As Enterprise's trusty chief engineer Charles "Trip" Tucker III, Connor Trinneer went through a lot. Over the course of four years, Trip found himself the first human male in history to become pregnant ("Unexpected"); he was trapped in a freezing shuttlepod ("Shuttlepod One") and stranded in the blazing desert ("Desert Crossing"); he very nearly died in the Delphic Expanse, but was saved by his own clone ("Similitude"); he climbed a rope between one starship and another at warp speed ("Divergence"); he inadvertently fathered the first half-human half-Vulcan baby, only to see it die ("Terra Prime"); and ultimately, years later, sacrificed his life for the greater good ("These Are the Voyages...").

Throughout all these remarkable adventures, Connor infused Trip with a down-to-earth, regular-guy persona, making him a favorite with both the fans and the writers. In fact, in June 2002, executive producer Rick Berman told Variety that he thought Connor's work was worthy of Emmy consideration. Though he was passed over for that particular recognition, he did twice get nominated for a Saturn Award in the Best TV Supporting Actor category.

Connor was born in Walla Walla, Washington. Prior to being cast on Star Trek: Enterprise, he guest-starred on numerous series, including Melrose Place and ER and had a recurring role on One Life to Live. He was also featured in the independent films "Duncan's Shadow" and "Raindogs," the HBO film "*61" and the PBS film "Far East."

Since Enterprise closed up shop two years ago, Connor has mainly devoted himself to being a family man. During hiatus between the third and fourth seasons he married Ariana Navarre (holding the ceremony in France, honeymooning in Paris), and they are now raising Jasper Trinneer, who is now 17 months old.

But he's still found time for a career. In particular he has delighted sci-fi fans with his striking performance in Stargate: Atlantis as "Michael," a Wraith-turned-human-turned-Wraith-again. He's been recurring over the last two seasons, his latest episode having aired this past January. It should be noted that the second time "Michael" appeared in the show, it wasn't Connor in the makeup — because his wife was about to give birth at the time of production and he didn't want to be in Vancouver during the big event. Good for him! But Connor did provide the voice-over for the character.

Connor has also been seen lately in episodes of Without a Trace (along with Marina Sirtis), Navy NCIS (alongside Tim Russ), Close to Home (directed by Roxann Dawson) and Numb3rs.

He also made a voice cameo in Family Guy just last month which represented a turning of the tables by that show's creator, Seth MacFarlane. In the Enterprise episode "The Forgotten," MacFarlane dropped in as a crewman in Engineering who gets his head chewed off by Trip Tucker. In Family Guy Trinneer played a regular guy who gets lucky with Sharon Stone, and then gets his head chewed off ... literally. (The 17-second clip is on YouTube.)

In between family and work obligations, Connor does like to spend weekends visiting with the fans. He'll be appearing this year at several Star Trek and Stargate conventions, including Creation events in Burbank, Las Vegas and the Philadelphia area, plus Galaxy of Stars in Jackson, Mississippi, Seatrek leaving from Seattle for Alaska, and possibly more!

STARTREK.COM wishes Connor Trinneer a very Happy Birthday and many thanks for all his great work on Star Trek: Enterprise and beyond. We look forward to seeing more of him, and we wish him and his growing family all the best!

You can wish Connor a Happy Birthday yourself on the Star Trek Message Boards!