10 Star Trek Actors Who Played Younger Characters

Many iconic Star Trek actors are deceptively older than the iconic characters they play. Because of Stardates and complicated timelines, the age of some Star Trek characters remains unknown. However, some characters’ birth years have been said on screen, and Star Trek fans have determined the birthdays of others by referencing tie-in materials or events on the Star Trek timeline. While audiences may expect actors to be about the same age as their characters, this is not always possible, especially when dealing with reboots, prequels, and spin-offs.

Many actors also look younger than they actually are, making it easy for them to pass as younger characters. Plus, in the far future of Star Trek, advances in medicine and science enable people to live longer, which makes the actors’ ages largely irrelevant. Some aliens, like Vulcans, for example, have very long lives and continue to look relatively young by human standards. Regardless of the discrepancies between a character’s and actor’s ages, the Star Trek franchise has done a consistently good job of casting actors who perfectly suit their roles. Here are 10 Star Trek actors who are actually older than their characters.

10
DeForest Kelley As Dr. Leonard McCoy

Star Trek: The Original Series

Born in the year 2227, Dr. Leonard McCoy went to medical school and joined Starfleet as a medical officer without attending Starfleet Academy. Although McCoy’s exact Star Trek timeline is somewhat difficult to pin down, he was serving as the USS Enterprise’s Chief Medical Officer by 2266, at the age of 39. DeForest Kelley was 46 in 1966 when he took on the role of Dr. McCoy in Star Trek: The Original Series, making him seven years older than his character.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, the final film with the entire Star Trek: The Original Series’ main cast, took place in 2293, making McCoy 66 years old, while Kelley was 71. As seen in the premiere episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, McCoy lived to be at least 137. Tragically, Deforest Kelley was the first main TOS cast member to pass away in 1999 at the age of 79, after a battle with cancer.

9
Walter Koenig As Pavel Chekov

Star Trek: The Original Series

The youngest member of Captain James T. Kirk’s (William Shatner) crew, Ensign Pavel Chekov joined the Starshop Enterprise straight out of the Starfleet Academy, sometime prior to 2267. Chekov was only 22 years old at the time, and he primarily served as the ship’s navigator, though Chekov would go on to fill many jobs throughout his Starfleet career. In 2293, at the age of 48, Chekov was one of the guests of honor on the maiden voyage of the USS Enterprise-B in Star Trek Generations.

Walter Koenig was already 30 when he began playing the young ensign, and he was once told he was too old to play Chekov. After joining the cast of TOS for the show’s second season, Koenig went on to appear in thirty-six episodes of the series, as well as seven feature films. Born in 1936, Koenig is currently 87 and remains active in the Star Trek community, attending conventions and other events.

8
Jonathan Frakes As Commander/Captain William T. Riker

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Commander William Riker was born in August of 2335, making him 29 when he took on the role of First Officer on the newly launched USS Enterprise-D. Over the next several years, Riker would turn down multiple promotions to remain on the Enterprise with Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). Riker finally accepted his own command in 2379 at the age of 44, becoming Captain of the USS Titan.

Jonathan Frakes was 35 when Star Trek: The Next Generation began in 1987, making him about 6 years older than Riker. While filming Star Trek: Nemesis, Frakes was 50 compared to his character’s 44. Now 71, Frakes recently reprised the role of Captain Riker for Star Trek: Picard, playing a major role in the show’s award-winning third season, during which Riker was 66.

7
Avery Brooks As Commander/Captain Benjamin Sisko

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Born in 2332, Commander Benjamin Sisko took over command of space station Deep Space Nine in 2369 when he was 37 years old. During his time on the station, Sisko was promoted to Captain, and he commanded the USS Defiant in multiple battles against the Jam’Hader and Cardassiasn during the Dominion War. In 2375, at the age of 43, Sisko sacrificed himself to end the Dominion War.

Although Sisko was initially presumed dead, the Bajoran Prophets had actually transported him to the Celestial Temple due to Sisko’s status as their Emissary. Avery Books was an accomplished Shakespearean actor before he began playing Sisko in 1992 when he was 44, seven years older than his character. Brooks played Sisko for seven years on DS9 and continued to appear at Star Trek conventions for years after.

6
Roxanne Dawson As Lt. B’Elanna Torres

Star Trek: Voyager

B’Elanna Torres was born in 2346 to a human father and a Klingon mother. Although she entered Starfleet Academy around the age of 18, she dropped out after two years and joined the rebel Maquis. In 2371, B’Elanna was on the Maquis ship, the Val Jean, when it was transported to the Delta Quadrant along with the USS Voyager. After the Maquis members were integrated into Voyager’s crew, the 25-year-old B’Elanna became the ship’s Chief Engineer, a position she held until Voyager made it home in 2378.

Actress and director Roxann Dawson was born in 1958, making her 37 when Star Trek: Voyager premiered in 1995. Despite being twelve years older than her character, Dawson has always looked younger than her actual age. Plus, the prosthetics and make-up required to make her appear half-Klingon made her age difficult to determine.

5
Scott Bakula As Captain Jonathan Archer

Star Trek: Enterprise

In 2151, Jonathan Archer became the Captain of United Earth’s first starship, the Enterprise NX-01. Archer had been born in 2112 in upstate New York and worked as a test pilot in the NX Program before he was chosen to take over command of the Enterprise. Archer was 39 when he set out on his first mission and 49 when his command ended in 2161, soon after which he signed the charter ratifying the Coalition of Planets, the precursor to the Federation.

Scott Bakula was 47 when Star Trek: Enterprise began in 2001 and 51 when the show ended four seasons later. While Bakula will always be Captain Jonathan Archer for some, the actor had already achieved fame by starring as Dr. Sam Beckett in Quantum Leap from 1989 to 1993. Bakula went on to have another starring role, as Special Agent Dwayne Pride in NCIS: New Orleans, which came to an end in 2021 after seven seasons.

4
Mary Wiseman As Lt. Sylvia Tilly

Star Trek: Discovery

Born on Earth in 2233, Sylvia Tilly joined the crew of the USS Discovery as an incredibly intelligent and eager Starfleet cadet sometime around the year 2256, when she was 23. In 2257, at the age of 24, Tilly was awarded the Starfleet Medal of Honor for her role in the Federation-Klingon War, at which time she also became a full ensign and joined the command track.

At the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 2, the titular ship traveled over 900 years into the future to the 32nd century, making the characters’ ages a bit more difficult to track. Tilly should be around 25 by the year 3190 when Starfleet Academy reopened and United Earth rejoined the Federation. Actress Mary Wiseman was 32 when Discovery began in 2017, and her infectious energy makes it difficult to imagine anyone else as Tilly.

3
Ethan Peck As Lt. Spock

Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Being half-Vulcan, Spock had a longer lifespan than a human and lived to the age of 161. Born in 2230 to Vulcan Ambassador Sarek (James Frain) and human mother Amanda Grayson (Mia Kirshner), Spock entered Starfleet Academy sometime prior to 2250. Spock was assigned to Captain Pike’s Enterprise crew in 2253, at the age of 23, although he took a leave of absence from Starfleet in 2257 after the Federation-Klingon War.

In 2258, now 28 years old, Spock returned to his position as Science Officer on the Enterprise and remains in that position as of 2259. Actor Ethan Peck was 33 when he began playing Spock in 2019, making him 38 as of 2024, while Spock remains just shy of 30. Based on the first looks at Strange New Worlds season 3, Spock will be spending some time in a new lab set on the Starship Enterprise.

2
Christina Chong As Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

A descendant of the infamous Earth dictator, Khan Noonien-Singh (Ricardo Montalban), La’an was born in 2228 and spent much of her childhood on the colony ship SS Puget Sound. La’an later chose to attend Starfleet Academy and graduated at the top of her class. In 2259, at the age of 31, La’an joined the crew of the USS Enterprise under the Commander of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount).

The events of the Strange New Worlds season 2 finale, “Hegemony,” occurred later in the year 2259, meaning La’an will still be around the age of 31 or 32 when the show returns for its third season. Actress and singer Christina Chong was 39 when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds began in 2022, making her eight years older than her character. However, like many of the actors on this list, Chong easily passes for someone in their early 30s.

1
Paul Wesley As Lt. James T. Kirk

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

The legendary James T. Kirk was born in 2233 in Riverside, Iowa. Kirk entered Starfleet Academy in 2252, at the age of 19, and quickly made a name for himself, becoming the only cadet in history to beat the infamous Kobayashi Maru scenario. After graduating from the Academy, Kirk joined the crew of the USS Farragut and soon became the youngest First Officer in Starfleet, at 26.

Paul Wesley made his first appearance as an alternate future James Kirk in the Strange New Worlds season 1 finale, before portraying the Prime Universe Kirk in the show’s second season. Paul Wesley was 40 when he began playing Kirk in 2022, but regardless of his age, he brings the right kind of charming energy to the role and has the look of a young Jim Kirk. It remains to be seen how large of a role Wesley’s James Kirk will play in Strange New Worlds season 3, which will hopefully be one of the first Star Trek projects to premiere in 2025.

All of these Star Trek shows are streaming on Paramount+.