Jonathan Scott Frakes (born August 19, 1952) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his portrayal of Commander (later Captain) William T. Riker in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and subsequent films and series. He has also hosted the series Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction, voiced David Xanatos in the Disney animated series Gargoyles, and narrated the History Channel documentary, Lee and Grant. His other well known TV roles are as Stanley Hazard on the miniseries North and South, Sandy Parris on ABC's Paper Dolls, Marcus Marshall on NBC's Bare Essence, and Damon Ross, a recurring character on Falcon Crest. He began directing episodes of The Next Generation during its third season, and went on to direct the feature films Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and episodes of the later Star Trek series Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Discovery, Strange New Worlds, and Picard. He later directed the feature films Clockstoppers (2002) and Thunderbirds (2004). He has since directed prolifically for television, including for The Librarian television films and series, Leverage, Burn Notice, and Roswell (of which he is also a producer). He is the credited author of the novel The Abductors: Conspiracy, which was ghostwritten by Dean Wesley Smith. He has been married to actress Genie Francis since 1988 and they have 2 children.

Filmography

• 2026A Grand Biltmore Christmas — Winston
• Star Trek: Starfleet Academy — Director
• Stuart Fails to Save the Universe — Director
• The Mighty Nein — Zeenoth (voice)
• 2023A Biltmore Christmas — Winston
• 2023Star Trek: Picard - The IMAX Live Series Finale Event — Captain William Riker
• Star Trek: very Short Treks — Riker (voice)
• 2022Catwoman: Hunted — King Faraday / Boss Moxie (voice)
• Star Trek: Strange New Worlds — Director
• Leverage: Redemption — Director
• Star Trek: Lower Decks — William T. Riker (voice)
• Star Trek: Picard — William Riker, Director
• The Astronauts — Director
• How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) — Jonathan Frakes
• 2018Devil's Gate — Sheriff Gruenwell
• After Trek
• Star Trek: Discovery — Director
• The Arrangement — Director
• The Gifted — Director
• The Orville — Director
• Angie Tribeca — Commandant Van Zandt
• Hindsight — Director
• Powers — Director
• Finding Carter — Director
• Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce — Director
• 2014Star Trek: The Next Generation - All Good Things... — Cmdr. Will Riker
• 2014Star Trek: The Next Generation - Chain of Command — Cmdr. Will Riker
• The Librarians — Director, Supervising Producer, Co-Executive Producer
• Hit the Floor — Director
• King & Maxwell — Director
• Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. — Director
• 2013Star Trek: The Next Generation - Redemption — Cmdr. Will Riker
• 2013Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Best of Both Worlds — Cmdr. William Riker (archive footage)
• 2013Star Trek: The Next Generation - Unification — Cmdr. Will Riker
• 2012Megaquake 10.0 — Narrator (voice)
• Bar Karma — Director
• Falling Skies — Director
• 2011Lee & Grant — Narrator (voice)
• Switched at Birth — Director
• 2011Truth Be Told — Radio Sound Engineer, Director
• Persons Unknown — Director
• The Glades — Director
• The Good Guys — Director
• Castle — Richard Castle Fan, Director
• Dollhouse — Director
• Glenn Martin, DDS — Peter (voice)
• Make It or Break It — Director
• NCIS: Los Angeles — Navy Commander Dr. Stanfill (uncredited), Director
• That's Impossible! — Narrator (voice)
• The Super Hero Squad Show — High Evolutionary (voice)
• V — Director
• Leverage — Director
• 2008The Librarian: The Curse of the Judas Chalice — Trombone Player in Marching Band (uncredited), Director
• Burn Notice — Director
• Masters of Science Fiction — Director, Creator
• 2006The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines — Debra's Husband, Director
• American Dad! — (voice)
• Criminal Minds — Dr. Arthur Malcolm
• 2004Thunderbirds — Director
• 2002Clockstoppers — Bystander, Director
• 2002Star Trek: Nemesis — Commander William T. Riker
• The Twilight Zone — Director
• Star Trek: Enterprise — Commander William T. Riker
• 2000Ghosts Caught on Tape: Fact or Fiction? — Narrator (voice)
• 1999Dying to Live — Will, Executive Producer
• Family Guy — Commander William T. Riker (voice), Jonathan Frakes (voice)
• Futurama — Jonathan Frakes (voice)
• Roswell — Jonathan Frakes (uncredited), Director, Producer
• The Lot — Roland White
• Oh Baby — Don
• 1998Star Trek: Insurrection — Commander William T. Riker, Director
• 3rd Rock from the Sun — Larry
• 1996Brothers of the Frontier — Ben Frye
• 1996Star Trek: First Contact — Commander William T. Riker, Director
• The Paranormal Borderline — Host
• Cybill — Jonathan Frakes
• 1995Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken — Xanatos (voice)
• Star Trek: Voyager — Commander William T. Riker, Director
• 1995Time Travel Through the Bible — Time Traveler
• University Hospital — Director
• 1994Camp Nowhere — Bob Spiegel (uncredited)
• Gargoyles — David Xanatos (voice)
• 1994Journey's End - The Saga of Star Trek: The Next Generation — Host / Self
• 1994Phish: Tracking — Music
• 1994Star Trek: Generations — Commander William T. Riker
• Diagnosis: Murder — Director
• Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman — Tim Lake
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine — Thomas Riker, Director
• 1992Roswell: Coverups & Close Encounters — Narrator (voice)
• Wings — Gavin Rutledge
• 1989The Cover Girl and the Cop — Joshua Boyleston
• Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder — Rosen
• Star Trek: The Next Generation — William T. Riker, Director
• Dream West — Lt. Archibald Gillespie
• Matlock — Prosecutor Mr. Park
• North and South — Stanley Hazard
• The Twilight Zone — Steve (segment "But Can She Type?")
• Highway to Heaven — Arthur Krock, Jr.
• Paper Dolls — Sandy Parris
• Bare Essence — Marcus Marshall
• Five Mile Creek — Adam Scott
• Bare Essence — Marcus Marshall
• Hotel — Ted Travers
• Voyagers! — Charles Lindbergh
• Falcon Crest — Damon Ross
• Harper Valley P.T.A. — Clutch Breath
• Here's Boomer — Philip
• Hill Street Blues — Eddie Sims
• The Fall Guy — Connors
• Beulah Land — Adam Davis
• I'm a Big Girl Now
• It's a Living — Steve
• 1980The Night the City Screamed — Richard Hawkins
• 1979Beach Patrol — Marty Green
• Hart to Hart — Adam Blake
• Paris
• The Dukes of Hazzard — Jamie Lee Hogg
• Fantasy Island — Kirk
• The White Shadow — Basketball Player
• Eight Is Enough — Chapper
• Charlie's Angels — Brad
• Quincy, M.E. — Leon Bohannon, Young Surgeon
• Barnaby Jones — David Douglas
• The Waltons — Ashley Longworth Jr.
• Holograms All the Way Down — Commander William T. Riker

Appearances as themselves (29)

• Star Trek: Legenden — Self - William Riker
• Stuart Fails to Save the Universe Podcast — Self
• 2026The Sixty Year Mission: How Star Trek Changed Television and the World — Self
• 2024Butterfly in the Sky — Self (archive footage)
• The D-Con Chamber — Self
• The Shuttlepod Show — Self
• Star Trek Day — Self
• The Ready Room — Self
• 2017Heroes Manufactured — Self (archive footage)
• 201650 Years of Star Trek — Self
• 2014Chaos on the Bridge — Self
• The Captains Close Up — Self
• 2012Reunification - 25 Years After Star Trek: The Next Generation — Self
• 2011The Captains — Self
• 2009Star Trek: The Captain's Summit — Self
• 2007Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier — Self
• 2006Alien Autopsy — Self
• 2005How William Shatner Changed the World — Self
• 2004No Strings Attached: The Making of Thunderbirds — Self
• Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction — Self - Host
• 1997Trekkies — Self
• 1996Star Trek: 30 Years and Beyond — Self
• 1995Alien Autopsy: (Fact or Fiction?) — Self - Host
• 1994Star Trek: The Next Generation Viewer's Choice Marathon — Self - Host
• 1993Your Guide to Star Trek: Generations — Self
• 1991Star Trek: 25th Anniversary Special — Self
• 1989Friend to Friend: Armenian Earthquake Relief — Self
• 1988The Star Trek Saga: From One Generation to the Next — Self
• Make-Up Man: The Michael Westmore Documentary — Self