Crew Profile: Will Riker

How Jonathan Frakes became a Marvel Superhero at the White House and nearly missed out on the role he'll be forever remembered for playing

Jonathan Frakes never had any plans to be an actor. When he graduated from his eastern Pennsylvania high school in 1970, he enrolled as a Psychology Major at Penn State. His father, Professor James R Frakes, was an academic, teaching English at Lehigh University where he held the Fairchild Chair in American Literature until his passing. Indeed, it was this teaching position that brought the Frakes family to Pennsylvania. ‘Frakes’ is an English family name, with roots in Somerset, England, but his mother, Doris Yingling, was of German ancestry, and married James Frakes in 1948. Jonathan Scott Frakes was born four years later.

His father introduced Jonathan to jazz when he very young, and at ten years old he took up the trombone. In high school, he played in the band and ran track. Nobody had any idea that he was going to go into acting until his sophomore year, when he worked as an usher at the local theatre and began to see just how much fun it could be. Eventually, he switched major to Theatre Arts and graduated with his bachelor's degree in 1974, going on to earn a Masters degree at Harvard.

Frakes decided to move to New York City and try to make it as an actor, but the roles did not come easily. He worked as a waiter and a furniture mover to make ends meet, during which time he injured his back - the reason that he sits so oddly on chairs when we see him on TNG. But his big break was to come very soon, as he was cast as a Marvel superhero...