Biography

Robert Picardo was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, where he spent his whole childhood. He graduated from the William Penn Charter School and attended Yale University. At Yale, he landed a role in Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" and at age 19, he played a leading role in the European premiere of "Mass". Later, he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Drama from Yale University. He appeared in the David Mamet play "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" and, with Diane Keaton, in "The Primary English Class". In 1977, he made his Broadway debut in the comedy hit, "Gemini", with Danny Aiello, and also appeared in Bernard Slade's "Tribute", "Beyond Therapy" as well as "Geniuses" and "The Normal Heart", for which he won a Drama-Logue Award.

Then, he became involved in television, where he soon was nominated for an Emmy Award for his role as Coach Cutlip on the series, The Wonder Years (1988). Robert appeared in several other series: China Beach (1988), Frasier (1993), Ally McBeal (1997), Home Improvement (1991), The Outer Limits (1995) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996).

In 1995, he got the role of the holographic doctor on Star Trek: Voyager (1995), where he also directed two episodes. He also got roles in The Howling (1981), Star 80 (1983), Get Crazy (1983), Oh, God! You Devil (1984), Innerspace (1987), Munchies (1987), Samantha (1991), White Mile (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Small Soldiers (1998), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey (2010), and so on.

He resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife Linda, and their two daughters.
- IMDb mini biography by: anonymous

Frequently cast in supporting roles or cameos by Joe Dante

If Picard can baldly go, why not Picardo?

On how the success of Stargate SG-1 (1997) has surpassed that of Star Trek in recent years: I am always amazed when I travel abroad that Stargate has become huge. It's huge in Britain. It's far eclipsed Star Trek. It's now huge in Germany. I understand they're making big inroads in other countries.

His thoughts on Star Trek: I came to the Star Trek franchise a little late. I got into it, I married a woman who's a big Star Trek fan, so, even though I was not into it when I was a kid, in order to court my wife I had to go to Star Trek movies. You know, I think she had a thing for Captain Kirk, right when she was hitting puberty -- which is really when they get you! And, uh, I really grew to understand and appreciate the quality of Star Trek storytelling. And then, when I joined the Voyager franchise, and really became knowledgeable about Star Trek -- and watched more and more of the other shows, that preceded us -- I think that I became a Star Trek fan in my own right, as well as a Star Trek actor. (May 4, 2006)

Prosthetic make-up is very constricting to wear. The actors who are most successful in it are willing to be very expressive to make the make-up look real and move real. Working in make-up is more emotional acting than regular acting, like you're singing an aria; you let it invade your whole body.