As two of the most popular science fiction franchises of all time, Star Trek and Doctor Who have quite a bit in common. Both franchises began with television shows in the 1960s and have gone on to span multiple spin-offs, movies, books, and audio adventures. They both have massive fanbases comprised of devoted fans who attend conventions, create art, and cosplay as their favorite characters.
Whether they are fighting Daleks or Klingons or Cybermen or Borg, many actors have made appearances in both science fiction franchises over the years. With the sheer number of episodes of both shows, it’s no surprise that they would share many of the same actors. Keep reading for a list of every actor who has appeared in both Doctor Who and Star Trek.
19 David Ajala
David Ajala plays Cleveland Booker in Star Trek: Discovery. A member of the Kwejian species, Book encountered Commander Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) when she and the USS Discovery traveled to the 32nd century. Michael joined Book as a courier and they entered into a romantic relationship, which continued after Burnham became Captain of the USS Discovery. Ajala appeared in the Doctor Who episode “The Best Below” as Peter, the leader of a police force known as the Winders.
18 Daphne Ashbrook
Appearing as the titular character in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 2 episode “Melora,” Daphne Ashbrook played Ensign Melora Pazlar. Melora was the first member of the Elaysian species to join Starfleet. Because the Elaysian homeworld had low gravity, Melora used an anti-grav chair to navigate planets and space stations with Earth-like gravity, such as Deep Space Nine. Ashbrook appeared as Dr. Grace Holloway in Doctor Who: The Television Movie in 1996.
17 Steven Berkoff
In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 5 episode “Business As Usual,” Steven Berkoff plays Hagath, a ruthless arms dealer who operates, for a time, out of Quark’s bar on Deep Space Nine. Berkoff appeared as a holographic Shakri in the Doctor Who season 7 episode “The Power of Three.” The Shakri were a space-faring humanoid species who tried to wipe out all of humanity, before being stopped by the Eleventh Doctor (Matt Smith).
16 Orla Brady
Another recent addition to the Star Trek family, Orla Brady appeared in Star Trek: Picard seasons 1 and 2 as Romulans Laris and Tallinn. Laris worked alongside Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) at his Chateau Picard vineyard and the two grew close and became romantic. Likely an ancestor of Laris’, Tallinn looked out for Picard’s ancestor Renée Picard (Penelope Mitchell), and worked to ensure history happened as it was supposed to. Orla Brady played Tasha Lem, the Mother Superious of the Papal Mainframe, in the Doctor Who episode “The Time of the Doctor.”
15 Christina Chong
Christina Chong’s Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh has become a breakout fan-favorite character from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. A descendant of the infamous dictator, Khan Noonien-Singh (Ricardo Montalbán), La’an has spent much of her life trying to distance herself from her ancestor. La’an serves as the Security Chief on the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). Christina Chong appeared in the Doctor Who episode “A Good Man Goes to War” as ill-fated soldier Lorna Bucket.
14 Noel Clarke
Noel Clarke played a significant role in the first two seasons of the rebooted Doctor Who as Mickey Smith, the boyfriend of Rose Tyler (Billie Piper). Mickey tagged along for a few of Rose’s adventures with The Doctor, before eventually setting out on his own. Noel Clarke appeared in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness as Thomas Harewood, a Starfleet Officer and member of Section 31 who was coerced by Khan Noonien-Singh (Benedict Cumberbatch) to set off a suicide bomb.
13 John Franklyn-Robbins
Character actor John Franklyn-Robbins appeared in many television shows and movies throughout his lengthy career, including two of the biggest science fiction franchises of all time. Franklyn-Robbins played a Time Lord in the 1975 Doctor Who serial “Genesis of The Daleks” alongside the Fourth Doctor (Tom Baker). In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Franklyn-Robbins’ character Macias was the leader of a Maquis cell on the Federation colony of Juhraya.
12 Sonita Henry
Sonita Henry can be seen as the unnamed doctor on the USS Kelvin at the beginning of Star Trek (2009), as she helps Winona Kirk (Jennifer Morrison) give birth to her son, James Kirk (Chris Pine). Henry appears in the Doctor Who episode “The Time of the Doctor” as a colonel named Meme aboard the Papal Mainframe, serving under Orla Brady’s Tasha Lem. Unfortunately for her character, she becomes a puppet for the Daleks before the Eleventh Doctor arrives.
11 Barrie Ingham
Barrie Ingham appeared in all four episodes of the 1965 Doctor Who serial “The Myth Makers” alongside the First Doctor (William Hartnell). He played the Greek mythological figure Paris, who ran off with Helen of Troy, leading to the Trojan War. Ingham popped up in one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation as Danilo Odell, the leader of a group of colonists known as the Bringloidi.
10 Chris Obi
Chris Obi portrayed the Klingon warrior T’Kuvma in two episodes of Star Trek: Discovery, before being killed by Michael Burnham. T’Kuvma’s attack on the Federation and his subsequent death reignited hostilities between the Klingons and the Federation, continuing the Klingon War. Obi appeared alongside the Eleventh Doctor in the Doctor Who episode “Closing Time” as a department store security guard named George. Unfortunately, George’s department store was home to Cybermen and he was eventually converted into one.
9 Simon Pegg
Before he became a blockbuster movie star, Simon Pegg popped up in one episode of Doctor Who. In the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) episode, “The Long Game,” Pegg played a man known as The Editor, who controlled and monitored the news of the 2001st century. The Editor served a giant slug-like creature called the Jagrafess. Simon Pegg appeared in all three of J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek movies as Enterprise Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott.
8 Olaf Pooley
In the Star Trek: Voyager season 6 episode “Blink of an Eye,” Olaf Pooley plays an unnamed Cleric who wrote a letter to Voyager, believing it to be an inhabited star. Pooley had a more substantial role in Doctor Who where he appeared in all seven episodes of the 1970 serial “Inferno” alongside the Third Doctor (John Pertwee). Pooley’s character was a German scientist who founded the Inferno Project, which involved drilling deep into the Earth.
7 Maurice Roëves
Maurice Roëves only makes a brief appearance in the Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6 episode “The Chase” as an unnamed Romulan captain. He plays a larger role in Doctor Who, appearing as a hired mercenary named Stotz in all four parts of the 1984 serial, “The Caves of Androzani” with the Fifth Doctor (Peter Davison). “The Caves of Androzani” depicts the regeneration of The Doctor, introducing Colin Baker as the Sixth Doctor in its final moments.
6 Deep Roy
Perhaps most known for portraying all of the Oompa Loompas in Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Deep Roy is one of the few actors to have appeared in Doctor Who, Star Trek, and Star Wars. He appeared in the 1977 Doctor Who serial “The Talons of Weng-Chiang” as a murderous cyborg ventriloquist’s dummy named Mr. Sin, alongside the Fourth Doctor. In J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek films, Deep Roy plays Ensign Keenser, a Starfleet crewmember who assists and befriends Engineer Scotty.
5 Mark Sheppard
Mark Sheppard has appeared in many genre shows, including The X-Files, Battlestar Galactica, Firefly, and Supernatural. He can also add Star Trek to that impressive list as he appeared in two episodes of Star Trek: Voyager season 6 as Leucon, the duplicitous father of Icheb (Manu Intiraymi). In Doctor Who, Sheppard played Canton Everett Delaware III, an ex-FBI agent who aided the Eleventh Doctor in his investigation of The Silence.
4 W. Morgan Sheppard
Mark Sheppard’s father, W. Morgan Sheppard, played the older version of his son’s character in the Doctor Who episode “The Impossible Astronaut.” W. Morgan Sheppard appeared four different times in Star Trek as four different characters. In TNG’s “The Schizoid Man,” he played Ira Graves, a brilliant cyberneticist who briefly took over Data’s body. Sheppard appeared as a Klingon Commander in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, an uncredited Vulcan Science Minister in Star Trek (2009), and the pilot Qatai in the Voyager episode “Bliss.”
3 Guy Siner
Guy Siner made an appearance in the Star Trek: Enterprise season 1 episode “Silent Enemy,” playing Stuart Reed, the father of Enterprise armory officer Lt. Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating). Stuart disapproved of his son’s choice to join Starfleet and the two had not spoken for some time. In Doctor Who, Guy Siner portrayed a young military officer in the 1975 serial “Genesis of the Daleks” alongside the Fourth Doctor.
2 David Warner
Another actor who has appeared in multiple Star Trek roles, prolific character actor David Warner played Federation diplomat St. John Talbot in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Klingon Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and Cardassian Gul Madred in TNG’s two-part “Chain of Command.” Warner only appeared in one episode of Doctor Who, as a Soviet scientist on a Cold War submarine in the Eleventh Doctor adventure “Cold War.”
1 Torchwood Actors Who Appeared In Star Trek
Although the Doctor Who franchise does not include as many television shows and movies as Star Trek, there have been multiple spin-offs of Doctor Who. The most well-known of these spin-offs is Torchwood, starring John Barrowman as the immortal Captain Jack Harkness. Several actors who appeared in Torchwood have also appeared in various Star Trek shows, most notably John de Lancie and Nana Visitor.
John de Lancie has played the god-like being known as Q across several shows in the Star Trek franchise, and he played CIA Agent Allen Shapiro in three episodes of Torchwood. Visitor, of course, stars in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Bajoran Major Kira Nerys, and she appeared in two episodes of Torchwood as Olivia Colasanto.
Other actors who appeared in both Torchwood and Star Trek include: Amy Benedict, Jason Brooks, Alan Dale, Van Epperson, Paul Hayes, Bari Hochwald, George Murdock, Robin Sachs, Eric Steinberg, Richard Wharton, Michelle Wong, David Youse, and Kelvin Yu. Not only do the Doctor Who and Star Trek franchises have a lot of overlap in terms of their fanbases, but over thirty actors have popped up in both science fiction universes.
