Patrick Stewart

From the Royal Shakespeare Company to the starship Enterprise, Sir Patrick Stewart has commanded the stage and screen for over six decades.

Patrick Stewart was born on 13 July 1940 in Mirfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, to a weaver mother and a regimental sergeant major father who later worked as a labourer and postman.^[1] He experienced domestic violence from his father, who suffered from combat fatigue after the Dunkirk evacuation.^[1] Stewart joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966 and was an associate artist there in 1967, staying with the company until 1982.^[2]

Last updated 2026-09-30 from the source article.

Quick Facts

Born: 13 July 1940
Birthplace: Mirfield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Occupation: Actor
Education: Bristol Old Vic Theatre School
Years active: 1959–present
Children: 2

Facts from the source article.

Life and work

Stewart attended Crowlees Junior and Infant School and later Mirfield Secondary Modern School, where his English teacher Cecil Dormand introduced him to Shakespeare.^[3][4] Stewart and Brian Blessed received grants to attend the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, and Stewart was the first non-Oxford or Cambridge graduate to receive a grant from West Riding Council.^[5] His first professional stage appearance was on 19 May 1959 at the Theatre Royal, Bristol, playing Cutpurse in Cyrano de Bergerac.^[2] Stewart was reluctant to sign the standard six-year contract, believing the show would quickly fail.^[6]

In 1987, after Robert H. Justman saw him at a UCLA literary reading, Stewart agreed to work on a Hollywood revival of Star Trek.^[7] Stewart played Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation from 1987 to 1994, and from 1994 to 2002 he portrayed Picard in the films Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, and Star Trek: Nemesis.^[8][9]

What the cited sources add

A local Mirfield account notes that Stewart was born in a one-up-and-one-down house at 17 Camm Lane and attended the same schools as the author.^[4] The same source states that Stewart's first stage appearance was in the Mirfield Parish Church Pantomime of Cinderella at the Wellhouse Moravian Schoolroom.^[4] Stewart's obituary for Homer Swander explains that Swander knocked on his dressing room door in the early 1970s after a performance in Stratford-upon-Avon.^[10] The Mirfield Memories source reports that Stewart confided during a break in filming Star Trek that he had only been out of work for about three weeks during his entire acting career.^[4]

Stewart returned to Mirfield in 1984 to stage his one-man show of A Christmas Carol to raise funds for the local Parish Church.^[4] The same source notes that Stewart has two children by his first wife, Sheila Falconer, from whom he was divorced in 1990 after a 24-year marriage.^[4] Stewart met Sunny Ozel in 2008 and the couple started living together in 2012.^[4]

References

Wikipedia, "Patrick Stewart" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Named after his father's army sobriquet. Making It So, p. 4.; "Mirfield's Sir Patrick at 70", BBC, 13 July 2010; Barratt, "Family detective", The Telegraph, 12 January 2007 }}{{cbignore; "Mirfield star Sir Patrick Stewart delves into family history", Dewsbury Reporter, 2 September 2012; "Patrick Stewart Featured Article", TheGenealogist.co.uk, 29 August 2012; Patrick Stewart – Who Do You Think You Are (UK) S09E03. Accessed 19 January 2015.; "Patrick Stewart – back on stage", BBC News, 16 December 2005; Stewart, "Patrick Stewart: th en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Patrick Stewart" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Large-scale 'Cyrano' at Bristol Old Vic", The Stage, 28 May 1959, p. 17; "RSC performances Patrick Stewart", Shakespeare Birthplace Trust; "Patrick plays the Ghost and Claudius in Hamlet", Royal Shakespeare Company (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Patrick Stewart" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Jenny Parkin, "Heartfelt hello from an old pal... Hollywood star Patrick calls after message", in Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 19 December 2003; "BBC News – Star Trek star Patrick Stewart knighted at Palace", BBC Online, 2 June 2010; "Sir Patrick Stewart (Son of Mirfield)", Mirfield Memories; "Sir Patrick Stewart relives Star Trek days as he steps down as University of Huddersfield Chancellor", Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 13 July 2015; "Sir Patrick Stewart (Son of Mirfield)", Mirfield Memories (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
"Sir Patrick Stewart (Son of Mirfield)", Mirfield Memories. facts only, no text reused. mirfieldmemories.co.uk
Wikipedia, "Patrick Stewart" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Brian Blessed interview: "The Queen wanted me to shout 'Gordon's Alive!'""; Stewart, "Making It So: A Memoir", Gallery Books, 2023, p. 107 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Patrick Stewart" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Appleyard, "Patrick Stewart: Keep on Trekkin'", The Sunday Times, 4 November 2007; Sharf, "Ian McKellen Told Patrick Stewart to Reject 'Star Trek' Offer and Stay in Theater, Admitted Later He Was Wrong: 'You Can't Throw That Away to Do TV. No!'", Variety.com, 3 October 2023; Birnbaum, "Thomas Middleditch and Patrick Stewart on Doing Standup, Nicknames and Crazy Fan Encounters", Variety, 14 June 2016 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Patrick Stewart" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ward, "Lalla Ward", K9 & Co.; "Robert Justman – Co-Producer Co-Creator of Star Trek", BBC (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Patrick Stewart" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Day, "Patrick Stewart: 'Next Generation,' 'X-Men' and Hollywood history", Los Angeles Times; "Patrick Stewart – Jean Luc Picard, Captain of the Enterprise", BBC (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Wikipedia, "Patrick Stewart" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brady, "In Step With: Patrick Stewart", Parade, 5 April 1992, p. 21 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
Stewart, "Homer Swander obituary", The Guardian, 6 March 2018. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Patrick Stewart (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.