Jonathan Frakes plays Commander William Riker, the Enterprise's executive officer and second-in-command. "Riker's job is to provide Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) with the most efficiently-run ship and the best prepared crew he can," Jonathan explains. "As a result, he maintains a more military bearing than the other characters, despite the fact that salutes and other military protocol no longer exist in the 24th century."
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, Jonathan was an undergraduate at Penn State and continued his education at Harvard, spending several seasons with the Loeb Drama Center. He then spent five years in New York, appearing on and off Broadway in several regional theater productions.
Prior to his role as Riker, Jonathan had recurring roles in such shows as Falcon Crest, Paper Dolls and Bare Essence, and for years was a contract player on the daytime drama The Doctors. His other television work includes the television movie "The Nutcracker" and the critically praised roles in the miniseries "Dream West" and "North & South" (Parts I and II).
During the third season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Jonathan made his directorial debut with an episode of the series entitled "The Offspring." He so impressed the executive producers with his efforts that he directed a number of episodes in the remaining four seasons as well as episodes of Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Jonathan then had the double duty of acting and directing in his feature film directoral debut in Star Trek: First Contact. Jonathan repeated this effort to much success in Star Trek: Insurrection.
Jonathan is married to actress Genie Francis and resides in Los Angeles.