Brent Spiner played the role of an android, Data, who served as the second officer of the USS Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Spiner went on to reprise his role in the movies as well as the sequel show Star Trek: Picard. However, being an AI system, Spiner’s role had heavy dialogues filled with jargon. Many actors today would have struggled to carry the role, but not Spiner.
Some speculated back in the day that the actor had a photographic memory. However, he revealed in an interview that he did not have any special ability to remember the lines. He shared that he just got better at learning them by doing it every day for The Next Generation.
Brent Spiner’s Star Trek Role Was Challenging For One Major Reason
Brent Spiner appeared for an interview with Michael Rosenbaum on his podcast Inside of You, in 2023. During the interview, Rosenbaum asked Spiner whether he had a photographic memory since he was very good with lines on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Spiner immediately replied no, which made the host curious about his method of learning lines.
Spiner explained that he was doing the episodes almost every day during TNG and had developed a muscle to remember the lines quickly. He shared that he had a deal with himself that he wouldn’t go to sleep until he learned his lines for the next day.
He had to say the dialogues out loud one time perfectly before he could sleep that night. It was particularly challenging since Spiner filmed for 16 hours a day for the series that had 26 episodes a year at that time. Spiner shared with Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside of You
Well back in those days when I was doing it, you know, every day, it is a muscle. You get better and better and better at it. I used to have a deal with myself. I would go home after 16 hours or whatever because we were doing 26 episodes a year back then.
I’d come home and I’d say, ‘Okay, let me open up a script’, and my stomach would turn over. I think, ‘I could learn this for tomorrow’. I had a deal with myself that I couldn’t go to sleep until I could say it out loud one time perfectly so I knew I could do it the next day.
When Rosenbaum asked if there were nights when he couldn’t learn his lines, Spiner shared that he didn’t sleep for a lot of nights due to this process. The host further asked if he had complained to the producers about the same. Spiner shared that he did speak with the producers and the situation eased up after the first two seasons of the series.
Brent Spiner Loved The Star Trek Role For One Reason
Brent Spiner’s role was also challenging in terms of displaying his acting skills since the android character was devoid of emotions. However, as the series progressed, Data became more human-like. However, Star Trek: The Next Generation helped Spiner to bring out his acting A-game when characters were allowed to live their fantasy lives through Holodecks.
Spiner had some fun in episodes where he got to transform into somebody else. During an interview with Syfy, Spiner shared that he really enjoyed Data’s version of Sherlock Holmes. He shared that it was a dream for an actor to play all kinds of things in a single role. Spiner shared with Syfy:
I really enjoyed playing Sherlock Holmes when we did that [on TNG episodes ‘Elementary, Dear Data’ and ‘Ship in a Bottle’]. We did all kinds of things, and I was inhabited by different creatures and personalities. It’s a dream, for an actor, to be able to do that.
He added that he faced the challenge as an actor to be identified with one role in his whole career. However, he was happy that he got to play the different characters in that single role.
Star Trek: The Next Generation is now available for streaming on Paramount+.
