Wheaton: Acting Is Traumatic And Triggering
2 min read
Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Wil Wheaton is not fond of acting these days.
Wheaton began acting with his role in Stand By Me, followed by Star Trek: The Next Generation. But he is “not especially interested in being an on-camera actor” because it was “never my choice” to do so.
“‘When I was a kid my parents forced me to become an actor, it was never something I wanted to do,” said Wheaton. “Throughout my entire childhood I begged my mother to stop forcing me to go on auditions, to just let me be a kid and she never heard me. It was really important to her that I become famous so she could be the famous actor’s ‘momager’ and it sucked. That choice cost me my relationship with my parents and as a consequence of that, I don’t really enjoy on-camera acting. It’s a little triggering and a little traumatic.
“If I had been supported by my parents instead of manipulated and controlled by them, I would be sharing this with them right now and I’m not because they didn’t support my dreams on this at all.”
Wheaton doesn’t regret his career though, as he did quality work. “When people find out that my childhood was incredibly abusive and that none of this was my choice,” he explained, “sometimes I hear from people, ‘I feel so sad that I liked your work as a kid’. I don’t want anyone to ever feel like that. The work is good, I’m good at it, I was a good child actor but I was abused and I was hurting a lot and that informed my character.
“I’m really proud and grateful for the work that I’ve done. I love my life as it is right now.”
When Wheaton takes on a role today, it has to be “incredible” and he has to feel “really good about” that role. But if he could earn a living from writing and hosting, he’d much rather do that instead.
But if Wheaton working with Sir Patrick Stewart again, he would definitely make an exception and act again. “Oh yeah,” he said. “If they were interested in me, I would do absolutely everything I could to get to ‘yes.'”
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