One of Star Trek's illustrious guest stars has been cited by Daily Variety as one of this year's "10 Actors to Watch."

Neal McDonough, who played "Lt. Hawk" — the conn officer who got assimilated by the Borg — in "Star Trek: First Contact," was named among the up-and-coming talent who are poised for wider recognition in film, television and theatre. He earned this honor after his work on Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report" and the HBO miniseries "Band of Brothers," executive produced by Spielberg and Tom Hanks.

McDonough is currently co-starring in NBC's "Boomtown" as a district attorney dealing with street crime while grappling with a messy personal life. Amidst all the recent activity, he also managed to just conclude shooting "Timeline," a sci-fi Paramount film directed by Richard Donner.

Variety asked each actor on the list of 10 to describe their "Modus Operandi" and their "Primary Inspiration." On the former, McDonough said, "Acting is a team sport. When you're working together as a team, you win every time. Acting selfishly is always going to be a problem."

As for his primary inspiration, he answered, "My mom. I auditioned to play Snoopy in a production of 'Charlie Brown' when I was a freshman in high school. The seniors made fun of me during rehearsals so my mom told me to go to the director and tell him I'm not going to rehearsals and I'll see you on opening night. It worked. I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life."

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