Wil Wheaton

Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor and writer. He portrayed Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me, Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers, and Bennett Hoenicker in Flubber.

Wheaton has also appeared in recurring voice acting roles as Aqualad in Teen Titans, Cosmic Boy in Legion of Super Heroes, Martin Brisby in The Secret of NIMH, and Mike Morningstar/Darkstar in the Ben 10 franchise's original continuity. He appeared frequently as a fictionalized version of himself on the sitcom The Big Bang Theory and in the roles of Fawkes on The Guild, Colin Mason on Leverage, and Dr. Isaac Parrish on Eureka.

Wheaton was the host and co-creator of the YouTube board game show TableTop. He has narrated numerous audio books, including Ready Player One and The Martian.

Early life Richard William Wheaton III was born July 29, 1972, in Burbank, California, to Debra "Debbie" Nordean (née O'Connor), an actress, and Richard William Wheaton Jr., a medical specialist. He has a brother, Jeremy, and a sister, Amy, both of whom appeared uncredited in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "When the Bough Breaks". Amy appeared alongside Wil in the 1987 film The Curse.

As an adult, Wheaton described his father as being emotionally abusive and sometimes physically abusive to him as a child and his mother as being an enabler of that abuse. He also stated that his parents forced him to become an actor. In a 2021 interview, he said that his father was a bully who openly loved his brother and sister more than him. In 2023, he claimed that his parents stole his childhood earnings.

Acting career Early work and Stand by Me Wheaton made his acting debut with a small role in the television film A Long Way Home (1981), which starred Timothy Hutton and Rosanna Arquette. He voiced the character of Martin in the animated film The Secret of NIMH (1982), the film adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971). Wheaton also appeared in Hambone and Hillie (1983), The Buddy System (1984) (opposite Richard Dreyfuss and Susan Sarandon), and The Last Starfighter.

Wheaton first gained widespread attention for his work in Stand by Me (1986), the film adaptation of Stephen King's novella The Body. In Stand by Me, Wheaton played the lead role of Gordie Lachance, a 12-year-old storyteller mourning the loss of his elder brother. In addition to being successful at the box office, Stand by Me was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama and became known as a coming-of-age classic.

Star Trek

Wheaton played Wesley Crusher during the first four seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, a "boy genius and Starfleet hopeful" who creator Gene Roddenberry based on himself. He appeared in an additional four episodes of the remaining three seasons. The character is seen as one of the most "polarizing" in the franchise; while many Star Trek fans love Wesley, others are vocal about their hatred of him.

He left the series due to concerns over how the production team addressed a scheduling conflict related to his wish to appear in the 1989 film Valmont.

Wheaton returned to Star Trek in 2002, 2022 and 2024, reprising his Wesley Crusher role in cameo appearances in Star Trek: Nemesis, the season 2 finale of Star Trek: Picard, and as a voice actor in the second season of the animated show Star Trek: Prodigy.

Post-Star Trek

Wheaton played Joey Trotta in the action film Toy Soldiers (1991). After leaving Star Trek, he moved to Topeka, Kansas, to work for NewTek, where he helped to develop the Video Toaster 4000 doing product testing and quality control and later used his public profile to serve as a technology evangelist for the product.

Afterward, he returned to Los Angeles, attended acting school for five years, and then re-entered the acting world.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Wheaton appeared in several independent films, including the short film The Good Things (2001), in which he portrays a frustrated Kansas tollbooth worker. For his performance in Jane White Is Sick & Twisted (2002) he received the award for Best Actor at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival.

Wheaton regularly portrayed a fictionalized version of himself on The Big Bang Theory, becoming a recurring guest star and then side character on the show.

He also appears in a The Big Bang Theory spin-off, Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, again as himself, as the viewer follows the continued story through different universes.

In June 2024, Wheaton announced that he was retired from on-screen acting.

Voice work

Wheaton is known for his voice acting career. He voiced the role of Martin Brisby in The Secret of NIMH in 1981. Wheaton voiced the villainous John Juniper in the 2021 video game, I Expect You to Die 2: The Spy and the Liar.

Television and web In 2010, Wheaton appeared in 12 episodes in a recurring, guest-starring role on Eureka, playing Dr. Isaac Parrish, the head of the Non-Lethal Weapons Lab at Global Dynamics and a thorn in Fargo's side. Wheaton also voices the character of the former scoutmaster and current sous-chef Earl Harlan in the podcast Welcome to Night Vale.

Non-acting professional ventures

Hosting From September 2006 to September 2007, Wheaton hosted a Revision3 syndicated video podcast called InDigital along with Jessica Corbin and Hahn Choi. He hosted a NASA video on the Mars Curiosity rover which landed on Monday August 6, 2012. He has hosted "2nd Watch", interviews with cast members and producers of the science-fiction series Falling Skies that appears online after each episode. On April 3, 2014, Wheaton announced on his blog that his new show called The Wil Wheaton Project would premiere on the SyFy network at 10 pm on May 27 for an initial projected run of twelve episodes. However, on August 29, Wheaton blogged that SyFy canceled the show after only one season. Wheaton has hosted the Star Trek aftershow The Ready Room since the second season in 2020.

Games

Wheaton is a Dungeons & Dragons player, and played during the PAX 2010 event using the 4th edition rules. Wheaton, along with webcartoonists Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade, and Scott Kurtz of PvP, played in front of a live audience. The game was hosted and recorded by Wizards of the Coast with Chris Perkins as the dungeonmaster.

Wheaton starred in the Kickstarter-funded game There Came an Echo by Iridium Studios. In Dungeons and Dragons Online, he became the dungeon master of the Temple of Elemental Evil quests.

Nintendo of America announced on Twitter that Wheaton would be voicing Abraham Lincoln in Code Name: STEAM. Wheaton does the voice narration on the Secret Hitler companion app for the Secret Hitler social deduction game.

Wheaton has spoken out against misogyny in video game culture, and wrote a profile of Anita Sarkeesian for the 2015 Time 100.

Comic book A fictionalized version of Wheaton was included in the comic book PS 238, in which he harbors the power of telekinesis. Wheaton's debut comic book The Guild: Fawkes, which he wrote alongside Felicia Day, was released on May 23, 2012.

Narrations Wil Wheaton has been a narrator for dozens of audiobooks, including his own works. He has been a finalist for the Audie Award multiple times, and received an Earphones Award from AudioFile magazine. + List of narrations Title Author Audiobook release date Additional narrators Peter and Max: A Fables Novel Bill Willingham 2009-12-08 Unknown Homeland Cory Doctorow 2014 No More of the Best of Science Fiction and Fantasy Orson Scott Card et al. 1999-12-15 Yes The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of the 20th Century Wil Wheaton 2009-03-04 No The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Cherie Priest 2010-03-18 Yes METAtropolis: Cascadia Tobias Buckell 2014-01-30 No Suspect Zero Randall Munroe 2014-09-02 No The Education of Brother Thaddius and Other Tales of DemonWars Cory Doctorow 2023-04-23 No The Bezzle He has a traveling sketch comedy/improv troupe called "EarnestBorg9" that performs science fiction-related comedy at conventions.

Writing Wheaton is the author of Dancing Barefoot (2004) and Just a Geek (2004). He released a revised follow-up, Still Just a Geek, in 2022.

Wheaton runs his own blog, Wil Wheaton Dot Net. In June 2005, he became that month's featured Tech writer for the SuicideGirls Newswire.

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

In 2017, Wheaton wrote the short story "Laina" for the Star Wars anthology From a Certain Point of View. The book features 40 short stories, each by a different author, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Star Wars.

It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton In March 2025, Wheaton launched a podcast titled It's Storytime with Wil Wheaton. The series includes Wheaton narrating selections of stories selected from Lightspeed Magazine, Uncanny Magazine, Clarkesworld Magazine, and On Spec.

Personal life Wheaton married Anne Prince on November 7, 1999. Wheaton legally adopted her two sons at their request when they reached the age of majority.

Wheaton was roommates with Chris Hardwick while Chris attended UCLA. They met at a showing of Arachnophobia in Burbank, California. In January 2021, Wheaton announced he had been sober for five years.

As of 2021, Wheaton was estranged from his parents. generalized anxiety disorder, and chronic depression. He finished in third place, behind winner Ike Barinholtz and runner-up Patton Oswalt, earning $100,000.

Politics Wheaton campaigned for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election.

Immediately following the Sutherland Springs church shooting on November 5, 2017, Wheaton on Twitter stated in response to Congressman Paul Ryan's call for prayers for the victims that, "The murdered victims were in a church. If prayers did anything, they'd still be alive, you worthless sack of shit." Wheaton subsequently clarified his opinion after receiving criticism, writing, "I apologize to those of you who are sincere people of Faith, who felt attacked by me," but accused "the right wing noise machine" of using his comments "to deflect attention and anger away from the role that unfettered access to weapons of mass murder played in the latest incidence of mass murder in America."

In September 2024, Wheaton joined other actors from the Star Trek franchise on a livestream to support the campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election.

Honors Young Artist Awards: 1989 & 1987 Melbourne Underground Film Festival: Best Actor (2002) International Academy of Web Television Awards: Best Host (Pre-Recorded) (2014) Saturn Awards: Lifetime Achievement Award – The Cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation (2024) ("The Lifetime Achievement Award is usually presented to an individual for their contributions to genre entertainment.) Top luminaries like Stan Lee and Leonard Nimoy, Mr. Spock himself, have received this top honor. It's not new, but we extended this award to cover the entire cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation, due to its continued influence on the face of general television. It was originally doomed to failure since it was following in the footsteps of the original Star Trek, yet it carved its own identity, and its diverse cast was light years ahead of its time!" —Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films

Filmography Film + Year Title Role Notes 1983 Hambone and Hillie Jeff Radcliffe The Buddy System Tim Price 1984 The Last Starfighter Louis' friend 1986 Stand by Me Gordie Lachance 1987 The Curse Zack 1988 She's Having a Baby Eloy 1991 December Kipp Gibbs Toy Soldiers Joseph Trotta 1993 The Liars' Club David Reynolds 1995 Mr. Stitch Lazarus 1996 Pie in the Sky Jack Boys' Night Out Marco 1997 Trekkies Himself Documentary Flubber Bennett Hoenicker Tales of Glamour and Excess Danny Sugerman 1998 Fag Hag Christian Bookstore Manager 1999 Foreign Correspondents Jonas 2000 The Girls' Room Charlie Deep Core Rodney Bedecker 2001 Speechless... Ryan Short film The Good Things Zach Means 2002 Jane White Is Sick & Twisted Dick Smith Fish Don't Blink Jimmy Walking the Tracks: The Summer of Stand by Me Himself Documentary Star Trek: Nemesis Wesley Crusher Cameo & deleted scenes2003 Neverland John Darling 2007 Americanizing Shelley Director Alan Smithee 2009 Star Trek Romulans (various) 2010 Loki and SageKing Go to GenCon Evil Wil Wheaton Short film 2014 Sharknado 2: The Second One Himself (airline passenger) Uncredited Video Games: The Movie Himself Documentary 2020 Max Reload and the Nether Blasters Arcade Heroes Narrator (voice) Rent-A-Pal Andy 2022 In Search of Tomorrow Himself Documentary

Television

Web shows and series

Animation + List of voice performances in animated films and television series Year Title Role

2015 Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. Abraham Lincoln | Dungeon Master 2021 I Expect You to Die 2: The Spy and the Liar John Juniper 2022 Star Trek Online Terran Emperor Wesley Crusher