Updated 11.19.07

Robert Beltran plays Chakotay, the fearless first officer on Star Trek: Voyager. A Native American who attended Starfleet Academy and attained the rank of lieutenant commander, Chakotay resigned his commission to join the Maquis as a captain. When he and his Maquis rebels became stranded in the Delta Quadrant along with the U.S.S. Voyager, Chakotay agreed to serve under Captain Janeway to lead a combined Federation-Maquis crew in their quest to find their way home.

When you watch Chakotay, you probably get a sense of someone who is pretty cool and collected on the outside, but with a seething rebel just under the surface waiting for an excuse to come out. Well, you can hardly pick someone more suitable for such a layered character than Robert Beltran — the only difference being that Beltran rarely keeps his rebellious side underneath the surface. As fans who have seen him at conventions, plays, poetry readings and his own Galaxy Ball know, this is a man who speaks his mind and won't back away from political incorrectness. But it is this very honesty, passion and disarming hands-on-gut sense of humor that earns him such a loyal audience.

For one thing, despite his irreverent and sometimes cynical wit, fans know he has a good heart. For several years Beltran hosted an annual "Galaxy Ball" charity fundraiser, a one-day mini-convention benefiting the Down Syndrome Association of Los Angeles. His youngest sibling has Down Syndrome, and he knew he had a chance to use his celebrity to help children afflicted with that condition, and he was always able to count on support from his friends in Star Trek.

Plus, he has been instrumental in bringing the arts to the less privileged. He is the founding member and co-artistic director of the East Los Angeles Classic Theater Group, which brings cultural enrichment to the minority communities of L.A. He also is active in promoting Latino poetry through live readings and a CD available for sale on his official Web site.

Background

Beltran was born in Bakersfield, California, as the seventh of ten children with a mixed Mexican-Native American ancestry (he describes his heritage as "Latindio"). He fell in love with acting as a child, and after graduating from Fresno State University in Theater Arts, he soon found fame as the title character in Paul Bartel's bizarre film "Eating Raoul." In fact, Beltran's is one of those faces that pops up pretty frequently in older movies on TV, now that you can recognize him from Star Trek: Voyager. He had leading roles in "Gaby: A True Story," "Kiss Me A Killer" and "Scenes From the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills" (alongside Wallace Shawn and Ed Begley Jr.), and portrayed Watergate burglar John Sturgis in Oliver Stone's "Nixon."

And yes, that's him co-starring with Scott Bakula and Cheech Marin in "Luminarias," which came out in 2000 and is now available on DVD.

Beltran's extensive theater background includes performances in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," "Hamlet" and "King Henry IV" for the California Shakespeare Festival. He has worked with El Teatro Campesino, the theater company of famed writer/director Luis Valdez, where he appeared in "Corridos," "Rose of the Rancho," and "La Pastorela." At the Los Angeles Theater Center, Beltran performed to critical acclaim in the Luis Valdez play "I Don't Have To Show You No Stinkin' Badges."

Prior to joining Star Trek: Voyager, Beltran appeared in the recurring role of Lieutenant Soto in Fox's Models, Inc. His television performances include the lead role in HBO's "Midnight Caller" and the ABC mini-series "The Mystic Warrior." He has also guest starred on numerous programs including Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, Miami Vice and Murder, She Wrote.

Recognition

Beltran's role as the first Hispanic on the bridge of a starship — though his character is actually Native-American — has not been overlooked. During his seven years with Voyager, Beltran was nominated several times for the American Latino Media Arts Awards (in the category "Outstanding Individual Performance in a Television Series in a Crossover Role"), and in 1997 he won a Golden Eagle Award for "Outstanding Actor in a Television Series" from Nosotros, an organization founded by Ricardo Montalban.

Post-Voyager

Beltran's recent stage work includes Clifford Odets' "The Big Knife," which prompted Daily Variety to say that Beltran exudes "a winning, masculine charm." And on TV, you may have seen him co-starring with Chase Masterson in Sci-Fi Channel's "Manticore." He was on Sci-Fi Channel again in 2007 in an original movie called "Fire Serpent" (a.k.a. "Alien Fire"), which was written by Trek authors and Enterprise staff writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. He has also filmed "Cry of the Winged Serpent" for the network.

Sometime in 2008 look for Beltran in a comedy called "Patriotville" starring Justin Long and Rob Corddry. Once again the "Latindio" actor plays an Native-American, this time a casino operator named "Joseph Sleeping Bear."