'Being an actor was not my dream': Star Trek's Wil Wheaton on charting his own path out of trauma

For nearly 40 years, Star Trek alumnus Wil Wheaton has embraced the mantle of über-nerd. When he was 14, the young actor was cast as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was a life-changing role that would eventually turn him into a proud ambassador of nerd culture and a pundit on everything from board games to the Internet.

Lately, Wheaton has been narrating audiobooks, like Andy Weir's sci-fi novel The Martian. As you might expect, he's a big fan of the book. "I have never wanted so badly for the characters in a book to be real," reads a glowing review Wheaton posted online in 2015. "I want to meet them all, the way I want to meet the president, or Taylor Swift."

In Wheaton's interview with q guest host Laurie Brown, he talks about surviving the trauma of child stardom and building a career out of the hobbies he loves.

"My reality is, I don't love acting that much," says Wheaton. "Being an actor was not my dream. I don't know what my dream was. I never got to figure it out." 

If you want to hear more from Wheaton, watch The Ready Room, his after-show for Star Trek: Picard, which airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. on CTV Sci-Fi channel. You can also hear Wheaton narrate The Martian on Audible.ca now. 

Download our podcast or click the 'Listen' link near the top of this page to hear the full conversation with Wil Wheaton.

— Produced by Vanessa Greco