Star Trek Monthly | Summer 2002 ::.::.:..

Under the spotlight

Star Trek Monthly Summer 2002

(New Zealand/Australia version)

 

Each month we profile one of the Enterprise cast.  This month...
Scott Bakula as Captain Jonathan Archer

Scott Bakula stars as Captain Jonathan Archer in Enterprise. Charming, bold and intensely curious, Archer is a renegade not afraid to follow his instincts. Clearly the prototype for all Starfleet captains to come, Archer wants to make history measured in light years as he ventures out where no man has gone before.

"When they called me and said, 'Do you want to be the first captain?' I don't know that I would've if they said, 'Do you want to be the next captain of....?' in whatever century they were heading into after Star Trek:Voyager,"  Bakula said on the US TV show Entertainment Tonight, referring to winning the part. To USA Today he added: "To be the first captain, that was a nice carrot to dangle out there...[Archer's] heart is on his sleeve, and he's so excited to be out in space."

"I loved what Kirk was, because he all over the map with his emotions," Bakula previously told Star Trek Monthly, referring to his oft-stated enthusiasm for the original Star Trek series. " You know, he bites, he gets hurt, he bleeds, he's a real person, he's not a figurehead. They're making Archer a real human being in this position of strength and power, running the ship."

Shortly before Enterprise, Bakula gained notice from several film performances; he appeared in the Oscar winning Best Picture American Beauty, and is seen in New Line Cinema's Life as a House, opposite Kevin Kline and Star Wars: Episode II's Hayden Christensen. He also stars in Showtime Original Picture What Girls Learn, which he produced through his Bakula Productions, Inc.

Bakula was already well known for his five-season stint on the innovative science fiction series Quantum Leap, which brought him a worldwide fan base. His performance earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a drama series, four Emmy Award nominations and three additional Golden Globe nominations. He was also honoured an unprecedented five times by the Viewers for Quality Television.

His time on Quantum Leap prepared him, in part, for his encounters with many Star Trek's many fans. "I know from doing Quantum Leap that your moves and your process is oftentimes poured over," he told StarTrek.com.  "so you want to make sure that you don't get yourself in any corners you can't get yourself out of. At the same time I love the game - the creative give and take with the fans - because I like giving little pieces and little stuff - [so they wonder] 'Why did he do that? What is that all about?"

Bakula also won praise for his work on several film roles. He starred in the supernatural thriller Lord of Illusions, written and directed by horromeister Clive Barker, Color of Night, opposite Bruce Willis; psychological thriller, A Passion to Kill. He made his film feature opposite Carl Reiner's comedy, Sibling Rivalry.

Alternating between films and television, Bakula has appeared in comedies such as Murphy Brown, the Fox mini series The Invaders (based on the original 1960s show), the ABC mini series Tom Clancy's Netforce and CBS's Bachelor Baby, which he also executive produced.

Born in St. Lois, Bakula moved to New York in 1976 for a theatre career. In 1988 he was honoured with a Tony Award nomination for his starring role in the Broadway musical Romance/Romance. Previously, he has made his Broadway debut as a baseball legend Joe DiMaggio in Marilyn: An  American Fable.

His singing prowess has afforded him some special opportunities. He has performed on the Kennedy Center Honors, at Carnegie Hall, and in the Warner Bros animated Cat's Don't Dance, in which he created the acting and singing voice for Danny. A Quantum Leap album featuring songs Bakula& performed in several episodes is still available.

"For people who don't know me, I would just say that I'm a stage actor who's tried my whole career to do as many different kinds of roles as I possibly can," said Bakula, "and try not to be limited in terms of one specific type.  It's just the nature of where I come from in stage to avoid being pigeonholed.
That's worked to my advantage at times and to my disadvantages at times.