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(written from a Production point of view)
TNG Main stand-ins Season 4

The stand-ins for The Next Generation's main actors on Season 4

DS9 stand-ins on the final day

The stand-ins on the final day of Deep Space Nine

TNG Season 3 stand-ins

The main stand-ins during TNG Season 3.

TNG Season 4 stand-ins

Richard Sarstedt and Dennis Tracy at work.

A stand-in is a person who substitutes for an actor on set while the lighting is adjusted, the action and camera moves are blocked, and other production details are taken care of prior to actual filming. Generally, stand-ins are chosen because they are of a height and coloring similar to the performer for whom they are standing in. On Star Trek, stand-ins were also used for various computer-generated characters, such as Slar or the Xindi-Insectoids. Stand-ins often work as background performers too, because they are always on set and are called the "second team".

Body doubles and photo doubles were sometimes used on-screen. They look (or are made to look) like the actor they are replacing, to avoid making it obvious to the viewing audience that it is not the same person. They stand-in for an actor and replace the person in wide shots and also in partial shots. When a scene shows a hand that pushes a button it is most likely a hand double.

Photo doubles were also used in scenes which show the same person twice, one as a mirror person and the other one as the "real" person or an older version of the character, for example, when Brent Spiner played 3 separate characters in one scene (Data, Lore, and Soong) in "Brothers".

Doubles were a way for the production to split individual working hours on set while enabling the production to film shots from multiple angles within schedule. With filming schedules for as long as 16 hours a day, individual actors were not available on set for the whole time. The low resolution of standard TV helped the cause.

For the main cast[]

Star Trek: The Original Series[]

Don Eitner, The Enemy Within

Don Eitner as body double for William Shatner

Eddie Paskey Kirk

Eddie Paskey as body double for William Shatner

Star Trek: The Next Generation[]

Data double

Brent Spiner and his photo double Ken Gilden

Cameron, stand-in

Cameron, ready to stand-in for Gates McFadden

Temple of Masaka sign

Guy Vardaman doubling Brent Spiner's hands

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine[]

Photo double Terry Farrell, If Wishes Were Horses

Terry Farrell's photo double in "If Wishes Were Horses"

Worf behind Bashir

James Minor as photo double for Michael Dorn

Photo double Odo

Chuck Shanks as photo double for Rene Auberjonois

Star Trek: Voyager[]

Amy Kate Connolly, Fury

Jennifer Lien and her photo double Amy Kate Connolly

Star Trek: Enterprise[]

David Anderson (civilian)

David Keith Anderson, stand-in for Anthony Montgomery

Star Trek: Discovery[]

Star Trek: Picard[]

Star Trek films[]

Guy Vardaman photo doubling

Guy Vardaman as double for Brent Spiner

Insurrection, main stand-ins

The main stand-ins on Star Trek: Insurrection

For the Recurring and guest cast[]

Star Trek: The Original Series[]

Star Trek: The Next Generation[]

Dennis Tracy on location

Dennis Tracy and Randy James, standing-in for Patrick Stewart and Wil Wheaton

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine[]

Photo double for Randy Oglesby

Randy Oglesby's photo double in "Vortex"

Star Trek: Voyager[]

Star Trek: Enterprise[]

Tarik Ergin, Insectoid stand-in

Tarik Ergin as stand-in for the CGI Xindi Insectoids

David Anderson, Tholian stand-in

David Keith Anderson as stand-in for the CGI Tholian

Melissa Vinicor

Melissa Vinicor, Marina Sirtis' stand-in on Enterprise

Star Trek: Discovery[]

Star Trek films[]

External links[]

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