North American Sabreliner. The T-33 was often referred to as "his starship." Michael Dorn also serves on several organizations, one of which is the Air Force Heritage Foundation where he is on the advisory board. Dorn has also done interviews for the "Private Jets" episode of Modern Marvels on The History Channel. He is also a fan of Comedy Central's South Park and admitted in an interview that he wished they had asked him to guest voice himself in his appearance in the episode "Fun with Veal". He is a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA).

He is a vegan.

External links

• Michael Dorn at IMDb
• Michael Dorn at AllMovie
• Template:Tv.com person
• Michael Dorn at Memory Alpha
• Serves on the Air Force Aviation Heritage Foundation as an advisory board member