Biography for
Wil Wheaton More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

29 July 1972, Burbank, California, USA

Birth Name

Richard William Wheaton III

Nickname

Uncle Willie

Height

5' 10" (1.78 m)

Mini Biography

Wil Wheaton was born Richard William Wheaton III on July 29, 1972, in Burbank, California. He first gained international attention by starring in the Rob Reiner film Stand by Me (1986). He then played Wesley Crusher on the television series "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) for three and one-quarter seasons. Wheaton left the Hollywood scene for 18 months to pursue personal video production. He then returned to Los Angeles, California, and now works on many projects.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Matt Dicker

Spouse

Anne Wheaton

(9 November 1999 - present)

Trivia

Plays guitar and golf.

Family: parents, Rick and Debbie; younger siblings, Jeremy Wheaton, Amy Wheaton.

Wil's first big break in acting was opposite Bill Cosby in a Jell-O Pudding Pops commercial.

Loves hockey, magic and juggling.

He said a few lines on Chunky A's (Arsenio Hall's) song "Dope, the Big Lie", which appears on the Chunky A album "Large and in Charge".

He and wife, Anne, have two sons, Nolan and Ryan, from her previous marriage. They live in Los Angeles, California.

Was once spokesman for NewTek company, after leaving "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987).

Wil is a lifelong fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team, and he is also an avid player of video games, which lead to his voice-over role in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004) (VG).

He is a posting member of the internet communities Slashdot (slashdot.org) and Reddit (reddit.com). He does interviews on a regular basis and participates in discussion. He also answers private messages.

Played as part of the PokerStars.com team in the 2005 World Series of Poker.

Regained a decent measure of fame after launching his own website, WilWheaton.net, which led to a number of voice acting roles and a new career as a blogger and an author--he has written three memoirs; "Dancing Barefoot" (Monolith Press - 2003), "Just a Geek" (O'Reilly Media - 2004) and "The Happiest Days of Our Lives" (Monolith Press - 2007). All three books are based on his blog.

According to Wheaton's book "Just a Geek", several of his "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) castmates, including Jonathan Frakes, nicknamed (and still call) him Teen Idol, while Brent Spiner calls him Miltie.

Was number 62 on VH1's "The Greatest: 100 Greatest Kid Stars" (2005).

Was one of the first bloggers.

He is an active member of the Propeller social news site, where he is a Scout.

In 1988, Wil Power was the name of his Nickelodeon-based club for all Trek and non-Trek fans.

Recently designed/created a tee for the one-item-a-day-sale spin off of woot.com, shirt.woot.com . It is entitled "How We Roll".

The first Star Trek actor and the only cast member of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) to be born after the franchise had begun.

His first major film role was as a child playing Gordie LaChance in Stand by Me (1986), before taking the role of Wesley Crusher on "Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987)_. He later returned to the Star Trek franchise by lending his voice to Star Trek (2009). This film featured Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov. Not only are the characters similar, but Yelchin's career parallels that of Wheaton's in another way: he too got his first big role as a child in Hearts in Atlantis (2001), which was also based on a Stephen King story.

An avid and active home brewer.

Personal Quotes

"I am a huge geek. And Star Trek was a haven for geeks." Interview, 2005.

(On his teenage years) I was such a geek that if I could go back in time, I would kick my own ass.

We always had fun when we were working on Next Generation, but when Majel was on the set, it was a party. [on the death of Majel Barrett Roddenberry, December 19, 2008]

Fun fact: I hate dancing. It makes me feel self conscious, stupid, uncoordinated, and like a complete idiot. Because I don't particularly enjoy feeling that way, I probably dance once a year, to only one song, and only to make Anne happy when she wants to dance with her husband at whatever thing we've gone to where they have organized dancing.

[on his frequent appearances on "The Big Bang Theory" (2007) as "himself"] I'm not really a jerk but I have fun playing one.

Where Are They Now

(August 2002) Maintains the active wilwheaton.net, one of the most frequented fan sites on the Internet

(September 2003) Has written a successful book titled "Dancing Barefoot," which is a compilation of essays about events in his life. Available at www.monolithpress.com

(December 2003) Signed a 3-book deal with publisher O'Reilly & Associates for books "Dancing Barefoot," "Just a Geek" (expected spring 2004), and "Wil Wheaton's Web Design" (expected summer 2004).

(February 2005) Writes a weekly column called "Games of Our Lives" for the Onion A.V. club at http://avclub.theonion.com/ on the Internet. The column is about vintage- and nostalgia-worthy video games.

(September 2005) Currently working on his third book, "You Want Kids With That?" a collection of stories about his life as a stepfather that appeared on his blog. To be published by his own Monolith Press.

(September 2007) Published his third book, "The Happiest Days of Our Lives," through his own Monolith Press.

(2006) Put work on his book "You Want Kids with That?" on hold.

(2004) Terminated his deal with publisher O'Reilly & Associates.

(February 2009) Published a 90-page chapbook called "Sunken Treasure" through Lulu.com. Sunken Treasure is a compilation of some of his best stories from other works.