Scott Bakula

Scott Bakula
Bakula stands at the Hamilton Benefit on May 10, 2005.
Born	Scott Stewart Bakula October 9, 1954 (1954-10-09) (age 56) St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1983–present
Spouse	Krista Neumann (1981–1995) Chelsea Field (1996–present)

Scott Stewart Bakula (pronounced /ˈbækjʊlə/; born October 9, 1954) is an American actor, best known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise.

Bakula can currently be seen on the TNT series Men of a Certain Age, as Terry, and NBC's Chuck guest starring as Stephen Bartowski.

Early life

Bakula was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Sally and J. Stewart Bakula, a corporate lawyer.^[1] He graduated from Kirkwood High School in Kirkwood, Missouri in 1973. During high school, he was active in soccer, tennis, and theatre. Also during high school, he had the lead roles in Godspell and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at First Presbyterian Church in Kirkwood. He also played Tevye in an Independent Theatre Production of Fiddler on the Roof at Kirkwood High. Bakula attended college at the University of Kansas until his sophomore year. He was a member of Phi Gamma Delta while attending the University.

Career

Bakula left college to pursue acting, having been cast in the leading role in a national tour of Godspell. The tour was canceled before it began and he soon moved to New York. Shortly after, he was cast in a dinner theater production of Shenandoah in North Carolina.

In 1983, Bakula, having previously appeared as a standby, made his Broadway debut playing Joe DiMaggio in Marilyn: An American Fable. His television debut came in commercials for Canada Dry and for de-caffeinated Folgers coffee. He appeared in an off Broadway production, Three Guys Naked from the Waist Down.^[2]

His performance in the Broadway musical Romance/Romance, starring him and Alison Fraser and subsequent Tony Award nomination helped Bakula win the lead role opposite Dean Stockwell in the critically acclaimed television series Quantum Leap.^[3] In this science fiction series, Bakula played the time traveler Dr. Sam Beckett, who was trapped by a malfunction of his time machine to correct things gone wrong in the past.^[4] His performance in this program would earn him a Golden Globe award (along with three nominations) and four Emmy nominations for Best Actor as well as five (5) consecutive Viewers For Quality Television Awards for Best Actor in a Quality Drama Series.

In 1995, Bakula appeared on the cover of Playgirl. In 1997, Bakula voiced Danny Cat in Cats Don't Dance, a high-rated, but little-known, animated movie, singing in one number with Natalie Cole. In 1998, Bakula played the aging veteran pitcher Gus Cantrell in Major League: Back to the Minors, the final movie in the Major League (film) trilogy. He also played Jim Olmeyer, same-sex partner of Sam Robards' Jim Berkley, in the Academy Award–winning American Beauty in 1999.

Bakula, as Captain Jonathan Archer, meets U.S. Navy Sailors of the Year for the year 2001 on February 28, 2002, on the set of Star Trek: Enterprise.^[5]

As Jonathan Archer in Star Trek: Enterprise, Bakula played the captain of Earth's first long-range interstellar ship. In 2006, he reprised the role of Archer for the Star Trek Legacy PC and Xbox 360 video games as a voiceover. Bakula starred in the musical Shenandoah, a play which also provided his first professional theatrical role in 1976, at Ford's Theatre, in 2006. Bakula is heard singing "Pig Island" on Sandra Boynton's children's CD Philadelphia Chickens, which is labeled as being "For all ages except 43." Some of Bakula's other musical appearances include the Hollywood Bowl in 1996 and 2004, Carnegie Hall, a benefit performance of Stephen Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle in 1995, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 1993 and 2003, in honor of Sondheim and Carol Burnett, respectively. Scott Bukala said that he might be starring as Sam in a Quantum Leap film as stated in TV Guide Magazine along with Dean Stockwell. At Comic Con 2010, he announced that a script was being worked on and that while he would be in the movie, he would not be in the main role.

Performances since 2008

Bakula performed various songs from his career for a one-night-only performance entitled An Evening with Scott Bakula at Sydney Harman Hall on January 18, 2008, as a benefit for the restoration of the historic Ford's Theater.^[6] Bakula had three appearances in 2008. He appeared as Atty. Jack Ross in an episode of Boston Legal, "Glow in the Dark", which aired on February 12, 2008 on the ABC network.^[7] From March 4 - April 20 he starred as Tony Hunter in the world premiere of Dancing In The Dark at The Old Globe in San Diego, California. Dancing in the Dark is based on the 1950s movie The Band Wagon, which starred Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse.^[8] Bakula appeared as the character Chris Fulbright in the five episode run of the Tracey Ullman sketch comedy series State of the Union on Showtime.

Bakula appeared in the 2009 dark comedy film The Informant! as Brian Shepard, an FBI agent working with the title character, Mark Whitacre, (played by Matt Damon).^[9]

In April 2009, Bakula began a recurring role on the TV show Chuck as Stephen Bartowski, the eponymous character's long lost father. From July 31 to August 2, 2009, he starred as Nathan Detroit in three performances of Guys and Dolls at Hollywood Bowl. Beginning in December 2009, Bakula began appearing as Terry, one of the three lead characters, along with Ray Romano (Joe) and Andre Braugher (Owen), in TNT's hour long comedy/drama Men of a Certain Age.

Personal life

Bakula married Krista Neumann in 1981; they divorced in 1995. The couple had two children, Chelsy (born 1984), Cody (born 1991 - adopted). In 1996 , he married actress Chelsea Field, with whom he has had two children, Wil and Owen.

Filmography

• I-Man (1986)
• Gung Ho (TV Series) (1986)^[10]
• My Sister Sam (1 episode 1986)
• Designing Women (1986–1988)
• Matlock (2 episodes 1987)
• Eisenhower and Lutz (1988)
• Quantum Leap (1989–1993)
• Sibling Rivalry (1990)
• Necessary Roughness (1991)
• Mercy Mission: The Rescue of Flight 771 (1993)
• Color of Night (1994)
• "A Passion to Kill" (1994)
• Murphy Brown (14 episodes 1994–1996)
• The Invaders (mini-series)(1995)
• Lord of Illusions (1995)
• The Bachelor's Baby CBS movie-of-the-week (1996)
• Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1996)
• Cats Don't Dance (1997)
• Major League: Back to the Minors (1998)
• NetForce (1999)
• American Beauty (1999)
• Above Suspicion (2000)
• Life as a House (2001)
• What Girls Learn Lifetime original movie(2001)
• Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–2005)
• Papa's Angels (2003)
• The New Adventures of Old Christine (3 episodes, 2 in 2006, 1 in 2009)
• Blue Smoke Lifetime original movie (2007)
• American Body Shop (1 episode, 2007)
• Boston Legal (1 episode, 2008)
• State of the Union (5 episodes, 2008)
• The Informant! (2009)^[11]
• Chuck (7 episodes, 2009-2010)
• Men of a Certain Age (2009)

References

External links

• Scott Bakula at the Internet Movie Database
• Scott Bakula at Allmovie
• Scott Bakula at TV.com
• Scott Bakula at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Scott Bakula 2000 Interview on Sidewalks Entertainment