John Billingsley

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John A. Billingsley (born 20 May 1960; age 47) is the actor best known to Star Trek fans for playing Doctor Phlox, the Denobulan chief medical officer of the Enterprise NX, on Star Trek: Enterprise.

Born in Media, Pennsylvania and raised in Weston, Connecticut, Billingsley attended Bennington College in Vermont, where he studied theatre. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife, actress Bonita Friedericy, who appeared in the Enterprise episode "Regeneration".

1 Before Enterprise
2 During Enterprise
3 After Enterprise
4 Upcoming projects
5 External Links

[edit] Before Enterprise

Billingsley broke into films in 1988, making his debut with a supporting role in the thriller Seven Hours to Judgment, in which Tiny Ron also starred. He followed this with a small role in 1990's I Love You to Death, featuring Jack Kehler.

By the late 1990s, Billingsley was making frequent appearances both in films and on television. His film credits during this period included Born to Be Wild (1995, with Gregory Itzin, Alan Ruck, Titus Welliver, and Bruce Wright), Eat Your Heart Out (1997), and Kate's Addiction (1999). He made guest appearances on such television programs as NYPD Blue (with Jude Ciccolella, Gordon Clapp, Daniel Dae Kim, and Sharon Lawrence), The Practice (with Frank Novak and Chris Sarandon), L.A. Doctors (with Tracy Middendorf), The Pretender (with Natalia Nogulich, Harve Presnell, and Steve Vinovich), and The X-Files (with Michael McKean and Charles Rocket). He also appeared in the acclaimed 1999 made-for-TV movie Tuesdays with Morrie.

In 2000, Billingsley appeared in the film Breathing Hard, which also featured Star Trek: Deep Space Nine regular Armin Shimerman (Quark) and his wife, Kitty Swink. That same year, Billingsley became a regular on the science fiction series The Others. Among his co-stars in this series was Bill Cobbs, whom Billingsley would later co-star with in the Enterprise episode "Daedalus". The series, however, would only last one season before being cancelled. Nonetheless, Billingsley would continue to make appearances on television, including a guest-starring role opposite his future Enterprise co-star Jolene Blalock (T'Pol) on UPN's G vs E. The two would reunite for Enterprise (another UPN series) the following year.

During this time, Billingsley co-starred with future Enterprise guest actress Joanna Cassidy in a two-part episode of Diagnosis Murder and later in an episode of Six Feet Under (which also guest-starred Robert Foxworth and Wendy Schaal). He also appeared with Patti Yasutake in an episode of Judging Amy, with Christopher McDonald and Salli Elise Richardson in an episode of Family Law, and Star Trek: The Next Generation star Jonathan Frakes in an episode of The Lot. Billingsley and Frakes would go on to co-star together in a Trek-oriented episode of Roswell (with the two actors playing themselves while holding a casting call for a fictional episode of Enterprise) in 2001 and in the Enterprise series finale, "These Are the Voyages...", in 2005.

In 2001, Billingsley co-starred with Michael Dorn in independent drama Lessons for an Assassin. He also appeared in the films Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles (with Jonathan Banks and Matt Winston) and The Glass House (with Erick Avari) and the TV movie Just Ask My Children, co-starring Virginia Madsen, Casey Biggs, and Jack Shearer. Husband/wife acting team Armin Shimerman and Kitty Swink also had roles in this latter movie, their second with Billingsley. Also in 2001, Billingsley was cast in his most famous role yet: the strange, optimistic Dr. Phlox on the new Star Trek series, Enterprise.

[edit] During Enterprise

Billingsley would continue to make additional film and TV appearances during Enterprise's four-year run. He appeared in an episode of Stargate SG-1, in which he played an obsessed Trekkie scientist who worships at the "altar of Roddenberry". He also appeared in two episodes of NYPD Blue (again working with Gordon Clapp) and an episode of Angel. Perhaps his most notable TV guest role during this time, however, was a victimized serial killer in two episodes of Cold Case.

In addition, Billingsley appeared with Ashley Judd in the 2002 Paramount thriller High Crimes, which also featured Bruce Davison. The following year, High Crimes directed Carl Franklin cast Billingsley in a principle role in the 2003 thriller Out of Time, opposite Denzel Washington. Other films Billingsley appeared in during this time include the 2002 drama White Oleander (with Biff Yeager), the 2004 comedy A Cinderella Story and The 12 Dogs of Christmas (2005, with Richard Riehle).

[edit] After Enterprise

Since the cancellation of Enterprise in 2005, Billingsley has kept busy performing on the stage, although he has had time to do some occasional film and TV work. He has appeared in a film called Ripple Effect, co-starring Denise Crosby and Virginia Madsen, which is set for release sometime in 2006. In addition, Billingsley starred in the 2006 TV movie Dead & Deader, in which Armin Shimerman also appeared, and Jerome Bixby's The Man from Earth, a science fiction movie written by Jerome Bixby and co-starring Richard Riehle and Tony Todd. More recently, Billingsley filmed a comedy called American Summer with George Takei, appeared in an independent film called The Least of These with Bob Gunton and worked on a pilot for a TV show starring Paul Reiser.

In 2006, Billingsley had the recurring role of Terrence Steadman in the hit FOX TV series Prison Break. However, he had to leave that show (and his role re-cast) when he was cast as a regular on ABC's new series The Nine. In this show, Billingsley played Egan Foote, one of nine people who become linked following a bank robbery and a subsequent 52-hour standoff in which he and the others are hostages. Actor Zach Grenier, who once co-starred with Billingsley on Enterprise, had a recurring role on this series. The series premiered on Wednesday, 4 October, at 10pm EST, but was immediately removed from ABC's schedule on 28 November, after only thirteen episodes were produced, only seven of which had been aired. The remaining six episodes aired in August 2007.

Billingsley's other recent TV credits include an appearance on an episode of Nip/Tuck with the aforementioned Bob Gunton and an appearance as blind photographer Jackson Scott in a May 2007 episode of NCIS, which also featured former Borg Queen Susanna Thompson. He was also seen in the CSI episode "The Case of the Cross-Dressing Carp" and the third episode of NBC's series Journeyman, both of which aired October 2007. He was most recently seen in a two-part episode of the hit series Grey's Anatomy, the first part of which was directed by Michael Grossman.

He appeared in the film The Last Word alongside Winona Ryder, which premiered at the 2008 Sundance Festival.

[edit] Upcoming projects

In 2007, Billingsley signed on as a recurring performer on the seventh season of FOX's hit series, 24. He will be playing a character named "Lathan". Also joining the show is DS9 guest star Jeffrey Nordling. [1]

In addition, Billingsley will be reuniting with Enterprise co-star Gary Graham for a zombie series called Alive, co-created by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. This series will air on cable sometime in the summer or fall of 2008. [2]

Star Trek: Enterprise regular cast

Scott Bakula • John Billingsley • Jolene Blalock • Dominic Keating • Anthony Montgomery • Linda Park • Connor Trinneer