Summary
- Star Trek and The X-Files had many actors in common due to their episodic formats and the need for new actors each episode to portray aliens or monsters.
- Notable actors who appeared in both shows include Callum Keith Rennie, Mark Sheppard, Terry O'Quinn, Tony Todd, and Susanna Thompson.
- Other actors who crossed over include Kurtwood Smith, Penny Johnson Jerald, Denise Crosby, Andrew Robinson, and Anthony Rapp, showcasing the interconnectedness of these popular science fiction series.
As two of the most popular science fiction shows of all time, Star Trek and The X-Files share not only much of the same audience, but also many of the same actors. From the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and the USS Enterprise-D to those of Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and space station Deep Space 9, Star Trek had a presence on television throughout all of the 1990s. With their episodic formats, both Star Trek and The X-Files had to bring in new actors each episode to portray the aliens (or monsters) of the week, so viewers of both shows likely saw many familiar faces.
The X-Files follows FBI Agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) as they investigate cases too strange for other agents to handle. While The X-Files may not have quite as much content as Star Trek, it did inspire eleven seasons of television, two feature-length films, and two spin-offs. Although The X-Files initially ended in 2002, the show returned in 2016 for two more seasons, and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler has been attached to a potential reboot since May of 2023. Here are the actors who jumped between Star Trek and The X-Files.
