If you’re even a little bit familiar with “The Big Bang Theory,” you know that it’s always been sold as a “show about nerds” — so it makes sense that it featured a whole bunch of actors who also appeared in the “Star Trek” franchise.
Chuck Lorre’s hit sitcom, which ran for 12 seasons and stars Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Simon Helberg, Kunal Nayyar, Kaley Cuoco, Melissa Rauch, and Mayim Bialik — who play Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, Howard Wolowitz, Raj Koothrappali, Penny Hofstadter, Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz, and Amy Farrah Fowler, respectively — featured many, many cameos from pop culture icons, including the late James Earl Jones, Stephen Hawking, and even Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee. Throughout those 12 seasons, a lot of “Star Trek” veterans also showed up in cameo roles (it’s important to note that, within the universe of “The Big Bang Theory,” said pop culture icons typically play exaggerated versions of themselves, with exceptions to be found on this very list). So, who were they, and what did these “Star Trek” actors do during their appearances on “The Big Bang Theory?”
William Shatner
William Shatner is one of Hollywood’s most prolific actors, but still, most people probably still associate him with his role as James T. Kirk in multiple “Star Trek” properties — a role he originated in the 1966 series that kicked off the entire enterprise. (Get it?) Shatner has appeared in so many “Star Trek” projects, from films to TV shows to animated versions of the story, and as it happens, he also played himself in “The D&D Vortex,” a season 12 episode of “The Big Bang Theory.”
We all know that the popular tabletop roleplaying game “Dungeons & Dragons” has seen a major comeback in recent years, so all in all, it was pretty smart to get Shatner on board to join an episode where the gang realizes that all of their favorite celebrities are playing it. The D&D night, which is hosted by Wil Wheaton (more on him shortly), includes huge names like Joe Mangianello, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kevin Smith, and Shatner, and Sheldon, Howard, Leonard, and Raj are absolutely desperate for an invite. Naturally, the guys totally screw it up and don’t get invited because they act so weird about the whole thing, but in a perfect twist, Wheaton gets Penny, Bernadette, and Amy on board, leaving the core four in the lurch.
LeVar Burton
LeVar Burton is known for a whole host of things, and one of them is his role as the blind Lieutenant Junior Grade Geordi La Forge on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” which he played throughout that series, in movies like “Star Trek Generations” and “Star Trek: Nemesis,” and on the Paramount+ original series “Star Trek: Picard,” which brings Sir Patrick Stewart back to his own role as Jean-Luc Picard (now a retired admiral). Beyond playing La Forge — who uses futuristic technology known as a VISOR in order to see — Burton is most commonly associated with the PBS series “Reading Rainbow,” which he hosted from 1983 to 2002; he ensured the series found its way to kids across the world in 2014 after a successful Kickstarter campaign, and he also hosts the podcast “LeVar Burton Reads,” which is basically “Reading Rainbow” for grown-ups.
Burton has popped up on “The Big Bang Theory” multiple times, actually. In the season 4 episode “The Toast Derivation,” Sheldon invites Burton to a party through a post on X (then known as Twitter), but when Burton shows up to find a truly strange sight at Sheldon and Leonard’s apartment, he decides to quit the social media app for good. In season 6, Burton returns for “The Habitation Configuration” as a guest on Sheldon and Amy’s in-universe show “Fun with Flags” — Sheldon jokes that he just had to offer Burton gas money and some free food to get him involved — but in season 8, Burton makes his second “Fun with Flags” appearance and hits his limit with Sheldon for good (over a pretty offensive George Washington impression performed by Sheldon).
Brent Spiner
Brent Spiner, like William Shatner, has appeared in a ton of “Star Trek” properties — though he didn’t originate his role as Data, the franchise’s beloved android, in the same series as Shatner. Spiner joined the “Star Trek” universe in 1987 on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and has been playing Data ever since; he portrayed the character in “Star Trek Generations,” “Star Trek: First Contact,” “Star Trek: Insurrection” and “Star Trek: Nemesis” throughout the 1990s, and he even returned to the role after nearly two decades to play Data once again in “Star Trek: Picard,” which began its run in 2020. Somehow, he also found time to appear in the “Independence Day” movies and lend his voice to the animated show “Young Justice” as the Joker … and he plays himself on “The Big Bang Theory.” So, how does the show handle Spiner’s cameo?
Spiner shows up in the fifth season’s fifth episode “The Russian Rocket Reaction,” in which Wil Wheaton (yeah, that guy again) throws a party that Spiner attends. Again, I’ll swing back around to Wheaton, but some important context here is that he and Sheldon are constantly at odds with each other, so Sheldon is quite upset when Leonard accepts an invite to Wheaton’s party, where several “Star Trek” stars will be in attendance. Sheldon and Wheaton manage to make an uneasy peace when Sheldon shows up anyway — Wheaton even signs his Ensign Crusher figurine — at which point Spiner opens the package, rendering the perfectly preserved figurine useless to Sheldon. (Spiner offers a signed Data figurine, but Sheldon isn’t interested; Leonard and Howard take him up on his offer, though.)
George Takei
Like William Shatner, George Takei is a veteran of the first-ever “Star Trek” series, where he plays the USS Enterprise’s helmsman Hikaru Sulu. Takei has remained in the public eye since appearing in “Star Trek” and six of the franchise’s movies — “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan,” “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock,” “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier,” and “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” — as well as “Star Trek: Voyager” and making voice appearances in “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” Hell, Takei even showed up in the internet series and fan project “Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II,” proving he’s down for anything (and if Sheldon Cooper were real, he’d probably love that detail).
Unlike many of the other performers on this list, Takei’s turn on “The Big Bang Theory” doesn’t take place in real life, so to speak. Takei plays himself in the season 4 episode “The Hot Troll Deviation,” where Howard, fresh off a breakup with Bernadette, keeps experiencing increasingly nerdy fantasies — notably, ones that feature Katee Sackhoff (also playing herself and dressed as her character Kara “Starbuck” Thrace from “Battlestar Galactica”). Because Howard isn’t over Bernadette, though, he can’t really lose himself in the fantasy … at which point Takei appears, alarming Howard. (He and Sackhoff also have a back-and-forth about typecasting, which is pretty funny amidst Howard’s discomfort.)
Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton is, without question, the most frequent “Big Bang Theory” guest star on this list — he always plays himself — and throughout his many appearances on the show, he serves as Sheldon’s “nemesis” (even if that seems to be one-sided on Sheldon’s part). Before I get to his numerous cameos, though, here’s a quick refresher on Wheaton: Throughout the first four seasons of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” Wheaton plays Wesley Crusher, a prodigy who hopes to join the Starfleet. His character wasn’t always super-popular — which is probably part of Sheldon’s problem with the guy — but he kept showing up in “Star Trek” properties, including “Star Trek: Nemesis” and “Star Trek: Picard.” Of course, Wheaton is also known for playing the lead role of Gordie Lachance in “Stand by Me” and for shows like “Eureka” and “Leverage.”
Within the world of “The Big Bang Theory,” Wheaton appears in all but three seasons of the show — the first and second seasons, as well as the 10th — so there’s not enough room to go through every single one of his appearances here. Up until season 5, though, he’s definitely an antagonist to Sheldon (and others — his mind games with Penny and Leonard in season 3 lead to the two breaking up), but once he becomes casual friends with the main gang in the fifth season, he’s just sort of on the periphery. Still, it’s always pretty fun to see Sheldon blow a fuse whenever Wheaton shows up.
Brian George
You might associate Brian George with “Seinfeld” — thanks to his recurring role as restaurant owner Babu Bhatt — or from his vocal performance as Guru Pathik in “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” but he also showed up on multiple “Star Trek” shows throughout his career. In 1997, he made his franchise debut as the father of Alexander Siddig’s character Julian Bashir on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” (in the episode titled “Dr. Bashir, I Presume?”), and in 2000, he played an entirely different character named Ambassador O’Zaal on “Star Trek: Voyager” (in the episode “Drive”).
As for “The Big Bang Theory,” George plays Raj’s stern father V. M. Koothrappali throughout 16 episodes of the show — and he does appear in every single season — though I should say that the good Dr. Koothrappali only typically appears over video chat (save for episodes like “The Clean Room Infiltration” in season 8 — where, after divorcing Raj’s mother, he visits his son at Christmas). Ultimately, George plays a pretty small role on “The Big Bang Theory,” but he’s always a welcome presence as Raj’s dad.
Mark Harelik
Like Brian George, Mark Harelik didn’t have a regular role in the “Star Trek” franchise. In 1998, he appeared in “Star Trek: Voyager” for a single episode as Inspector Kashyk, but you’ve probably seen him in a bunch of other projects — Harelik has also appeared on everything from “Gilmore Girls” to “Grey’s Anatomy” to “Bones” to “The Morning Show.” (He also, weirdly, played himself and God in “Preacher,” the supernatural comic book TV adaptation that ran from 2015 to 2019.) Throughout his long career, you may have also seen Harelik in “Election” (as Dave Novotny, who gets into a tricky situation with Reese Witherspoon’s iconic character Tracy Flick) or in movies like “Trumbo” and “Battle of the Sexes.”
On “The Big Bang Theory,” Harelik appears in the show’s first two seasons as Dr. Eric Gablehauser, during which time he serves as head of the physics department at CalTech (where the main gang works, save for Penny and the girls). Dr. Gablehauser has an unpleasant habit of reminding Howard that he doesn’t have a PhD like his friends — only referring to him as “Mr. Wolowitz” while he uses “doctor” for the rest of the guys — and in season 1, it’s revealed that he has a weird crush on Sheldon’s mother Mary (played by Laurie Metcalf). No offense to Harelik, but when Dr. Gablehauser stops appearing in the show after season 2, he’s not really missed.
