Date of Birth: August 19, 1952

Jonathan Frakes is Commander William Riker, the Enterprise's executive officer and second-in-command. "Riker's job is to provide Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) with the most efficiently-run ship and the best prepared crew he can, "Jonathan explains. "As a result, he maintains a more military bearing than the other characters, despite the fact that salutes and other military protocol no longer exist in the 24th century."

During the sixth season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Jonathan appeared alongside his fellow cast members Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden and Colm Meaney, in a four-city tour of Tom Stoppard's drama, "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour." In addition, Jonathan, together with his wife Genie Francis, recently appeared in Part III of the successful ABC miniseries, "North & South."

During the third season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation," Jonathan made his directorial debut with an episode of the series entitled 'The Offspring." He so impressed the executive producers with his efforts that he also directed two additional episodes in the fourth season, "Reunion" and "The Drumhead," "Cause and Effect" in the fifth season, and last year, "The Quality of Life" and "The Chase." This season Jonathan directed the episodes entitled "Sub Rosa" and "Attached."

Prior to his role as Riker, Jonathan had recurring roles in such shows as "Falcon Crest," "Paper Dolls" and "Bare Essence," and for a year was a contract player on the daytime drama "The Doctors." His other television work includes the television movie "The Nutcracker" and critically praised roles in the miniseries "Dream West" and "North & South" (Parts I and III).

Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Jonathan was an undergraduate at Penn State and continued his education at Harvard, spending several seasons with the Loeb Drama Center. He then spent five years in New York, appearing on and Off-Broadway in several regional theatre productions.

Frakes on his favorite episode:

"The Offspring would have to be one of my favorites for obvious reasons [he directed it], and I liked “11001001”, because I got to play music in New Orleans. I also liked “Best of Both Worlds”, Parts I and II -- they are the best examples of science fiction television I can imagine.''