Robert Picardo

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Robert Picardo
Picardo at the 2011 San Diego Comic Con
Born	Robert Alphonse Picardo (1953-10-27) October 27, 1953 (age 67) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education	Yale University (BA)
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1975–present
Spouse(s)	Linda Pawlik ​ ​ (m. 1984; div. 2014)​
Children	2

Robert Alphonse Picardo (born October 27, 1953) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayals of Dr. Dick Richards on ABC's China Beach; the Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH), also known as The Doctor, on Star Trek: Voyager; the Cowboy in Innerspace, Coach Cutlip on The Wonder Years (for which he received an Emmy nomination); and as Richard Woolsey in the Stargate television franchise. Picardo is also a member of the Board of Directors of The Planetary Society.

Early life[]

Picardo was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Joe Picardo. Robert is of Italian heritage, with his father's family originating from Montecorvino Rovella, Salerno, and his mother's parents originally from Bomba in Abruzzo. He graduated from William Penn Charter School in 1971 and originally entered Yale University as a pre-medical student, but opted to act instead. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in drama from Yale University.^[1]

Picardo is an accomplished singer. While he was at Yale University, he was a member of the Society of Orpheus and Bacchus, the second longest running undergraduate a cappella group in the United States. Also while at Yale, he had a major role in the 1973 European premiere production of Leonard Bernstein's "Mass" in Vienna, conducted by John Mauceri. The production was televised by ORF and broadcast on PBS during the 1970s. His singing has also been incorporated into his role in Star Trek: Voyager.

After earning his degree, he enrolled at the Circle in the Square Professional Theater Workshop. He waited tables for a few years until his theatrical work started to take off around 1976. His first breaks were appearing in the David Mamet play Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and with Diane Keaton in The Primary English Class.^[2]

In 1977, Picardo made his Broadway debut. He appeared in Gemini (1977) and Tribute (1978).

During the 1988–1991 television seasons, Picardo was simultaneously seen on the ABC Vietnam series China Beach in the role of Dr. Dick Richard, and the ABC series The Wonder Years in the role of Coach Cutlip. He is among a small group of television actors to achieve notice on two television series at the same time.

Career[]

Picardo made his feature film debut as Eddie Quist, the serial killer werewolf in the Joe Dante film The Howling (1981). He also had a recurring role in the sitcom Alice and played a doctor on an episode of The Golden Girls. He played a number of roles in Dante's family science fiction film Explorers (1985), and later appeared in Dante's The 'Burbs, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Matinee, Gremlins 2: The New Batch, Small Soldiers and Innerspace. Picardo often plays roles under layers of prosthetic latex, having also played the swamp-dwelling Meg Mucklebones in Ridley Scott's film Legend. He also had a small role as a funeral director in John Landis's Amazon Women on the Moon. He voices Pfish in two Pfish & Chip shorts as seen on Cartoon Network's What-A-Cartoon! Show. Picardo also portrays the voice and face of the robotic Johnny Cab in Total Recall. He appeared in one episode of ER in 1995 as Abraham Zimble (Season 2 - Episode 6, "Days Like This").

In 1993, Picardo had a brief role as Joe "The Meat Man" Morton, a butcher and neighbor to Tim Allen's character on the sitcom Home Improvement.

In 2001, he guest starred in the 7 Days episode "Revelation", purporting to be a time traveler from seven years in the future.

In 2007, he played Principal White in Ben 10: Race Against Time. In 2007, he starred in the independent feature film by director Russ Emanuel, P.J., alongside John Heard and Vincent Pastore.^[3] He also starred in Russ Emanuel's Chasing the Green in 2008, with William Devane, Jeremy London and Ryan Hurst.

Picardo appeared on Kojak in a 1977 episode, E-Ring, as a media rep in The Pentagon, as an enraged father in Cold Case, and as a police officer in CSI: NY. He was a recurring guest star in two episodes of Season 7 of Smallville.

Away from acting, from 1999 to 2015, Picardo was a member of the Board of Directors' Advisory Council of The Planetary Society; beginning in 2015, he was elected to the Board of Directors itself.^[4]

Other career highlights include performing in Leonard Bernstein's Mass during its European debut tour, performing with the Yale University Society of Orpheus & Bacchus a cappella singing group as an undergraduate, and appearing in dozens of other television and film roles, including the film .

Picardo performed the voice of Loki in the Xbox 360 video game Too Human. In 2009, he also appeared in Pushing Daisies, Chuck and Castle. Also in 2009, he played the lead role in the independent psychological thriller film Sensored. In 2010, Picardo had a cameo in the final episode of Persons Unknown, as a member of "the program"'s governing board. Picardo also voices Robert McNamara in Call of Duty: Black Ops in campaign and in the 'Zombie mode' after completing campaign on the one map, "FIVE". Picardo appeared in four episodes of The Mentalist from 2012 through 2013 as Jason Cooper, a lieutenant of cult leader Bret Styles.

Picardo also appeared on a season 6 episode of Supernatural titled "Clap Your Hands if You Believe", as a leprechaun.

In May 2014, Cartoon Hangover announced Picardo as a guest voice actor in the second season of Bravest Warriors, in the episode "The Parasox Pub".

In 2017, Picardo played Lt. Kitan's father Prof. Ildis Kitan in the first season episode of The Orville titled "Firestorm", and reprised the role in the 2019 episode "Home" together with John Billingsley who played Doctor Phlox in Star Trek: Enterprise.

Picardo appeared as himself in an episode of Schooled.^[5]

Star Trek[]

From 1995 to 2001, he played the role of the Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH) in the television series Star Trek: Voyager. Before being accepted for this role, Picardo initially auditioned for the role of Neelix.^[1] He later also directed two episodes.

He played additional copies of the role of the EMH in the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact and the 1997 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?" He also played Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, the creator of the EMH, in episodes of Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

In 2002, Picardo authored The Hologram's Handbook, published by Pocket Books.

In 2007 and 2008, Star Trek: The Music was a multi-city tour with John de Lancie. Picardo and de Lancie narrated around the orchestral performance, explaining the history of the music in Star Trek.

In 2015, Picardo reprised the role of Dr. Lewis Zimmerman in the pilot episode of the fan series Star Trek: Renegades.^[6]

Stargate[]

In 2004, he began playing the recurring role of International Oversight Advisory (IOA) member Richard Woolsey in both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. His first appearance in those series was in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Heroes (Part 2)".

On February 5, 2008, it was announced that Picardo would be joining the regular cast of Stargate Atlantis full-time for the series' fifth and final season. He took over the role of mission commander of the Atlantis Expedition.^[7]

Filmography[]

Film[]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	The Dream Merchants	Mark Kessler	Television movie
1981	The Howling	Eddie Quist
1983	Get Crazy	Connell O'Connell
1984	Oh, God! You Devil	Joe Ortiz
1985	Legend	Meg Mucklebones
1985	Explorers	Starkiller	Voice and actor
1986	Back to School	Giorgio
1987	Munchies	Bob Marvalle
1987	The Man Who Fell to Earth	Agent Morse	Television movie
1987	Innerspace	The Cowboy
1987	Bates Motel	Dr. Goodman	Television movie
1987	Amazon Women on the Moon	Rick Raddnitz
1988	976-EVIL	Mark Dark
1988	Dead Heat	Lieutenant Herzog
1988	Jack's Back	Dr. Carlos Battera
1989	Loverboy	Reed Palmer
1989	The 'Burbs	Joe
1990	Gremlins 2: The New Batch	Forster	Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1990	Total Recall	Johnnycab	Voice and image
1991	Motorama	Jerry The Policeman
1993	Matinee	Howard, the Theater Manager
1994	Wagons East	Ben Wheeler
1994	Revenge of the Nerds IV	Chad Penrod
1994	VR.5	VR Engineer
1996	Star Trek: First Contact	Emergency Medical Hologram
1998	Small Soldiers	Ralph Quist
2003	Looney Tunes: Back in Action	Acme VP, Rhetorical Questions
2006	A.I. Assault	Doctor John Foster
2007	Ben 10: Race Against Time	Principal White	Television movie
2008	P.J.	Stan Jamison
2009	Sensored	Wade
2009	Chasing the Green	Dave Foxx
2010	Monsterwolf	Stark	Television movie
2010	Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus	Admiral Calvin
2011	The Captains	Himself
2011	Beethoven's Christmas Adventure	Smirch	Television movie
2011	Morlocks	Colonel John Wichita	Television movie
2012	Atlas Shrugged: Part II	Dr. Robert Stadler
2012	The Legends of Nethiah	Grandpa
2010	The Candidate	Carl Tucker	Short film
2014	Age of Tomorrow	General Magowan
2014	Restoration of Paradise	Narrator	Documentary
2014	Don't Blink	Man in Black
2014	Morganville: The Series	Oliver	YouTube series
2015	Occupants	Dr. Alan Peterson
2015	The Meddler	Cos
2016	Hail, Caesar!	Rabbi
2017	The Assassin's Apprentice	Pete
2021	To Meet the Faces You Meet[8]	Admiral Gillette	announced

Television[]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	Kojak	Thomas Rindone	2 episodes "Kojak's Days Pt1 & Pt2"
1979	Taxi	Philip Polevoy	Episode: "Nardo Loses Her Marbles"
1982	Silver Spoons	Louis Morgan	Pilot Episode
1982–1984	Alice	Officer Maxwell	8 episodes
1986	Benson	Richard Alan Tracy	Episode: "Reel Murder: Part 1"
1986	Hardcastle and McCormick	Manny	Episode: "Brother, Can You Spare a Crime?"
1986	Scarecrow and Mrs. King	Randall Skylar	Episode: "Three Little Spies"
1986	Amazing Stories	Tony Sepulveda	Episode: "Boo!"
1986	The Golden Girls	Dr. Revell	Episode: "The Operation"
1987–1991	L.A. Law	Lawyer John Dunphy, Lawyer Joe Dumphy	2 episodes
1987	21 Jump Street	Ralph Buckley	Episode: "Gotta Finish the Riff"
1987	St. Elsewhere	Eli Muzzy	Episode: "Weigh In, Weight Out"
1988–1991	The Wonder Years	Coach Cutlip	15 episodes Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Specialty Player
1988–1991	China Beach	Dr. Dick Richard	54 episodes Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Drama Series (1990–91)
1989	Newhart	Terry	Episode: "The Little Match Girl"
1992	CBS Schoolbreak Special	Paul Lance	Episode: "Two Teens and a Baby"
1992–1993	Dinosaurs	Clerk / Muse / Ted (voice)	3 Episodes
1993	Home Improvement	Joe Morton	2 episodes
1993	The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.	Puel	Episode: "The Orb Scholar"
1993	Batman: The Animated Series[9]	Eddie G. (voice)	Episode: "The Man Who Killed Batman"
1993	Tales from the Crypt	Frank Bobo	Episode: "Til Death Do We Part"
1994	Rebel Highway	Mr. Ed Cahn	Episode: "Runaway Daughters"
1995–2001	Star Trek: Voyager	The Doctor, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman	166 episodes Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor on Television
1995	ER	Abraham Zimble, Mobile Notary	Episode: "Days Like This"
1995–1997	The Cartoon Cartoon Show	Pfish (voice)	2 episodes
1997	Early Edition	Doctor	Episode: "Faith"
1997	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, Emergency Medical Hologram	Episode: "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?"
1998	The Outer Limits	Emmet Harley	Episode: "Sarcophagus"
1998	Cow and Chicken[9]	President / Puppet President / Narrator (voice)	Episode: "101 Uses for Cow and Chicken/Intelligent Life?/I.M. Weasel: Tree Story"
1999	Ally McBeal	Barry Philbrick	Episode: "Love's Illusions"
2000	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command[9]	Professor Reddschift (voice)	Episode: "First Missions"
2001	7 Days	Major Michael McGrath	Episode: "Revelation"
2001	Frasier	Mr. Koechner	Episode: "Bully for Martin"
2001	The Weakest Link	Himself	Episode: "Star Trek: Weakest Link Edition
2002	Crossing Jordan	Father Bruno Casnelli	Episode: "Miracles & Wonders"
2002	The Practice	Dr. Edmunds	Episode: "Neighboring Species"
2002–2003	Justice League[9]	Amazo / Blackhawk (voice)	4 episodes
2003–2004	The Lyon's Den	Detective Nick Traub	7 episodes
2003	Sabrina, The Teenage Witch	Bob Jacobs	3 episodes
2004–2007	Stargate SG-1	Richard Woolsey	7 episodes
2004	The West Wing	E. Bradford Shelton	Episode: "The Supremes"
2004	Justice League Unlimited[9]	Amazo (voice)	2 episodes
2005–2006	E-Ring	Larry Kincaid	4 episodes
2005	The 4400	Trent Appelbaum	Episode: "Weight of the World"
2006	Ben 10[9]	Leader Alien (voice)	Episode: "The Big Tick"
2006	Eve	Professor Dawson	Season 3 Episode 17
2006	The O.C.	Bill Merriam	Episode: "The Pot Stirrer"
2006–2009	Stargate Atlantis	Richard Woolsey	20 episodes
2007	The Closer	Mr. Sheffield	Episode: "Saving Face"
2007	CSI: NY	Sheriff Benson	Episode: "Boo"
2008	Smallville	Edward Teague	2 episodes
2009–2010	Castle	Dr. Clark Murray	2 episodes
2009	Chuck	Dr. Howard Busgang (Perseus)	Episode: "Chuck Versus the Lethal Weapon"
2010	Justified	Karl Hanselman	Episode: "The Collection"
2010	Supernatural	Wayne Whittaker/Leprachaun	Episode: "Clap Your Hands If You Believe"
2011	Stargate Universe	Richard Woolsey	Episode: "Seizure"
2011	No Ordinary Family	Vice-principal Nance	Episode: "No Ordinary Animal"
2011	United States of Tara	Dr. Smolow	Episode: "Bryce Will Play"
2012	Body of Proof	Henry	Episode: "Cold Blooded"
2012	Austin and Ally	Dr. Grant	Episode: "Successes & Setbacks"
2012	Hawaii Five-0	FBI Agent	Episode: "The Promise"
2012–2013	The Mentalist	Jason Cooper	4 episodes
2013	Jessie	Cyril Lipton	Episode: "To Be Me or Not to Be Me"
2014	Bones	Dr. Lawrence Rozran	Episode: "The Heiress in the Hill"
2014–2018	Bravest Warriors	Puddingtown / Eyeball (voice)	7 Episodes
2015	Star Trek: Renegades	Dr. Lewis Zimmerman	Episode: "Pilot"
2016	Lucifer	Yuri	Episode: "Lady Parts"
2017	Salem	Mr. Stoughton	Episode: "Night's black agents"
2017	Justice League Action	Two-Face (voice)	Episode: "Double Cross"
2017–2019	The Orville	Ildis Kitan	2 episodes
2019	Dickinson	Ithamar Conkey	4 episodes
2019	Schooled	Himself	Episode: “Money for RENT”[5]

Video games[]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force	Emergency Medical Hologram	N/A
2008	Too Human	Loki	N/A
2010	Call of Duty: Black Ops	Robert McNamara	Also mo-cap
2012	Call of Duty: Black Ops II	Erik Breighner	Also mo-cap
2014	Star Trek Online	The Doctor	Voice role
2015	Call of Duty: Black Ops III	Sebastian Krueger, Shadow Man	Also mo-cap for Krueger
2015	Fallout 4	Alan Binet / Vault-Tec Scientist	Voice role
2018	Call of Duty: Black Ops 4	Shadow Man	Voice in "Blood of The Dead" Zombies Map
TBA	Hellraid	Adon

Audio narrations[]

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2019	Homefront: An Expeditionary Force Audio Drama Special	Unknown	Picardo is one of many narrators that feature in Craig Alanson’s award winning Expeditionary Force’s spin off series.

Discography[]

Year	Title	Artist	Notes
1970/2011	Leslie Bricusse / Dominik Hauser Featuring Robert Picardo - Scrooge (Music From The 1970 Motion Picture)	Himself
	Basic Bob - Parodies Travesties Anomalies	Himself
	Extreme Bob: More Parodies, Travesties, Anomalies	Himself

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Robert Picardo.

• Robert Picardo at IMDb
• Robert Picardo at the TCM Movie Database
• Robert Picardo at AllMovie
• The Official Robert Picardo website
• The Planetary Society Home Page
• Robert Picardo Interview (2012) at www.reviewgraveyard.com
• Robert Picardo at the Internet Broadway Database