Stephen Hawking (actor)
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference
(written from a Production point of view)
Stephen Hawking (born 8 January 1942; age 67) is a noted scientist. Confined to a wheelchair by Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's Disease), he communicates by means of an electronic vocal synthesizer. He is famous for formulating several theories regarding the nature of black holes, often working with colleague Kip Thorne.
Hawking is the only person to have ever played himself on Star Trek, appearing as a hologram of himself in TNG: "Descent" When Hawking was taken on a tour of the engineering set, he indicated the warp core and said, "I'm working on that." (Star Trek Encyclopedia)
He also played himself on both Futurama and The Simpsons and appeared in a Red Dwarf Documentary.
When Hawking visited the set after the filming of "Descent", he passed by actor Brent Spiner. Spiner greeted the professor and Hawking asked where his money was from winning the hand of poker. Spiner said that the check was in the mail.
Hawking visited the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine set during the filming of "The House of Quark". In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, Armin Shimerman describes meeting Dr. Hawking as one of the high points of his life.
