15 Star Trek Actors Who Directed Episodes
6. Robert Duncan McNeill - Lieutenant Tom Paris
McNeill was no stranger to Star Trek when he was cast as Lt Paris, having played a Starfleet cadet several years before on TNG. He directed four episodes each of VOY and ENT.
McNeill started acting in high school and turned this experience into formal education in Drama at Julliard. His first break came when he was cast on the daytime soap opera All My Children in 1986, a job he would hold for three years. He moved into stage acting after that, until landing the role of Cadet Locarno in the TNG episode 'The First Duty.'
McNeill acted on a few short-lived shows until being offered the role of Lt Tom Paris on VOY. After his experience directing with VOY and ENT, he also directed episodes of Dawson's Creek, The O.C., One Tree Hill, Desperate Housewives, and The Orville.
McNeill's first directed episode, 'Sacred Ground', proved somewhat challenging. McNeill had been studying for his turn in the chair, which he assumed would come later in the third season. Jonathan Frakes, who was slated to direct 'Sacred Ground', had to back out, giving McNeill only two weeks to prep himself. Reviews of his directing by his castmates were universally positive.