Sorvino, Paul
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Episode: TNG 265 - Homeward
Sorvino in 2003
Screen actress Mira Sorvino counts herself as a Star Trek fan, but it was dad and fellow fan Paul Sorvino who got to appear in TNG’s “Homeward” as Nikolai Rozhenko—Worf’s human foster brother, of all things. Born in 1939 in Brooklyn, Sorvino had early aspirations to be an opera singer but changed direction in college and won raves on Broadway in 1972’s That Championship Season.
Even with his long screen resume, Sorvino may still be best known as Paul Cicero from 1990’s mob film Goodfellas, though his turn in Al Pacino’s Cruising and as Henry Kissinger in Oliver Stone’s Nixon also drew note. On TV he spent 1½ seasons as Sgt. Phil Cerreta on Law & Order, and played Bruce Willis’ father in that star’s 1980s TV opus, Moonlighting. He is also an accomplished sculptor, working in bronze, and is an activist on behalf of banning horse slaughter in the U.S. Sorvino has also developed a line of retail pasta sauces under his own name, based on his mother’s recipe.
