Updated 11.09.07

Robert Duncan McNeill starred in Star Trek: Voyager as Lieutenant Tom Paris, an outstanding pilot descended from a proud family of Starfleet legends. When the pressures of living up to the family name resulted in tragedy, Paris enlisted with the renegade Maquis, only to be captured and imprisoned by Starfleet. Given a second chance by Captain Janeway, Paris became determined to prove his worth by helping the starship U.S.S. Voyager strive to return home. As McNeill put it, "Tom is a man who has made mistakes, but who hasn't allowed these mistakes to ruin his life. He's got another chance, and is going to do everything in his power to earn back lost respect and gain admiration."

Trek fans will remember that McNeill ("Robbie" to his friends) actually came to the franchise before Voyager, playing Cadet First Class Nicholas Locarno, the charismatic but reckless leader of Starfleet Academy's Nova Squadron, in the 1992 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The First Duty." McNeill returned in Voyager in 1995 as the disgraced Tom Paris, a renegade officer with a penchant for doing things his own way. Watching the character's evolution on the show made for one of Voyager's most interesting arcs. Paris went from a guy who was only out for himself to a dedicated crewmember, friend, husband and (in the series finale) father. McNeill gave the evolution an extra bit of dimension — Tom Paris may have grown up, but he never lost his roguish spark.

Paris had a lot of good storylines over the years, but the best two were on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. On the one hand, we've got his holodeck adventures as "Captain Proton," which captured the classic black-and-white madness of old sci-fi film serials. On the other, we've got his difficult, touching courtship with B'Elanna Torres. Things almost never ran quite smoothly between these two, and that's what made their relationship so compelling.

Background

Born in North Carolina and raised in Washington, D.C., McNeill's family finally settled in Atlanta, Georgia. After attending a local high school, Robert decided to move to New York City to become an actor. After a number of chorus roles and small parts, he enrolled in The Juilliard School, where he spent two years studying the trade.

While attending Juilliard, Robert was cast as Charlie Brent on the popular ABC daytime drama All My Children. From 1984 through 1986, McNeill became a favorite in the world of daytime soaps, his efforts earning him a Daytime Emmy nomination. During this time, he also produced and starred in an off-Broadway play, and starred in the science fiction feature film "Masters of the Universe," alongside Dolph Lundgren, Courtney Cox and Frank Langella (a Deep Space Nine guest star).

After leaving All My Children, McNeill landed a starring role in the national touring production of Stephen Sondheim's hit Broadway musical "Into the Woods." The tour would ultimately bring him to Los Angeles for a six-month run, and it would be here that he would finally put down roots with his new wife, Carol.

While L.A. was to become home, his career continued to take him back to the Big Apple. He returned to New York to appear in many plays on and off-Broadway. While there, he and Carol founded Real Play Productions, an organization that provides inner-city school children with creative ways of dealing with crises and issues they face on a daily basis.

His favorite and perhaps most memorable performance was in Lincoln Center's critically acclaimed production of "Six Degrees of Separation," which also starred Stockard Channing. McNeill played the role of Rick, a kid from Utah whose suicide is the turning point of the play.

McNeill soon moved back to Los Angeles and appeared in numerous television series including Quantum Leap starring Scott Bakula, LA Law and Murder, She Wrote. After his TNG gig and before Voyager, McNeill landed a starring role in the ABC series Going to Extremes. His credits also include recurring roles on ABC's Homefront, and on CBS's Second Chances with Connie Selleca. He also appeared as Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet" at the Ford Theater in Hollywood, earning a Dramalogue Award as Best Actor for that performance.

New Career Direction

In the third season of Voyager, McNeill added "director" to his creative title, following in the footsteps of prior Trek actors such as Jonathan Frakes and LeVar Burton. McNeill made his directorial debut with "Sacred Ground," and that effort was so successful that he was subsequently chosen to direct "Unity," a momentous episode which introduced the Borg on Voyager. He went on to helm the immensely popular episodes "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "Body and Soul," and then returned to the Paramount lot not long after to direct four episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise, including the highly acclaimed third-season "Twilight." McNeill was the first of the Voyager ensemble to step behind the camera, and he was soon followed by several of his castmates, including onscreen wife Roxann Dawson.

McNeill is now one of the most in-demand directors in television. His name has graced the credits of numerous TV shows such as the scandalously popular Desperate Housewives starring Teri Hatcher ("Lt. Robinson"), along with Las Vegas with Nikki Cox ("Sarjenka ") and Dawson's Creek, The O.C., Supernatural, Medium and The Knights of Prosperity, plus critical darlings One Tree Hill, Everwood and Bryan Fuller's Dead Like Me.

He worked with John Billingsley in an episode of The Nine, and then with Billingsley's wife Bonita Friedericy ("Rooney") in several episodes of Chuck. "It's a lot of fun for me because it has that kind of nerd, geek, comedy action stuff that I love doing," McNeill said about Chuck at a recent Star Trek convention.

And then he helped launch one of the most successful new sitcoms of the 2007-08 season. McNeill directed the pilot of Samantha Who? starring Christina Applegate, which emerged from the starting gate as the highest-rated new comedy of the season. A full-season pickup from ABC now means steady work for regular Tim Russ — whom McNeill may have had a little something to do with casting. (As of this update in Nov. '07, however, there were questions whether Samantha and other new shows could weather the loss of momentum caused by the Writers Guild strike.)

McNeill has also produced and directed a number of independent projects, including the short films "The Battery" and "9mm of Love," both starring Ethan Phillips. "Battery" won Best Short Film at the New York International Independent Film Festival, and "9mm" aired on the Sci-Fi Channel.

Robbie and Carol reside in Los Angeles with their three children, daughter Taylor and sons Kyle and Carter.