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Wil Wheaton

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This article is about the actor and writer. For the musician, see Will Wheaton.
Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton in 2001
Born
Richard William Wheaton III
Occupation(s)Writer, actor
Years active1982–present
SpouseAnne Prince
Websitehttp://wilwheaton.typepad.com/

Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American writer and actor. As the latter, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, as Gordie LaChance in the film Stand by Me, as prep-school rebel Joseph 'Joey' Trotta in Toy Soldiers, and for his role in The Guild Season 3.

Biography

Personal life

Wheaton was born in Burbank, California, to Debbie (née O’Connor), an actress, and Richard William Wheaton, Jr., a medical specialist.[1][2] He has a brother and a sister.

Wheaton married Anne Prince in 1999. He lives with his wife and two stepsons in Arcadia, California.[3]

Star Trek and early career

Wheaton made his acting debut in the 1981 TV film A Long Way Home, and his first theatrical role was as Martin Brisby in the 1982 animated film The Secret of NIMH, the movie adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. Wheaton first gained widespread attention in 1986 as Gordie LaChance in Stand by Me, the film adaptation of Stephen King's The Body. In 1991, he played Joey Trotta in the film Toy Soldiers.

From 1987 to 1990, he appeared in the role of Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation throughout its first four seasons.

Like many actors made popular by 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.

Although his Star Trek character, and by extension Wheaton himself, was loudly hated by a vocal group of Trekkies during TNG's first run (see Usenet groups alt.ensign.wesley.die.die.die or alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die), Wheaton has explained that he was required to speak the lines written by others and that he too dislikes his Star Trek character. He did, however, enjoy working on the show and praises the other actors, especially Patrick Stewart.[4] Wil Wheaton was later reported responding to the Usenet hate-groups and old-school Trekkers in an interview for WebTalk Radio:

Later, I determined that the people who were really, really cruel – like the Usenet weenies – really are a statistically insignificant number of people. And I know, just over the years from people who’ve e-mailed me at my web site and people who I’ve talked to since I started going to Star Trek conventions again in last five years, that there are so many more people who really enjoyed everything about the show, including my performance, including the character.[5]

After leaving Star Trek, Wheaton moved to Topeka, Kansas, to work for NewTek, where he helped to develop the Video Toaster 4000, doing product testing and quality control.[6][7]Due to his public profile, he later served as a technology evangelist for the product.[8]

The issue of Wheaton's popularity among Star Trek fandom is covered in a number of web comics. ArcaneTimes of March 25, 2005 offers a sympathetic position.[9] Something Positive presents a range of opinions as part of the storyline Mike's Kid.[10] Abstruse Goose tries humorously to distinguish clearly between the character and the actor.[11]

Wheaton was a contestant on a 2001 Star Trek-themed episode of The Weakest Link.

Performing

In the late 1990s, Wheaton appeared in several independent films, including the award-winning The Good Things, in which Wheaton portrays a frustrated Kansas tollbooth worker,[12] was selected Best Short Film at the 2002 Deauville Film Festival. He received the Best Actor award at the 2002 Melbourne Underground Film Festival for his performance in Jane White is Sick and Twisted.

From September 2006 to September 2007, Wheaton hosted a Revision3 syndicated video podcast called InDigital along with Jessica Corbin and veteran host Hahn Choi.

Wheaton's more recent acting work includes guest appearances on the November 23, 2007 episode of the TV series Numb3rs, and the October 22, 2008 episode of the series Criminal Minds. He has also appeared in Internet presentations, including a cameo in a comedy sketch ("Lock Out") for LoadingReadyRun[13] (and a reprise of the same the following year in CommodoreHustle 4), and the May 30, 2008 episode of the Internet series Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show.

Wheaton has worked as a voice actor, including the role of Aqualad in the cartoon Teen Titans, the voice of radio newsman Richard Burns in the popular Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas video game[14] and most recently as Yakumo from the anime Kurokami. In 2006, Wheaton signed on to voice the role of Kyle in the Nickelodeon cartoon, Kyle + Rosemary. He has also recorded a voice appearance for the episode of Family Guy titled "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven", which aired on March 29, 2009. He was also the voice for the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, on Batman: The Brave and the Bold in the episode "Fall of the Blue Beetle!"

Wheaton performs improvisational and sketch comedy at the ACME Comedy Theater in Hollywood. He has a traveling sketch comedy/improv troupe called "EarnestBorg9" that performs science fiction-related comedy at conventions.

Wheaton appeared in a skit on nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot's album Final Boss as himself trying to be a rapper whose rhymes only involved shellfish. Wheaton and Frontalot have both appeared at the Penny Arcade Expo.

Writing

Wheaton has emerged as a vocal member of the "geek"/"nerd" community and runs his own weblog, Wil Wheaton Dot Net. Much of his present popularity comes from Wil Wheaton Dot Net, the books it has spawned, and from fans who admire his earlier work.

Between 2001 and fall 2004, Wil operated a message board, known as "The Soapbox" or "Paracosm", as part of the blog site. Rather than just a fan forum, it was a place where people could gather to talk about various subjects including movies, music, books, religion, politics, gaming, geocaching, and miscellaneous topics; the original emphasis was on topics of interest to Wil Wheaton and not the man himself.[citation needed] Two collections of writings taken from postings to the message board have been published, titled Boxer Shorts (ISBN 1-932461-00-0) and 'Boxer Shorts Redux (ISBN 1-932461-03-5).

Wheaton contributes regularly to the Los Angeles-based Metroblogging site. In June 2005, he became the feature "Geek editor" for the SuicideGirls Newswire. He had a monthly column, entitled "Wil Save," in the Dungeons & Dragons-based magazine Dungeon; he ceased writing that column in May 2005. From January 2005 to October 2006, Wheaton wrote a column for The Onion AV Club about early video games, called "Games of Our Lives." On 12th December 2008 he returned to his role as Geek in Review editor, with his editorials being published every second Wednesday of the month.

Wil Wheaton (left) meets Tim O'Reilly at the 2003 booksigning of Dancing Barefoot at Powell's in Portland, Oregon.

In spring 2003, Wheaton founded the independent publishing company Monolith Press and released a memoir entitled Dancing Barefoot. Monolith Press was "founded on the idea that publication should not be limited by opportunity."[15] Most of the entries are extended versions of his online blog entries. Dancing Barefoot sold out three printings in four months.

In winter 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. 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.[16]

Wheaton's third book, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, was released in 2007.

Politics

Wheaton describes himself as a libertarian.[17] In September 2006 Wheaton very stringently clarified his anti-Bush beliefs in a blog posting regarding congressional debate over whether to permit torture of unlawful combatants: "Shame on President Bush. Shame on his Republican allies in congress."[18]

A column that Wheaton wrote for Salon.com in 2005, The Real War on Christmas, attacked commentators like Bill O'Reilly and detailed his arguments with his conservative parents over current political matters.[19] 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.[20]

On August 24, 2007, Wheaton gave the keynote for the yearly Penny Arcade Expo, which was subsequently made available online. Wheaton stepped in following a public battle between the formerly-scheduled keynote debate participants, noted anti-games activist Jack Thompson and Hal Halpin, the president of the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA). Much of Wheaton’s address focused on the debate over violence in video games.

Wheaton supported Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election[21] and opposed Proposition 8, calling it "nothing but hate and discrimination".[22]

Poker

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.[23] He went on to play in that year's World Series of Poker and was the guest speaker for the 2005 B.A.R.G.E Banquet. In June 2007 Wheaton announced he would no longer be on Team Pokerstars due to changes in the U.S. legal system that would cause poker sites to have to focus on European and Asian markets[24] and held a farewell Pokerstars tournament on June 5, 2007, which he titled So Long and Thanks for All the Chips.[25]

Filmography

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Movies

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Television

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Incorrectly attributed to Wil Wheaton

Wheaton is sometimes confused with Will Wheaton Jr., a jazz musician who contributed to the film Mystery Men, among other works.

Video games

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; contributor)
  • The Happiest Days of Our Lives (ISBN 0-9741160-2-5) (2007)

References

  1. ^ Genealogy
  2. ^ Wil Wheaton Biography (1972-)
  3. ^ Wil Wheaton. "Seeking Sanctuary" WilWheatonDotNet in Exile, May 15, 2006. Retrieved September 23, 2007.
  4. ^ Wil Wheaton blog at TV Squad
  5. ^ WebTalk Radio
  6. ^ Tasha Robinson. AV Club: Inventory: 13 Memorably Unpopular Characters From Popular TV, AVClub.com, June 7, 2006.
  7. ^ Conversations with GoD: Wil Wheaton, Geeks of Doom, Retrieved May 2, 2009.
  8. ^ Flying Toasters, Wired.
  9. ^ http://www.arcanetimes.com/comic/index.php?strip_id=60
  10. ^ http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp09282006.shtml September 28, 2006 - http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp09302006.shtml September 30, 2006
  11. ^ http://abstrusegoose.com/21
  12. ^ The Good Things (2001) Internet Movie Database Inc.
  13. ^ http://loadingreadyrun.com/videos/view/240/Lock+Out Loadingreadyrun.com
  14. ^ Full cast and crew for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) (VG) Internet Movie Database Inc.
  15. ^ About Monolith Press
  16. ^ Wil Wheaton. "Punch a hole in the sky," WilWheatonDotNet in Exile, February 3, 2006. Retrieved March 3, 2009.
  17. ^ James W. Harris. "'Star Trek' star is now a libertarian freedom-fighter,", Liberator Online, Volume 7, Number 1, January 8, 2002; cites Salon.com, December 12, 2001. Retrieved July 29, 2007.
  18. ^ Wil Wheaton. "A statement of conscience," WilWheatonDotNet in Exile, September 28, 2006. Retrieved July 29, 2007.
  19. ^ Wil Wheaton. "The real war on Christmas," Salon, December 22, 2005. Retrieved July 29, 2007.
  20. ^ Wil Wheaton. "Nothing is more important than family," WilWheatonDotNet in Exile, December 29, 2005. Retrieved July 29, 2007.
  21. ^ Wil Wheaton "One last time,"
  22. ^ Wil Wheaton. "Californians: Vote NO on Prop 8,"
  23. ^ Wil Wheaton Joins Team Pokerstars, PokerStarsBlog.com, June 2005.
  24. ^ Wil Wheaton. "So long, and thanks for all the chips," WilWheatonDotNet in Exile, June 1, 2007. Retrieved July 29, 2007.
  25. ^ Wil Wheaton. "Reminder: Final WWdN poker tourney is tonight," WilWheatonDotNet in Exile, June 5, 2007. Retrieved July 29, 2007.
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