Wil Wheaton

Richard William “Wil” Wheaton III (born July 29, 1972) is an American actor, blogger, voice actor and writer. He is known for his portrayals of 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 for his recurring role as a fictionalized version of himself on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory.

Wheaton made his acting debut in the 1981 television film A Long Way Home, and his first cinema 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. He had a minor role in the 1984 movie The Last Starfighter as Louis’ friend, but it was cut. He first gained widespread attention in 1986, for playing Gordie Lachance in Stand by Me, the film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Body.

From 1987 to 1991, he played Wesley Crusher in the first four seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. This became a recurring role later in the series. A vocal group of Trekkies disliked his Star Trek character and, by extension, Wheaton himself during TNG’s first run.

In 1991, he played Joey Trotta in the action film Toy Soldiers. 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. He later used his public profile to serve as a technology evangelist for the product. Wheaton said this was a period of growth in his life, and living away from Los Angeles helped him deal with anger issues. He came back to Los Angeles, attended acting school for five years, then re-entered the acting world. In the late 1990s, Wheaton appeared in several independent films, including the award-winning The Good Things, in which he portrays a frustrated Kansas tollbooth worker. It 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 & Twisted. – Wikipedia