Jonathan Frakes is most commonly known as the actor behind Commander (and eventually Captain) William T. Riker, on the TV show Star Trek: The Next Generation, which ran from 1987 to 1994. In addition to playing Riker for seven years on television, he's also acted in and directed several episodes of TNG, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Enterprise, not to mention nearly a dozen Star Trek-based video games, as well as making the occasional guest appearance on each of those shows on which he was not a regular (i.e., TNG). He also directed two films in the Star Trek franchise—Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection. He's also written two novels in a series, with help, apparently, entitled The Abductors.

Born Jonathan Scott Frakes on 19 August 1952, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Frakes is married to Genie Francis (known for her role in All My Children as Laura), and has a daughter, Elizabeth Francis and a son, Jameson Ivor.

He was educated at Penn State and Harvard University.

He's also had three separate runs as host of the TV show "Beyond Belief," in 1998, 2000 and 2002. According to just about everybody involved in the TNG franchise, Frakes made his final film appearance as Commander/Captain Riker in the 2002 venture Star Trek: Nemesis, a film which, for years, has been rumored to be the TNG cast's last appearance in character on the silver screen.

Jonathan Frakes is an actor and director made famous by playing Commander William T. Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Jonathan Scott Frakes was born August 19, 1952 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and continued his education at Harvard University where he began his acting career with the Loeb Drama Center. After his time in Cambridge, Massachusetts he moved to New York and performed on and off Broadway, including in the Broadway production of Shenandoah, for the next five years.

Prior to his role on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Frakes appeared on shows such as Bare Essence, Paper Dolls, and This Is the Life and was a contract player on The Doctors. Star Trek: The Next Generation brought him fame and gave him his first opportunity to direct. He so impressed the executive producers of the show with his work on the episode The Offspring that he was permitted to direct a number of later episodes on the show and parts of Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Frakes earned the nickname "Two-Take Frakes" while working both as an actor and director for Star Trek VIII: First Contact and later for Star Trek IX: Insurrection.

Today, Frakes owns his own production company (Goepp Circle Productions) and is the executive producer for Roswell. In addition, he has hosted Beyond Belief and directed Clockstoppers and is currently working on Thunderbirds. Unlike his character on Star Trek, Commander William Riker, he is an accomplished trombone player who marched in the Blue Band at Penn State and is featured on Phish's album Hoist. With some aid, he has written two novels in a series called The Abductors. He was married to Genie Francis on May 28, 1988 and they have two children: Elizabeth Francis (May 30, 1997) and Jameson Ivor (August 20, 1994). Since his seven seasons on Star Trek, he has appeared in all of the movies with the Next Generation crew, including Star Trek X: Nemesis which was released in December, 2002.

Sources:
"Biography for Jonathan Frakes" IMDB. 26 Oct 2002 <http://us.imdb.com/Bio?Frakes,+Jonathan>.
"Jonathan Frakes" 26 Oct 2002 <http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/st-tng/cast/frakes.html>.
"Jonathan Frakes" StarTrek.com. 26 Oct 2002 <http://www.startrek.com/library/bios.asp?ID=69066>.
"Jonathan Frakes" JothanFrakes.net. 26 Oct 2002 <http://www.jonathanfrakes.net/bio.html>.