Rod Roddenberry

Eugene Wesley "Rod" Roddenberry Jr. (born February 5, 1974) is an American television producer and the chief executive officer of Roddenberry Entertainment. He is the son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and Majel Barrett and is an executive producer on Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Prodigy, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Khan and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

Early life Roddenberry was born in Los Angeles the son of actress Majel Barrett and writer and producer Gene Roddenberry, creator of the American science fiction series Star Trek. Rod went to the John Thomas Dye School in Bel Air and Harvard-Westlake School in North Hollywood and attended Hampshire College in the early 1990s.

Rod Roddenberry was not familiar with Star Trek, having never even watched the show. In 1991, when he was 17 years old, his father died, after which he began to examine Star Trek and discover "what made the series special" to its fans. Rod struggled initially with his father's near-legendary stature among Star Trek fans, saying, "A son cannot identify with a mythical figure; my father was put up on this pedestal throughout my life." However, as he heard many moving stories about his father's flaws and follies, he observed, "That allowed me, as a son, not just to connect with him, but actually love him."

In mid-2009, the Los Angeles Times reported that Roddenberry approved of the 2009 Star Trek film by J.J Abrams. He opined that the producers and writers "made Star Trek cool again" with the film. In 2010 Roddenberry, an avid scuba diver since 1993, founded the Roddenberry Dive Team "to embark on undersea experiences and discover the diversity beneath the ocean." He leads the dive team in its exploration of underwater worlds and hopes to inspire stewardship of the world's oceans. He has a Divemaster certification, has led or participated in more than 1,000 dives from exotic locations around the world.

Roddenberry began being directly involved in the Star Trek franchise in 2016 when he signed on as an executive producer of the TV series Star Trek: Discovery.

Filmography