Wil Wheaton

Early life

Wheaton was born July 29, 1972, in Burbank, California, to Debra Nordean "Debbie" (née O'Connor), an actress, and Richard William Wheaton, Jr., a medical specialist. He has a brother, Jeremy, and a sister, Amy. Both appeared uncredited in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "When the Bough Breaks". Amy also appeared alongside Wil in the 1987 film The Curse.

Early work

Wheaton made his acting debut in the television film A Long Way Home (1981), and his first cinema role was as Martin Brisby in the animated film The Secret of NIMH (1982), the movie adaptation of Robert C. O'Brien's book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971). He had a minor role in The Last Starfighter (1984) as Louis's friend, but it was cut. He first gained widespread attention for playing Gordie Lachance in Stand by Me (1986), the film adaptation of Stephen King's novella The Body which was originally published in 1982's Different Seasons".

Star Trek

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. Wheaton commented about his critics in an interview for WebTalk Radio:

Later, I determined that the people who were really, really cruel – like the Usenet weenies – really are a statistically insignificant number of people. And I know, just over the years from people who've e-mailed me at my web site and people who I've talked to since I started going to Star Trek conventions again in the last five years, that there are so many more people who really enjoyed everything about the show, including my performance, including the character.

Wheaton's notoriety among Star Trek fandom is covered in a number of web comics. For example, ArcaneTimes (March 25, 2005) offers a sympathetic position; Something Positive presents a range of opinions on the storyline Mike's Kid; and Abstruse Goose tries to distinguish between the character and the actor.

Post-Star Trek

Wheaton played Joey Trotta in the action film Toy Soldiers (1991). After leaving Star Trek, he moved to Topeka, Kansas, to work for NewTek, where he helped to develop the Video Toaster 4000 doing product testing and quality control and 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 problems.

Afterward, he returned to Los Angeles, attended acting school for five years, and then re-entered the acting world. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Wheaton appeared in several independent films, including the award-winning The Good Things (2001), in which he portrays a frustrated Kansas tollbooth worker; it was selected Best Short Film at the 2002 Deauville Film Festival. For his performance in Jane White Is Sick & Twisted (2002) he received the Best Actor award at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival.

Voice work

Wheaton has worked as a voice actor in animation, video games and audiobooks, beginning with the role of young Martin Brisby in The Secret of NIMH at age 10. His most noteworthy credits include the roles of Aqualad in the cartoons Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!, the voice of radio journalist Richard Burns in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Kyle in the Nickelodeon cartoon, Kyle + Rosemary as well as himself and various other characters on both Family Guy and Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy. Wheaton also featured as the second Blue Beetle, Ted Kord, on Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Dr. Peter Meechum in Generator Rex, Mike Morningstar / Darkstar in Ben 10: Alien Force, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien & Ben 10: Omniverse". Additonally Wheaton took upon the anime roles of Yakumo in Kurokami: The Animation, Menma in Naruto, Hans in Slayers Evolution-R, Aaron Terzieff in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. He also appeared as himself in a skit on nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot's 2008 album Final Boss attempting to be a rapper, whose rhymes only involved shellfish. Wheaton later collaborated with Frontalot on "Your Friend Wil", a track from the 2010 album Zero Day on the subject of Wheaton's law, which states "don't be a dick" (the phrase was in use before Wheaton's blog post). Wheaton and Frontalot have both appeared at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX).

Wheaton has also narrated a number of bestselling audiobooks, mostly in the science-fiction and fantasy category, including Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (Wheaton also exists in the novel's universe, described as being joint President, along with Cory Doctorow, of the virtual world Oasis, which is the setting for much of the book), "Armada" also by Cline, Redshirts by John Scalzi, "Fuzzy Nation" also by Scalzi, and books 6–10 of the Chronicles of Amber series by Roger Zelazny.

Television and web

Wheaton was a contestant on a 2001 episode of The Weakest Link featuring Star Trek actors attempting to win money for charity. He has made guest appearances on the November 23, 2007 episode of the TV series Numb3rs, and the October 22, 2008 episode of the series Criminal Minds, and appeared in Internet presentations, including a cameo in a comedy sketch ("Lock Out") for LoadingReadyRun (and a reprise of the same the following year, in CommodoreHustle 4), and the May 30, 2008 episode of the Internet series Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show. From 2009-2011, Wheaton appeared in seasons 3, 4, and 5 of the web series The Guild as Fawkes, the leader for a rival guild known as Axis of Anarchy. Wheaton credits his roles in Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show and The Guild for reigniting his career by encouraging him to seek out roles as the "Villain You Love To Hate" stock character. He also appears in seasons 2, 3, and 4 of the TV series Leverage, as rival computer hacker Colin "Chaos" Mason, antagonist to Leverage team hacker Alec Hardison. He makes regular appearances in many web productions for Geek & Sundry, including hosting TableTop, a board game based show, and Titansgrave, a roleplaying game based show.

He appeared as a fictionalized version of himself in several episodes of the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, starting in season 3, episode 5: "The Creepy Candy Coating Corollary" (2009). On the show, Wheaton behaves in comically petty and manipulative ways towards main character Sheldon Cooper, who regards him as an archenemy until the season 5 episode "The Russian Rocket Reaction", when they make amends and become friends. Wheaton appears in 12 episodes in a recurring, guest-starring role on Eureka, playing Dr. Isaac Parrish, the head of the Non-Lethal Weapons Lab at Global Dynamics and a thorn in Fargo's side. Wheaton also voices the character of the former scoutmaster and current sous-chef Earl Harlan in the popular dark, surreal-comedy podcast Welcome to Night Vale.

Wheaton appears as Alexander Rook in the Syfy TV series Dark Matter, based on the eponymous comic book. The TV series premiered on June 12, 2015.

Hosting

From September 2006 to September 2007, Wheaton hosted a Revision3 syndicated video podcast called InDigital along with Jessica Corbin and veteran host Hahn Choi. He hosted a NASA video on the Mars Curiosity rover which landed on Monday August 6, 2012. He has also hosted "2nd Watch," interviews with cast members and producers of the science-fiction series Falling Skies that appears on-line after each episode. On April 3, 2014, Wheaton announced on his blog that his new show called The Wil Wheaton Project would premiere on the SyFy network at 10pm on May 27 for an initial projected run of twelve episodes. However, on August 29, Wheaton blogged that SyFy canceled the show after only one season.

Games

In 2003, Wheaton mentioned his love for the game of poker on his blog. The following year, he began writing more extensively about his poker-playing experiences, including stories about playing Texas hold 'em tournaments locally and in Las Vegas. Eventually, he worked up to regular play, including a run at the 2005 World Poker Tour Championships. On June 23, 2005, Wheaton accepted an invitation to join Team PokerStars. He went on to play in that year's World Series of Poker and was the guest speaker for the 2005 BARGE Banquet. In June 2007, he announced he would no longer be on Team Pokerstars due to changes in the U.S. legal system that would cause poker sites to have to focus on European and Asian markets and held a farewell Pokerstars tournament on June 5, 2007, which he titled So Long and Thanks for All the Chips.

Wheaton is a Dungeons & Dragons player, and played during the PAX 2010 event using the 4th edition rules. Wheaton, along with webcartoonists Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik of Penny Arcade, and Scott Kurtz of PvP, played in front of a live audience. The game was hosted and recorded by Wizards of the Coast with Chris Perkins as the dungeonmaster. Wheaton also played D&D 4th edition at the PAX 2011 event using the 4th edition rules, and used the D&D Next play test rules at PAX Prime 2012. Wheaton also hosts the web series TableTop, where he explains how to play various card, board and dice games, then plays a round with celebrity guests. Wheaton also starred in the Kickstarter-funded game There Came an Echo by Iridium Studios. In Dungeons and Dragons Online, he became the dungeon master of the Temple of Elemental Evil quests.

Nintendo of America announced on Twitter that Wheaton would be voicing Abraham Lincoln in Code Name: STEAM.

Wheaton announced in February, 2015, that he was chosen to provide voiceover talent for the upcoming strategy role-playing video game Firefly Online, a game based on Joss Whedon's Firefly sci-fi franchise.

Wheaton has spoken out against misogyny in video game culture, and wrote a profile of Anita Sarkeesian for the 2015 Time 100.

Wheaton also does the voice narration on the Secret Hitler companion app for the Secret Hitler social deduction game.

Comic book

A fictionalized version of Wheaton was included in the comic book PS 238, in which he harbors the power of telekinesis. Wheaton's debut comic book The Guild: Fawkes, which he wrote alongside Felicia Day, was released on May 23, 2012.

Audiobooks

Wheaton has recorded several of his non-self-published books as downloadable audiobooks. These include Just a Geek, Dancing Barefoot, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, and his Criminal Minds diary from Sunken Treasure. He also released excerpts of Memories of The Future: Vol 1 as free podcasts. He has also narrated several audiobooks by other authors, including Ready Player One and Armada by Ernest Cline; Masters of Doom by David Kushner; Homeland by Cory Doctorow; Fuzzy Nation, The Android's Dream, Agent to the Stars, Redshirts and Lock In, all by John Scalzi; Peter and Max: A Fables Novel by Bill Willingham; "Byways", part of METAtropolis: Cascadia by Tobias Buckell; "What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Hypothetical Questions" by Randall Munroe; and Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Similarly, Wheaton has provided the voice-over for the digital gamebook, Trial of the Clone.

Live shows

Wheaton has performed improvisational and sketch comedy at the ACME Comedy Theater in Hollywood. He has a traveling sketch comedy/improv troupe called "EarnestBorg9" that performs science fiction-related comedy at conventions. Wheaton is one of the three headline acts of the W00tstock shows, appearing in nearly all of them when his filming schedule has allowed. He has also guest starred in one of the Welcome to Night Vale live stage shows, playing the role of a radio station intern named after himself, the character meeting a prompt demise as is the podcast's tradition for interns. He also plays a character in the podcast, Earl Harlan, a friend of the main character. He was originally a 20-something regular guy, when he was dragged away to the "Eternal Scout" ceremony and disappeared. He then returned as a 53 year old with a son, and was the sous chef of Night Vale's top restaurant.

Writing

Wheaton runs his own blog, Wil Wheaton Dot Net. Between 2001 and late 2004, he operated a message board, known as "The Soapbox" or "Paracosm," as part of the blog site. Two collections of writings taken from postings to the message board have been published, titled Boxer Shorts (ISBN 1-932461-00-0) and Boxer Shorts Redux (ISBN 1-932461-03-5). He contributes regularly to the Los Angeles-based Metroblogging site. In June 2005, he became that month's featured Tech writer for the SuicideGirls Newswire. He had a monthly column, entitled "Wil Save," in the Dungeons & Dragons-based magazine Dungeon, until May 2005. From January 2005 to October 2006, he wrote a column for The A.V. Club about early video games, called "Games of Our Lives." On December 12, 2008, he returned to his role as Geek in Review editor, with his editorials being published every second Wednesday of the month.

In early 2003, he founded the independent publishing company Monolith Press and released a memoir entitled Dancing Barefoot. Monolith Press was "founded on the idea that publication should not be limited by opportunity." Most of the entries are extended versions of his blog entries. Dancing Barefoot sold out three printings in four months. In winter 2003, Wheaton signed to publisher Tim O'Reilly with a three-book contract. O'Reilly acquired Dancing Barefoot, and published his extended memoirs, Just a Geek, in summer of 2004. He has since written about his bitterness regarding how the book was marketed, believing it was pitched as a Star Trek book when he intended it as more of a personal memoir. Subsequently, in 2007, his next book, The Happiest Days of Our Lives was again published by Monolith Press.

With the release of Sunken Treasure: Wil Wheaton's Hot Cocoa Box Sampler in February 2009, instead of using traditional publishing, Wheaton decided to self-publish using Lulu Publishing, releasing paperback and digital copies, something he has continued to do with all his publications since. As a chapbook, Sunken Treasure contains several small extracts of various different projects, including two short stories from Ficlets, an ACME comedy sketch, William's Tell and a Criminal Minds production diary. The production diary was later released as an audiobook. Later that same year, Wheaton released Memories of the Future: Volume 1, a humorous critique, as well as an account of Wheaton's own experiences with, and memories of, the first thirteen episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Closing up 2009, Wheaton published a special edition of The Happiest Days of Our Lives, which also included an afterword by his son, Ryan. The Happiest Days of Our Lives and Sunken Treasure were also released on a Creative Commons license.

Politics

Wheaton described himself as a liberal in 2005. In September 2006, he criticized George W. Bush's plan to suspend habeas corpus and to use torture: "Shame on President Bush. Shame on his Republican allies in Congress, and shame on the spineless, cowardly Democrats who did not stand up to them." In a column that he wrote for Salon.com in 2005, The Real War on Christmas, Wheaton attacked conservative commentators like Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity for influencing the political views of his parents, with whom Wheaton found himself unable to have political discussions during family get-togethers on holidays like Christmas. Wheaton's parents were very offended by the article, and he posted a lengthy apology on his site and an interview in which his parents clarified their political views.

Wheaton is a supporter of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and has been involved with the organization since 2002.

On August 24, 2007, Wheaton gave the keynote for the yearly Penny Arcade Expo, which was subsequently made available online. He stepped in following a public battle between the formerly-scheduled keynote debate participants, noted anti-games activist Jack Thompson and Hal Halpin, the president of the Entertainment Consumers Association (ECA). Much of Wheaton's address focused on the debate over violence in video games. He also gave the keynote at PAX East 2010 in Boston, Massachusetts.

He supported Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election and opposed Proposition 8, calling it "nothing but hate and discrimination".

In September 2015, Wheaton announced that he was supporting Bernie Sanders' bid to be the 2016 Democratic Party presidential candidate nominee. He subsequently campaigned for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 general election.

Personal life

Wheaton was roommates with Chris Hardwick at UCLA. They met at a showing of Arachnophobia in Burbank, California.

Wheaton married Anne Prince on November 7, 1999, and lives in Arcadia, California, with her and her two sons from a previous relationship. When one son was 18, he asked Wheaton to legally adopt him, which he did.

Wheaton is an aficionado of computers, the internet, and technology in general. He says he is drawn to alternatives like Linux because he is left-handed, though he ceased using Linux when he switched to Windows 2000. Since at least 2003, his operating system of choice has been OS X, though he still runs Linux (Debian) in a virtual machine. He also enjoys brewing his own beer at home, and he collaborated with Fark creator Drew Curtis and Stone Brewing Co. CEO Greg Koch to create a geek-themed stout beer called Stone Farking Wheaton w00tstout.

Wheaton is also a major longtime fan of the Los Angeles Kings ice hockey team and can often be found at the Staples Center at both regular season and playoff games. Wheaton is also a "die-hard" fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and has gone to many games at Dodger Stadium. Wheaton is also a fan of English football club Arsenal.

Wheaton lives with generalized anxiety disorder and chronic depression. He supports mental health nonprofit organizations in raising awareness for these conditions.

Honors

Trivia