15 Star Trek Actors Who Directed Episodes
14. LeVar Burton - Lt Commander Geordi La Forge
LeVar Burton holds the distinction of being the most prolific director of the Star Trek actors who both starred in and directed episodes of the franchise. He is responsible for directing 29 different episodes spread across four different franchise shows - The Next Generation (TNG), DS9, Voyager (VOY), and Enterprise (ENT).
Burton started out his career convinced he wanted to head for priesthood. The lure of acting called and he started studying drama at the University of Southern California. Before even graduating, he was chosen to play the key role of Kunta Kinte in Roots, one of the most acclaimed and highest rated TV miniseries of all time. This fame from this role allowed Burton to become host of the PBS show Reading Rainbow, which he remained involved with during the seven seasons of TNG.
Burton considers 'Second Chances', the first episode of TNG that he directed, to be his favourite episode. Aside from allowing him to work with Mae Jemison, the first Black astronaut in space, he said directing that episode left an 'indelible impression' on him and opened the door for him to move more heavily into directing.