The ‘Star Trek Voyager’ Cast Then and Now, Sharing What They Thought of Their Characters (EXCLUSIVE)
Find out how each of them got involved with the show and what they thought of their characters
One of the revolutionary aspects of the Star Trek Voyager cast was the fact that sitting in the captain’s seat was a woman, which was a much bigger deal when the show premiered than people today might realize. “I’m not even remotely surprised at how much attention the fact that the show had a female captain attracted,” says Kate Mulgrew, who portrays Captain Kathryn Janeway. “This is the human condition. It’s a novelty. I think that it piqued a mass kind of curiosity and it’s very typical of our nature as human beings. I do suppose that one has to always refer to the gender in this regard. I am a woman, and that lends itself to maternity, to compassion, to warmth — to a lot of qualities which our culture has encouraged in women.”
Airing from 1995 to 2001 for a total of 172 episodes, Voyager was actually the fourth live action Star Trek series, following on the heels of William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk on the original series (1966 to 1969), Sir Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987 to 1994) and Avery Brooks as Captain Benjamin Sisko on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993 to 1999). All in all, an impressive history, yet, again, Voyager had that one element that none of the others did.
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In the series, the starship Voyager has mysteriously found itself transported to the distant fringes of the galaxy and has begun the 75-year trek back home. Complicating matters is that the Voyager had been pursuing a vessel, commanded by a crew of Maquis rebels (Federation-born colonists and disaffected Starfleet officers organized against the Cardassian occupation of their homes in a Demilitarized Zone), and has been stranded with them, resulting in the crews having to be integrated, offering the potential of inherent conflict between these characters.
What follows is a look at how the Star Trek Voyager cast came together and where they’ve been since the series ended.
Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway
The casting of Captain Janeway was an arduous process, with a wide variety of possible names being bandied about, including Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman), Linda Hamilton (Beauty and the Beast, The Terminator), Erin Gray (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century), Susan Gibney (who had appeared on a pair of Next Generation episodes), Joanna Cassidy (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) and Kate Mulgrew.
The first person hired for the part was French actress Genevieve Bujold, but shortly after shooting of the pilot began, it was obvious that she was not the right person for the job. She herself was terribly unhappy, used to the schedule of shooting films and not the rapid-fire nature of television production. So Mulgrew auditioned.
“I came in,” the actress explains, “and they gave me two very big scenes. One was the monologue, ‘We’re lost in an uncharted part of the galaxy….,’ and the other was with Tuvok, establishing the depth and breadth of our friendship. I loved them both. And I made two very bold decisions in the room… not bold, but I played the scene with Tuvok with high humor, as Janeway did throughout her entire relationship with Tuvok, because he’s so Vulcan. I was always trying to ruffle his feathers.
“So,” she continues, “that was full of laughs, and a certain underlying vulnerability, which I thought was very important to show; that her capacity for friendship was great indeed. And necessary to her, as a person. And with the monologue, I did it to them. I gave it to the producers. I turned to them as if they were my crew, looked right at them and I said that I would get us through this. And I remember thinking, ‘Well, now it’s up to you.'”
Needless to say, she was brought aboard to command the starship. Prior to doing so, Mulgrew, born April 29, 1955 in Dubuque, Iowa, appeared in eight movies, including Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985) and Throw Momma from the Train (1987), but had really made her mark earlier as Mary Ryan Fenelli on the soap opera Ryan’s Hope (1975 to 1978). Additionally, she played the title role in the ill-fated Mrs. Columbo (1979 to 1980, which went through a title change to Kate Loves a Mystery); made many episodic guest appearances, including three episodes of Cheers in 1986; and starred in HeartBeat (1988 to 1989) and Man of the People (1991 to 1992).
It should be noted that Mulgrew had pressures added to part of Janeway that her preceding captains decidedly did not. “For months,” she says, “they came to the set. — the brass, not just my producers. The Paramount guys came and stood at the lip of the bridge and scrutinized me, my hair, my bosom, my heels … All of which was meant to inform me of the importance of this part, and that I was being watched. It was very simple. Nothing was stated. I’m sure they did it with Patrick Stewart… for two seconds. And Shatner for even less. But millions, if not billions, of dollars were at stake with this franchise, so they had to make sure. I think in the end they were pleased. It did work, but I would really say that it wasn’t easy.
“Comparisons,” she adds, “as Oscar Wilde would say, are odious, but the men never had to deal with the physical component, the sexual component, the way that I did. I was scrutinized because of my gender, by all of these guys. ‘She’s got a big bosom, she’s got beautiful hair, she’s still of childbearing years, how are we going to make this thing work?'”
She found herself in makeup and having her hair worked on constantly, and all of the arguments and conversations were about her physicality, not about her characterization of Janeway.
“I really grew to envy, especially, Patrick Stewart,” Mulgrew laughs, “who probably had nothing to do except walk from his trailer to the set. He had a great ease. I had to add an additional three hours to my day, with two young sons at home, and all this technobabble, and wanting to be able to ace that, wanting to be able to understand it, and get underneath it, was quite challenging for the first year. I’m sure there was some resentment there on my part. I’m sure there was some frustration and anger. Of course, I’m human and, my God, I was tired. But I’m Irish, so the ‘I’ll show them!’ part of me surpasses every other thing. Which is why she not only succeeded, she thrived, Janeway, because I was determined.”
Following Voyager, Mulgrew starred in the comedy NTSF:SD:SUV (2011 to 2013), the critically acclaimed Orange is the New Black as Galina “Red” Reznikov (2013 to 2019), Mr. Mercedes (2019), The Man Who Fell to Earth (2022) and has even reprised Janeway, vocally, on the animated Star Trek Prodigy, which launched in 2021. Married twice, she’s the mother of three and is 68.
Robert Beltran as First Officer Chakotay in the Star Trek Voyager Cast
Chakotay is the Native American captain of the Maquis vessel, who ends up serving as first officer aboard the Voyager under Janeway’s command. The actor cast in the role was Robert Adams Beltran, born on November 19, 1953 in Bakersfield, California. Graduating with a Theater Arts degree from California State University, Fresno, he scored his first film role in 1981’s Zoot Suit, which was followed by a part in the television series Models, Inc., and, in 1982, by Paul Bartel’s cult classic Eating Raoul, 1983’s Lone Wolf McQuade, 1984’s Night of the Comet, 1990’s El Diablo.
He also achieved extensive stage experience, appearing in 22 shows between 1979’s California Shakespeare Festival and 2011’s Devil’s Advocate. On television, there have been a dozen TV movies and guest appearances.
As to Star Trek: Voyager, says Beltran, “At that point in my career, I was thinking it would be good to do a television series, and so I began to concentrate on finding one. Then, when my agent called me to tell me about the Voyager pilot, I thought, ‘Great, I’ll be happy to audition for it.’ It could be an important gig in that it could be a substantial amount of years with steady employment that would make my old age much more comfortable.”
“I wouldn’t have auditioned,” he adds, “if I didn’t find something valuable in the character. I liked the script very much, and I auditioned wholeheartedly to get the role. It was one of the easiest processes I’ve ever gone through in getting a job, ironically. I like the role of Chakotay. I thought that he was open-ended and could really go somewhere with the right kind of writing. I was very much interested in playing the role and seeing what I could do with it.”
Since being a member of the Star Trek Voyager cast, Beltran has appeared in seven films. He most recently provided the voice of Chakotay in the animated series Star Trek: Prodigy. Now 70, the actor is the father of one child.
Tim Russ as Second Officer/Security Officer/Tactical Officer Tuvok
Serving as Science Officer amongst the Star Trek Voyager cast is Tuvok, a full-blooded Vulcan (unlike Leonard Nimoy‘s Spock on the original Star Trek), who is played by Mr. Saturday Night‘s Tim Russ. Born January 22, 1956 in Washington, D.C., prior to becoming part of the show, he guest starred on a number of different series, and starred in nine episodes of The Highwayman (1987 to 1988).
Says Russ, “There was a very big victory for me in getting this. I had been interested in working on Star Trek ever since the original Next Generation was created, and I read for a role back then. I did not know at the time that LeVar Burton was also ging to be considered for the role of Geordi La Forge. So it was in retrospect that I realized that producer Rick Berman had been in my corner ever since. Tuvok was similar to his predecessor, Mr. Spock, in that he has to maintain a certain consistency with the Vulcan principles and philosophy that we upheld. But there was also an exploration of my character as an individual in terms of the intricacies of his personality and what his intentions may be.”
He believes he had the edge over most people reading for the part, because of how well he intrinsically knew who this character was. “Tuvok is definitely based on Spock,” Russ explains. “Why does everybody like Spock? Why was he genuinely — over Captain Kirk, even — the most popular character on that show? It’s because he was what we all want to be. We want to be perfect, we want to be able to overcome all the trials we have to deal with. The character is so interesting to watch, because every situation that came up, you’d want to see what Spock would do, you wanted to see how he reacted — and you enjoyed watching him just completely confused and baffled by human beings. You could forget that he was part human.
“So, coming into the reading, I was armed to the teeth with this character. And casting is generally 80 percent personality and 20 percent talent. I’m not saying I’m able to do the things the way Tuvok does, it’s just that I do like to approach things from an analytical or logical standpoint. If you are 100 percent Vulcan, obviously there’s no choice between being human or Vulcan. Spock had to maker a choice. Tuvok never had to make that choice. It’s like an athlete who trains to do the decathlon and an athlete who’s born to do the decathlon. The person who comes into this world destined by nature to do it, has the edge.”
Since being a part of the Star Trek Voyager cast, Russ has worked steadily in television, including 11 episodes of iCarly (2007 to 2012), 35 episodes of Samantha Who? (2007 to 2009), reprising the role of Tuvok, promoted to captain, in a pair of episodes of Star Trek: Picard (2003) and as an E.R. doctor in Seth Macfarlane’s TV version of Ted (2024). Now 67, Russ has one child.
Garrett Wang as Operations Officer Harry Kim
Harry Kim, played by Angry Cafe‘s Garrett Wang, is fresh out of Starfleet Academy in the premiere, and serves as the starship’s ops and communications officer. For his part, Wang was born December 15, 1966 in Riverside, California. Prior to joining the Star Trek Voyager cast he appeared in a few commercials and made a guest appearance in a 1994 episode of All-American Girl. Playing Harry Kim was his big break.
“I remember thing at the time,” he reflects, “that this must have been a dream that I was going to wake up from soon. It is kind of amazing when you think about the legacy we were following, because there really isn’t any other TV series I can think of that originally aired in the Sixties and kept on going and going and going. it’s kind of like an intergalactic Energizer Bunny.”
Since the end of the series, he’s been in about half a dozen films and made a couple of TV guest appearances. He’s currently 55.
Roxann Dawson as Chief Engineer B’Elanna Torres
Voyager‘s seemingly requisite alien-human hybrid was B’Elanna Torres ( with Roxann Dawson joining the Star Trek Voyager cast), the half-Klingon chief engineer who, like Spock on the original series, wages an inner war with the intertwining blood of two species. The actress was born on September 11, 1958 in Los Angeles, and she made her acting debut in a Broadway production of A Chorus Line. A few film roles would follow as would TV guest appearances and regular roles in Nightingales (1989) and The Round Table (1992).
“I’m of Latino descent, but that something that wasn’t brought up in any way, because it really doesn’t make a difference,” points out Dawson about being made part of the Star Trek Voyager cast. “I love that the attention was brought to the fact that she’s half-human and half-Klingon. I love that the conversation regarding Tuvok centered around the fact that he is Vulcan and that we don’t discuss that he’s a black Vulcan. And I love the fact that nobody on the crew, except for one little moment, discusses that it’s a big deal that we have a female captain. What matters is character, how we’re coming across and who we are as people.”
The interesting thing for her to explore was the turmoil and continuing attempt to reconcile the two sides of her, which formed the conflict she wanted to explore. “One of the reasons fans identified with B’Elanna is that we all, to a certain degree, have two or more sides to us that are at war. It’s a universal idea and I loved that the character could explore that so tangibly.”
“She’s so afraid of being abandoned that she will leave every situation first. That’s why she left Starfleet Academy before she could be expelled, even though she was never going to be expelled. She operates very much on fear. This is not uncommon; we all do that to some degree. A lot of people will often want to have the control in their hands and move away from any situation that would put them at risk or make them vulnerable.”
During the run of Voyager, she began directing episodes and since the show concluded, that’s been the focus of her career, having amassed 61 behind-the-camera credits. Most recently she’s directed episodes of Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, The Horror of Dolores Roach and Apple TV Plus’ Foundation. Married twice, she’s the mother of two. Roxann Dawson is 65.
Robert Picardo as Chief Medical Officer The Doctor
One of the show’s most offbeat characters is the Doctor (Robert Picardo, then known for The Wonder Years), an Experimental Medical Program (EMP). The holographic Doctor is a virtual medical officer taking care of the crew’s needs and serving as ship doctor when the vessel is stranded in the Delta Quadrant.
Offers producer Rick Berman, “Robert Picardo was just wonderful in the same way that we always have characters that served as a mirror to human culture. Spock did that in the original series, Data did it The Next Generation and here our decision was to create a doctor who was, in fact, a hologram. Like Data, someone who was not human but wanted to be human. We also wanted this character to be poignant at times, but to be quite funny, because he was nothing but a program — but one who would have a sense of ascension to him. That’s a very important word in Star Trek, ascension. It ends up not meaning what anybody thinks it means, but Picardo was one of the truly natural and talented actors that we have worked with and he provided us with some of the funniest stuff we’ve ever done.”
Picardo was born on October 27, 1953 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Since the end of the series, he’s appeared in 17 films and dozens of television episodes, including as Richard Woolsey on both Stargate SG-1 (seven episodes between 2004 and 2007) and Stargate: Atlantis (26 episodes between 2006 and 2009). He portrayed Ithamar Conkey in the 2019 to 2021 Apple TV+ series Dickinson. Now 70, he’s been married once and has two children.
Robert Duncan McNeill as Helmsman Tom Paris in the Star Trek Voyager Cast
One of the early characters to be part of the Star Trek Voyager cast was Lieutenant Tom Paris, a member of the Maquis who comes to serve as the helmsman of Voyager. The role would go to actor Robert Duncan McNeill. Born November 9, 1964 in Raleigh, North Carolina, although he enjoyed some early TV guest appearance and stage work, he played Charlie Brent on the daytime soap opera All My Children from 1985 to 1988. He was in four episodes of Homefront (1992) and 17 episodes of Going to Extremes (1992 to 1993).
Says producer Rick Berman of McNeill joining the Star Trek franchise, “It had been a while since we had a young, attractive white guy on the show. It just turned out that most of the characters were either alien or black in the previous shows and here we had a woman in a major role. With Robbie, there was something very charming and delightful about him. He was a very good choice.”
For his part, McNeill notes, “One thing that I think was interesting about Voyager is that every character had a great backstory. That’s what made it interesting. Everybody’s got sort of a dark side – an edge – which is different than the other Star Trek shows. A great thing about the show is that as an actor, sometimes you do work and then it’s forgotten or you do a play and 50 people see it. One thing that’s great about this is that for the rest of our lives, people will know this part of our work and it’s great to have that sort of longevity.”
Like Roxann Dawson, following Voyager he made the shift to directing and hasn’t looked back, helming dozens of episodes, most recently True Lies in 2023. From 2007 to 2012, he was a director and producer on the spy series Chuck. Married twice, the 59-year-old is the father of three.
Ethan Phillips as Cook and Morales Officer Neelix
Winrich Kolbe, who directed the pilot episode “Caretaker” and was very involved with the casting, states, “Neelix was rather easy to cast. We narrowed it down to three actors, and Ethan Phillips was the one who pulled out. He was an inspired choice, and he was the life of the party on the set.”
Ethan Phillips was born on February 8, 1955 in Garden City, New York, and came to be part of the Star Trek Voyager cast after an extensive career in theater, with dozens of shows to his credit. He’s also been in 40 films between 1981’s Ragtime and 2018’s Most Likely to Murder. There are dozens of TV appearances, though viewers probably recognize him best from playing Pete Downey on the 1980 to 1985 sitcom Benson.
“I think Neelix is a pretty lovable guy,” opines Phillips of his Star Trek character. “It’s an amazing role, because there are so many colors to the man and it may be one of the best roles I’ve ever had an opportunity to play. There’s something deep and heightened about him, and playing him is an incredible challenge.”
Now 69, he was married to Patricia Cresswell from 1990 until her death in 2022. They have three children.
Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine in the Star Trek Voyager Cast
In season four, with the intent of improving ratings, the decision was made to add a sexier character to the Star Trek Voyager cast in the form of actress Jeri Ryan as a Borg — member of the cybernetic race — who has been separated from the hive collective and is gradually reclaiming her humanity. While dressing the character in a skintight outfit had the desired impact on ratings, she also introduced a dynamic character ripe with the possibility of evolution and created a strong connection between Seven and Captain Janeway.
Jery Lynn Ryan was born on February 22, 1968 in Munich, West Germany. Her father, a master sergeant in the U.S. Army, retired when she was 11, and the family moved to Paducah, Kentucky. Her earliest TV roles were as a gust star in Who’s the Boss?, Melrose Place, Matlock and The Sentinel, before she was cast as a series regular in the sci-fi drama Dark Skies (1996 to 1997). Star Trek Voyager was next in 1997.
Comments series writer Bryan Fuller, “Seven of Nine was raised in the wild by wolves, if you will, and now has to be trained to be human again. It was such a beautiful story and I love the dynamic between Seven of Nine, Janeway and the Doctor. That’s the triumvirate from Voyager that I thought was so effective emotionally and that kind of harkened back in a different way to the triumvirate of Kirk, Spock and McCoy on the original series.”
Adds executive producer Brannon Braga, “Each character on the show was affected by this new infusion of energy and it reinvigorated the show. What was genius about the character is that she was utterly oblivious to her own sexuality and found it irrevelevant.”
Concurs Ryan herself, “I had no problem with an overtly sexual physical appearance, because it was the complete opposite — such a polar opposite — to the character herself. I’m not saying that’s why the character works, but it’s a huge part of why she worked as well. Look, I’m a mom, so my number one priority when I pick a role is to pick something I’d be proud for my daughter to watch, or my son at the time because I didn’t have a daughter then. I’m proud of this character for any young girl growing up to look at as a kind of role model. It’s part of life. You have incredibly intelligent people in all types of appearances.”
“You can be a bombshell and be really intelligent – you’re not a ditz because you’re blond and have a figure,” she elaborates. “And people stereotype someone dressed in tight or sexy clothing and assume you’re stupid. That’s one of my biggest pet peeves with Hollywood and that’s why the role of Seven of Nine was so refreshing. When I read the scene they’d written for her and talked to the producers and listened to what they were going to go with her, it was just the opposite of that. I’m a National Merit Scholar. I was not a dumb kid growing up, but to be assumed to be stupid is something that drives me crazier than anything.”
Following Voyager, she appeared in 59 episodes of legal drama Boston Public (2001 to 2004), and had recurring roles in Two and a Half Men (2004 to 2011), The O.C. (2005), Shark (2006 to 2008), Leverage (2009 to 2011), Body of Proof (2011 to 2013), Bosch (2016 to 2019) and, reprised the role of Seven of Nine in the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard (2020 to 2023). Most recently she appeared in four episodes of Dark Winds (2023). Ryan, 55, has been married twice and is the mother of two.
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