Michael Dorn

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Michael Dorn
Birth date:	December 9, 1952 (age 71)
Birth place:	Luling, Texas
Occupation:	Actor Voice actor Director Producer Pilot
Education:	Pasadena City College (dropped out)
Parents:	Fentress Dorn, Jr. (deceased) Allie Lee Nauls

Michael Dorn (born December 9, 1952) is an American actor, director, producer, pilot and a voice actor. He is well known for playing Klingon Captain Worf in Star Trek: The Next Generation and also for providing the voice of I.M. Weasel in I Am Weasel. He provided the voice of Thomas on Regular Show for two episodes: "Dead at Eight" and "Play Date".

Early life and career

He was born in Luling, Texas on December 9, 1952, the son of Fentress Dorn, Jr. (1921-2001), and Allie Lee (née Nauls) (b. either 1923 or 1924), a schoolteacher. He was raised in Pasadena, California.

Dorn attended college at Pasadena City College, where he studied radio and television production, but later dropped out. He moved to San Francisco in 1973 to pursue a career in music, intending to be a musician, playing in a rock band in his mid-20s where he was also the singer. Struggling with being a musician, he moved once more to Los Angeles in 1976 to become an actor.

He made his acting debut in the film Rocky, playing one of Apollo Creed's bodyguards, though he was uncredited. He had a small role in the sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1977 and played Officer Jed Turner in the final seasons of CHiPs. During his time on CHiPs, he took flying lessons and earned his pilot license. He became a regular on the soap opera Days of Our Lives before leaving to act on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He acted in the film Jagged Edge as a lie detector expert.

Star Trek

A fan of the original Star Trek series, he auditioned to be Captain Worf for the upcoming Star Trek: The Next Generation and was hired. He acted on the show for seven seasons, and continued playing the role on later Star Trek series, reprising his role for four seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and in four movies of the series. Dorn states he would like to play Worf once more, jokingly saying "... where [Captain] Worf saves the galaxy and gets the cute chick."

After The Next Generation ended, he acted in the film Generations and the WB series The Parent 'Hood. Outside of Star Trek he has also served as the host of The World Wonder, which aired on the Discovery Channel.

Voiceovers

Dorn has also had a successful voiceover career, voicing a martian on Duck Dodgers, Kalibak on Superman: The Animated Series, served as a narrator on Johnny Bravo, Gork on Adventure Time, King Beardbottom on The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Rufus 3000 in Kim Possible: A Sitch in Time, has reprised his role as Captain Worf in cartoons and video games and his best known voiceover role: playing I.M. Weasel on I Am Weasel, where he also voiced several minor characters. He also voiced I.M. Weasel in commercials for Cartoon Network and in the video game Cartoon Network Racing. His voice acting agency is Innovative Artists.

Voice credits

Season 3

• "Dead at Eight" - Thomas

Season 5

• "Play Date" - Thomas

Personal life

Dorn's favorite hobby is piloting, being an accomplished pilot, owning a single-seat military training jet, an F-86 subsonic combat aircraft, which was used in the South African Air Force. He flies to air shows across the United States and uses it as his "private getaway." He has also flown with the Blue Angels. He owns several other aircrafts.

Dorn was "almost" a vegetarian before becoming a vegan after being diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer. Dorn explains: "I was diagnosed with an early, early stage of prostate cancer. I was almost a vegetarian then. I was heading that direction. What pushed me over the edge, was the doctor who did the diagnosis. He said in a discussion about prostate cancer that he had never seen a vegetarian with prostate cancer. And this is not a holistic doctor, this is a regular, mainstream doctor. And I was just blown away." He became a vegan in 2007 to slow the progress of the cancer and to lose weight, both of which he successfully conquered, and claims he feels much healthier. Dorn eats a plant-based diet. When asked if he missed eating meat, Dorn replied: "I have not missed meat at all. The only thing that I would even think about missing is hamburgers and French fries. I can still have French fries. I found that the vegetarian burgers, the stuff that is out there now, is very good when you dress it up. It is perfectly fine, so I don't miss it at all. It's easy to make the transition, because I feel so much better."

External links

• Wikipedia article on Michael Dorn
• Michael Dorn's Twitter