Prior to taking command of the Enterprise as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Patrick Stewart had established himself as one of England's foremost leading actors, having appeared in such BBC productions as "I Claudius," "Smiley's People" and "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," which aired on public and commercial television outlets in America. American filmgoers will also remember him as Gurney Halek in the David Lynch-directed "Dune," Leodegrance in "Excalibur," Duke of Suffolk in "Lady Jane" and Eilbert Lovborg in "Hedda," with Glenda Jackson. He was the recipient of the prestigious London Fringe Best Actor Award for his performance in a London production of 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" and an 'Olivier Award' for his performance in Shakespeare's "Anthony and Cleopatra”. Some will also remember him, in his part in the feature film “Jeffrey”, where he plays a gay designer.

For the past two years, Patrick's one-man dramatic interpretation of Charles Dickens' classic novel, "A Christmas Carol," has broken box office records and garnered rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. Most recently, Patrick earned two 1994 Laurence Olivier Award nominations for "A Christmas Carol" -- boasting nominations for "Best Actor" and "Best Entertainment." In 1992, Patrick received a Drama Desk Award for "Best Solo Performance on Broadway." In 1993, he received a Grammy nomination for his album version of "A Christmas Carol."

Patrick recently appeared as a villain in the Miramax feature film, "Gunmen", as well as in “The conspiracy theory”, featuring Julia Roberts, and in USA Network's "Death Train." In 1993, Patrick appeared in Mel Brooks' feature film "Robin Hood: Men in Tights," and will be heard as the voice of 'Adventure' in Fox's upcoming film "The Pagemaster," with Whoopi Goldberg and Macaulay Culkin.

Not one to adhere to any single genre of entertainment, Patrick also hosted "Saturday Night Live" in February of this year. This particular show garnered impressive enough ratings to place it among the top five episodes for the 93/94 season, a further testament to Patrick's enormous span of appeal.

During "Star Trek: The Next Generation's" sixth season, Patrick starred in and directed his fellow shipmates, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden and Colm Meaney in a production of the Stoppard drama, "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour." In a four-city tour, the play opened to sell- out crowds and rave critical reviews.

Adding to his impressive list of achievements, Patrick made his directorial debut during "Star Trek: The Next Generation's" fourth season with an episode of the show entitled "In Theory" and went on to direct "Hero Worship," during the fifth season. In the sixth season, he directed "A Fistful of Datas" and during the seventh season, Patrick directed "Phantasms" and "Preemptive Strike" (aka "The Good Fight").

Patrick grew up in the English town of Mirfield and for 25 years has been an associate artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Considered to be one of the British theatre's leading talents,
his credits include Henry IV, Oberon, Shylock (an 'Olivier Award' nomination), Leontes and the title role in Peter Shaffer's 1986 play "Yonadab."

Stewart on his favorite episode:

“My favorite episode is “The Offspring” because it represents all of the things that we have always tried to do on STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION. Also, it has another brilliant performance from Brent Spiner matched by an equally fine performance by Hallie Todd, and because it marked the first opportunity given by the studio for one of us to direct an episode, which Jonathan Frakes did outstandingly.”

About fans:

``You can't afford to forget the names of episodes in this company. I can get away with it - that's what goes with being Captain. But these people are liable to rip your throat out...'' -- Palo Alto Creation Convention, 1990

How is he handling being a sex symbol?

``With elegance, with grace, an overwhelming modesty, and huge numbers of locks on my door.''