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.