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Look up amnesty in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Amnesty (from the Greek ἀμνηστία amnestia, oblivion)^{[citation needed]} is defined as: "A pardon extended by the government to a group or class of persons, usually for a political offense; the act of a sovereign power officially forgiving certain classes of persons who are subject to trial but have not yet been convicted"^[1] It includes more than pardon, in as much as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the offense. The word has the same root as amnesia. Amnesty is more and more used to express 'freedom' and the time when prisoners can go free.

Amnesties, which in the United Kingdom may be granted by the crown or by an act of Parliament, were formerly usual on coronations and similar occasions, but are chiefly exercised towards associations of political criminals, and are sometimes granted absolutely, though more frequently there are certain specified exceptions. Thus, in the case of the earliest recorded amnesty, that of Thrasybulus at Athens, the thirty tyrants and a few others were expressly excluded from its operation; and the amnesty proclaimed on the restoration of Charles II of England did not extend to those who had taken part in the execution of his father. Other famous amnesties include: Napoleon's amnesty of March 13, 1815 from which thirteen eminent persons, including Talleyrand, were exempt; the Prussian amnesty of August 10, 1840; the general amnesty proclaimed by the emperor Franz Josef I of Austria in 1857; the general amnesty granted by President of the United States, Andrew Johnson, after the American Civil War (1861-April 9, 1865), in 1868, and the French amnesty of 1905. Amnesty in U.S. politics in 1872 meant restoring the right to vote and hold office to ex-Confederates, which was achieved by act of Congress.^[2] Those were true amnesties, pardoning past violations without changing the laws violated.

The last act of amnesty passed in Great Britain was that of 1747, which pardoned those who had taken part in the 1745 Jacobite Rising.^{[citation needed]}

Purposes[link]

An amnesty may be extended when the authority decides that bringing citizens into compliance with a law is more important than punishing them for past offenses. Amnesty after a war helps end a conflict. While laws against treason, sedition, etc. are retained to discourage future traitors during future conflicts, it makes sense to forgive past offenders, after the enemy no longer exists which had attracted their support but a significant number remains in flight from authorities. Amnesty is often used to get people to turn in contraband, as in the case of China's gun restrictions,^[3] or the Kansas City ban on pit bulls.^[4] Advantages of using amnesty may include avoiding expensive prosecutions (especially when massive numbers of violators are involved); prompting violators to come forward who might otherwise have eluded authorities; and promoting reconciliation between offenders and society. An example of the latter was the amnesty that was granted to conscientious objectors and draft dodgers in the wake of the Vietnam War in the 1970s, in an effort by President Carter to heal war wounds.^[5] (There was no longer a war to protest, and there was no longer a draft to dodge.)

An example of an argument made for amnesty for undocumented immigrants is that they would be allowed to qualify for higher paying jobs, scholarships, and other services. According to the Center for Study of Immigration Integration, if California alone were to adopt an amnesty program, they would benefit by $16 billion dollars (Pastor, 2010).^[6]

With amnesty, immigrants can seek out higher education. A RAND study found that, by the age of 30, a Mexican immigrant woman who becomes a legal resident can obtain a college degree. With a college degree she will pay $5,300 more in taxes and cost $3,900 less in government expenses each year compared to a high-school dropout with similar characteristics. Workers who lacked a high-school diploma in 2006 earned an average of only $419 per week and had an unemployment rate of 6.8 percent. In contrast, workers with a bachelor’s degree earned $962 per week and had an unemployment rate of 2.3 percent, while those with a doctorate earned $1,441 and had an unemployment rate of only 1.4 percent (Gonzales, 2010).^[7]

Changing a law is a better way to achieve whatever benefit an amnesty offers, if a nation determines that the law has made criminals of people who have done no harm, or deprived the nation of a benefit, and will in the future. Changing a law allows new conditions and requirements, offering more control over the results of any change, than amnesty.

Controversy[link]

Amnesty can at times raise questions of justice. An example was the Ugandan government's offer not to prosecute alleged war criminal Joseph Kony, in hopes that further bloodshed would be avoided.^[8] David Smock noted, "The downside of it is the impunity that it implies; that people can commit atrocities and say that they will only stop if they are given amnesty..."^[9]

A controversial issue in the United States is whether illegal immigrants should be granted some form of amnesty. It is proposed that illegal immigrants be able to come forward and immediately receive probationary status.^[10] This is criticized as being a reward for breaking the law.^[11] California Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said an amnesty program similar to the one the federal government undertook in the late 1980s would be ill-advised today. It just didn't work. "It backfired big-time. It sent the wrong message: You come here illegally, and then we go and give you amnesty. So then, the next million come and they say, 'Hey, we get amnesty, this is really terrific (Press, 2005).^[12]

Some allege that at the national level an amnesty program would cost $2.6 trillion (Rector, 2007).^[13] This would only include the costs for the first year. The Federal Government would need to hire additional workers to help register immigrants, increasing costs for labor and or facilities. It is also alleged that an amnesty program would draw far more immigrants into the U.S. to receive amnesty, so the costs would continue to increase.

Some allege that due to the large number of illegal immigrants residing in the U.S., the government had to hire outside contractors. This led to mass cases of fraudulent activity. Illegal immigrants were paying off workers to falsify information, grant amnesty for family and or friends, and providing other relevant services. In 1986 it was found that 2.6 million immigrants received amnesty fraudulently^[14] Because of the effects of the past amnesty policy, many fear that an attempt to implement another amnesty policy would be a failure. Opponents of an amnesty policy feel that a similar situation to that of 1986 would occur, with bribery and registering of unqualified immigrants.

Controversies also raise towards amnesties given to alleged perpetrators of the most serious crimes of international law (or crimes of the Jus Cogens which include genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression^[15]). Courts have rejected amnesties for such crimes, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia^[16] and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.^[17] But scholars have suggested that there should be room for amnesties which were imperative necessities to achieve peace and accompanied by effective Truth and Reconciliation Commissions.^[18]

Related uses of the term[link]

• The term amnesty is also any initiative where individuals are encouraged to turn over illicit items to the authorities, on the understanding that they will not be prosecuted for having been in possession of those items. A common use of such amnesties is to reduce the number of firearms or other weapons in circulation. Several public schools with a zero-tolerance policy on drugs or weapons have an "amnesty box" in which students may dispose of contraband objects brought to school without consequence.

• Amnesty was used in South Africa, during the 1990s, as part of the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation)

• An amnesty law is any law that retroactively exempts a select group of people, usually military leaders and government leaders, from criminal liability for crimes committed.^[19]

• In the illegal immigration debate, allowing illegal immigrants to legally remain in the United States is often called amnesty.^[20] Some observers contend that the word amnesty is improperly applied here. One reason for this contention is that the proposals under consideration include financial penalties for illegal immigrants. Another reason is that the government's current practice is generally to deport but not to prosecute illegal immigrants and there is sometimes no legal adjudication of "guilt" to be forgiven.^[21]

• Many libraries have an amnesty week where people can return late library books and they will not be charged a fine for having them out.

• At the United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy, any head of state visiting the academy may ask the Superintendent to grant amnesty to members of the Corps of Cadets with outstanding punishment tours, freeing the restricted cadets from further punishment tours. In the past this was for all offenses, but in recent times only cadets with minor offenses (company board) are eligible for amnesty, while cadets with major offenses (regimental or higher board) are ineligible.

Improper uses of the term[link]

• Describing a change in a law which renders innocent actions which previously broke the law. For example, raising the road speed limit from 55 to 70 is not 'amnesty', even though those who have always driven at 65 may now do so innocently; this is simply changing the law, which is the job of lawmakers. Genuine amnesty is where a particular group of lawbreakers are pardoned for past violations which would otherwise be subject to prosecution.

• Describing as amnesty the imposition of lesser sentences or punishments that are not "more than pardon, inasmuch as it obliterates all legal remembrance of the offense".

• Often wrongly or purposely used by politicians and/or journalists to denote cases of pardon where offenses are not stricken from the record and individuals proclaimed innocent.^{[citation needed]} Instead, those individuals receive some lesser reprimand or sentence in response to an admission of guilt. Otherwise defined as an act of leniency but not amnesty, per se.

See also[link]

• Tax amnesty
• Amnesty Law

References[link]

Sir Patrick Stewart OBE
Stewart at the 71st Annual Peabody Awards Luncheon 2012
Born	Patrick Stewart[1] (1940-07-13) 13 July 1940 (age 71)[2] Mirfield, West Yorkshire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1959—present
Influenced by	Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Ian Richardson and Ian Holm[3]
Spouse	Sheila Falconer (1966–90) Wendy Neuss (2000–03)
Website
patrickstewart.org

Sir Patrick Stewart, OBE (born 13 July 1940) is an English film, television and stage actor, who has had a distinguished career in theatre and television. He is most widely known for his television and film roles, such as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation and its successor films, Professor Charles Xavier in the X-Men film series, and as the voice of Avery Bullock in American Dad!.

Early life[link]

Stewart was born on 13 July 1940^[2] in Mirfield,^[4] near Dewsbury in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. He is the son of Gladys (née Barrowclough), a weaver and textile worker, and Alfred Stewart, a Regimental Sergeant Major in the British Army who served with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and previously worked as a general labourer and as a postman.^[5]

In a 2008 interview, Stewart said: "My father was a very potent individual, a very powerful man who got what he wanted. It was said that when he strode onto the parade ground, birds stopped singing. It was many, many years before I realised how my father inserted himself into my work. I've grown a moustache for Macbeth. My father didn't have one, but when I looked in the mirror just before I went on stage I saw my father's face staring straight back at me."^[3]

Stewart grew up in a poor household rife with domestic violence from his father, an experience which influenced his later political and ideological beliefs.^[6] In 2006, Stewart made a short video against domestic violence for Amnesty International, in which he recollected his father's physical attacks on his mother and the effect it had on him as a child, and he has given his name to a scholarship at the University of Huddersfield, where he is Chancellor, to fund post-graduate study into domestic violence.^[7][8] His childhood experiences also led him to become the patron of Refuge, a UK charity for abused women.^[9] In October 2011 he presented a BBC Lifeline Appeal on behalf of Refuge, talking about his own experience of domestic violence and interviewing a woman whose daughter was murdered by her ex-husband. ^[10]

Stewart attended Crowlees Church of England Junior and Infants School.^[12] He attributes his acting career to an English teacher named Cecil Dormand who "put a copy of Shakespeare in my hand [and] said, 'Now get up on your feet and perform'".^[13] In 1951, aged 11, he entered Mirfield Secondary Modern School (now Mirfield Free Grammar School),^[14] where he continued to study drama. At age 15, Stewart dropped out of school and increased his participation in local theatre. He acquired a job as a newspaper reporter and obituary writer,^[15] but after a year, his employer gave him an ultimatum to choose acting or journalism.^[16] He quit the job. His brother tells the story that Stewart would attend rehearsals during work time and then invent the stories he reported. Stewart also trained as a boxer.^[15]

Career[link]

Early works[link]

Following a period with Manchester's Library Theatre, he became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966, staying with them until 1982. He was as an Associate Artist of the company in 1968.^[17] He appeared next to actors such as Ben Kingsley and Ian Richardson. In January 1967, he made his debut TV appearance on Coronation Street as a Fire Officer. In 1969, he had a brief TV cameo role as Horatio, opposite Ian Richardson's Hamlet, in a performance of the gravedigger scene as part of episode six of Sir Kenneth Clark's Civilisation television series.^[18] He made his Broadway debut as Snout in Peter Brook's legendary^[19] production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, then moved to the Royal National Theatre in the early 1980s. Over the years, Stewart took roles in many major television series without ever becoming a household name. He appeared as Lenin in Fall of Eagles; Sejanus in I, Claudius;^[20] Karla in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and Smiley's People; Claudius in a 1980 BBC adaptation of Hamlet. He even took the romantic male lead in the 1975 BBC adaptation of Mrs Gaskell's North and South (wearing a hairpiece). He also took the lead, playing Psychiatric Consultant Dr. Edward Roebuck in a BBC TV series called Maybury in 1981.

He also had minor roles in several films such as King Leondegrance in John Boorman's Excalibur (1981),^[20] the character Gurney Halleck in David Lynch's 1984 film version of Dune^[20] and Dr. Armstrong in Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce (1985).

While not wealthy, Stewart had a comfortable lifestyle as an actor; however, he found that despite a lengthy career, his reputation was not great enough to bring a production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to West End theatre. Stewart thus in 1987 agreed to work in Hollywood, after Robert H. Justman, producer for a revival of a long-cancelled television show, saw him while attending a literary reading at UCLA.^[21][22] Stewart knew nothing about the original show, Star Trek, or its iconic status in American culture. He was reluctant to sign the standard contract of six years, but did so as he believed that the new show would quickly fail and he would return to his London stage career after making some money.^[23][24][25]

[edit] Star Trek: The Next Generation

When Stewart began his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–94) the Los Angeles Times called him an unknown British Shakespearean actor. Stewart was unprepared for the long hours of television production,^[25] had difficulty in fitting in with his less-disciplined castmates,^[23] and his "spirits used to sink" when required to memorise and recite Treknobabble.^[25] He came to better understand the cultural differences between the stage and television, remains close friends with his fellow Star Trek actors,^[23] and his favourite technical line became "space-time continuum".^[25] Marina Sirtis credited Stewart with "at least 50%, if not more" of the show's success because others emulated his professionalism and dedication to acting.^[26]

Besides making him immediately wealthy due to the show's great success^[24]—Stewart calculated during one break during filming the show that he made more money during that break than from 10 weeks of Woolf in London^[21]—Stewart received a 1995 Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for "Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series". From 1994 to 2002, he also portrayed Picard in the films Star Trek Generations (1994), Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Star Trek: Insurrection (1998), and Star Trek Nemesis (2002); and in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's pilot episode "Emissary".

When asked in 2011 for the highlight of his career, he chose Star Trek: The Next Generation, "because it changed everything [for me]."^[27] He has also said he is very proud of his work on Star Trek: The Next Generation, for its social message and educational impact on young viewers. On being questioned about the significance of his role compared to his distinguished Shakespearean career, Stewart has said that

The fact is all of those years in Royal Shakespeare Company – playing all those kings, emperors, princes and tragic heroes – were nothing but preparation for sitting in the captain's chair of the Enterprise.^[28]

The accolades Stewart has received include the readers of TV Guide in 1992 choosing him with Cindy Crawford, of whom he had never heard, as television's "most bodacious" man and woman.^[11][29] Stewart considered this an unusual distinction considering his age and baldness.^[30] In an interview with Michael Parkinson, he expressed gratitude for Gene Roddenberry's riposte to a reporter who said, "Surely they would have cured baldness by the 24th century," to which Roddenberry replied, "In the 24th century, they wouldn't care."^[31][32]

Other notable works[link]

Film and television[link]

Stewart has said that he would never have joined The Next Generation had he known that it would air for seven years:^[25]

No, no. NO. And looking back now it still frightens me a little bit to think that so much of my life was totally devoted to Star Trek and almost nothing else.^[25]

Stewart became so typecast as Picard that he has found obtaining other Hollywood roles difficult. The main exception is the X-Men film series. The films' success has resulted in another lucrative regular genre role in a major superhero film series. Stewart's character, Charles Xavier, is very similar to Picard and himself; "a grand, deep-voiced, bald English guy".^[24] He has also since voiced the role in three video games, X-Men Legends, X-Men Legends II and X-Men: Next Dimension. Other film and television roles include the flamboyantly gay Sterling in the 1995 film Jeffrey and King Henry II in The Lion in Winter, for which he received a Golden Globe Award nomination for his performance and an Emmy Award nomination for executive-producing the film. He portrayed Captain Ahab in the 1998 made-for-television film version of Moby Dick, receiving Emmy Award^[33] and Golden Globe Award nominations for his performance. He also starred as Scrooge in a 1999 television film version, receiving a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for his performance.

In late 2003, during the eleventh and final season of NBC's Frasier, Stewart appeared on the show as a gay Seattle socialite and Opera director who mistakes Frasier for a potential lover. In July 2003, he appeared in Series 02 (Episode 09) of Top Gear in the Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car segment. He achieved 1:50 in the Liana. In 2005, he was cast as Professor Ian Hood in an ITV thriller 4-episode series Eleventh Hour, created by Stephen Gallagher. The first episode was broadcast on 19 January 2006. He also, in 2005, played Captain Nemo in a two part adaptation of The Mysterious Island. Stewart also appeared as a nudity obsessed caricature of himself in Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's television series Extras, as a last-minute replacement for Jude Law. For playing himself, he was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2006 for Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.^[34]

Stewart is a fairly frequent guest voice on FoX's animated comedy, Family Guy, appearing with the rest of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation in the episode "Not All Dogs Go To Heaven," and has appeared on several other occasions, often voicing himself, but occasionally voicing other characters.

In 2011, Stewart appeared in the feature length documentary The Captains alongside William Shatner, who also wrote and directed the film. In the film, Shatner interviews actors who have portrayed captains within the Star Trek franchise. The film pays a great deal of attention to Shatner's interviews with Stewart at his home in Oxfordshire as well as at a Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada; Stewart reveals the fear and personal failings that came along with his tenure as a Starfleet captain, but also the great triumphs he believes accompanied his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard.^[35]

Stage[link]

After The Next Generation began, Stewart soon found that he missed acting on the stage.^[24] Although he remained associated with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the lengthy filming for the show prevented Stewart from participating in most other works. He instead began writing one-man shows that he performed in California universities and acting schools. Stewart found that one—a version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol in which he portrayed all 40-plus characters—was ideal for him because of its limited performing schedule.^[36] In 1991, Stewart performed it on Broadway,^[24] receiving a nomination for that year's Drama Desk Award for Outstanding One-Person Show.^[37] He staged encore performances in 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, again for the benefit of survivors and victims' families in the 11 September attacks, and a 23-day run in London's West End in December 2005. For his performances in this play, Stewart has received the Drama Desk Award for Best Solo Performance in 1992 and the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment for Solo Performance in 1994. He was also the co-producer of the show, through the company he set up for the purpose: Camm Lane Productions, a reference to his birthplace in Camm Lane, Mirfield.

Shakespeare roles during this period included Prospero in Shakespeare's The Tempest, on Broadway in 1995, a role he would reprise in Rupert Goold's 2006 production of The Tempest as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Complete Works Festival.^[38] In 1997, he took the role of Othello with the Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, D.C.) in a race-bending performance, in a "photo negative" production of a white Othello with an otherwise all-black cast. Stewart had wanted to play the title role since the age of 14, so he and director Jude Kelly inverted the play so Othello became a comment on a white man entering a black society.^[39][40]

His years in the United States had left Stewart a "gaping hole in his CV" for a Shakespearean actor, as he had missed the opportunity to play such notable roles as Hamlet, Romeo, and Richard III.^[24][23] He played Antony again opposite Harriet Walter's Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra at the Novello Theatre in London in 2007 to excellent reviews.^[23] During this period, Stewart also addressed the Durham Union Society on his life in film and theatre. When Stewart began playing Macbeth in the West End in 2007, some said that he was too old for the role; however, he and the show again received excellent reviews, with one critic calling Stewart "one of our finest Shakespearean actors".^[24][23]

He was named as the next Cameron Mackintosh Visiting Professor of Contemporary Theatre based at St Catherine's College, Oxford in January 2007.^[41] In 2008, Stewart played King Claudius in Hamlet alongside David Tennant. He won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor for the part. When collecting his award, he dedicated the award "in part" to Tennant and Tennant's understudy Edward Bennett, after Tennant's back injury and subsequent absence from four weeks of Hamlet disqualified him from an Olivier nomination.^[42] Stewart has expressed interest in appearing in Doctor Who.^[43]

In 2009, Stewart appeared alongside Ian McKellen as the lead duo of Vladimir (Didi) and Estragon (Gogo), in Waiting for Godot. Stewart had previously only appeared once alongside McKellen on stage, but the pair had developed a close friendship while waiting around on set filming the X-Men films.^[44] Stewart stated that performing in this play was the fulfilment of a 50 year ambition, having seen Peter O'Toole appear in it at the Bristol Old Vic while Stewart was just 17.^[44] Reviewers stated that his interpretation captured well the balance between humour and despair that characterises the work.^[45]

Voice acting[link]

Known for his strong and authoritative voice, Stewart has lent his voice to a number of projects. He has narrated recordings of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Vivaldi's The Four Seasons, C. S. Lewis's The Last Battle (conclusion of the series The Chronicles of Narnia), Rick Wakeman's Return to the Centre of the Earth; as well as numerous TV programs such as High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman. Stewart provided the narration for Nine Worlds, an astronomical tour of the solar system and nature documentaries such as The Secret of Life on Earth^[46] and Mountain Gorilla.^[47] He is also heard as the voice of the Magic Mirror in Disneyland's live show, Snow White – An Enchanting Musical. He also was the narrator for the American release of Dragons: A Fantasy Made Real. He is narrator for two fulldome video shows produced and distributed by Loch Ness Productions, called MarsQuest and The Voyager Encounters.

He also was a voice actor on the animated films The Prince of Egypt, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Chicken Little, The Pagemaster, and on the English dubbings of the Japanese anime films Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind by Hayao Miyazaki and Steamboy. He voiced the pig Napoleon in a TV adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm and guest starred in the Simpsons episode "Homer the Great" as Number One. Patrick also narrated the prologue and epilogue for the Disney's Nightmare Before Christmas, which also appears on the film's soundtrack. He was originally going to do the voice for Jafar in Aladdin, but couldn't finish due to scheduling conflicts. He said in interviews that not voicing Jafar was the biggest mistake in his career.

More recently, he has played a recurring role as CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock, lending his likeness as well as his voice on the animated series American Dad! as well as making (as of 6 August 2011) eight guest appearances on Family Guy in various roles: first in "Peter's Got Woods", second in "No Meals on Wheels" when Peter likens something to when he once swapped voices with him for a day, third in "Lois Kills Stewie" as his American Dad! character Bullock, fourth in "Not All Dogs Go to Heaven" as himself, fifth in "And Then There Were Fewer" as a cat that proclaims himself a professor, sixth in "Halloween on Spooner Street as Dick Pump, seventh in "The Hand That Rocks the Wheelchair" as Susie Swanson and eighth in the DVD version of It's A Trap! as Captain Picard. In 2006, Stewart voiced Bambi's father, the Great Prince of the Forest in Disney's direct-to-video sequel, Bambi II.

He lent his voice to the Activision-produced Star Trek computer games Star Trek: Armada, Armada II, Star Trek: Starfleet Command III, Star Trek: Invasion, Bridge Commander, and Elite Force II, all reprising his role as Captain Picard. Stewart reprised his role as Picard in Star Trek: Legacy for both PC and Xbox 360, along with the four other 'major' Starfleet captains from the different Star Trek series.

In addition to voicing his characters from Star Trek and X-Men in several related computer and video games, Stewart worked as a voice actor on games unrelated to both franchises, such as Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Forgotten Realms: Demon Stone, Lands of Lore: The Throne of Chaos and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for which in 2006 he won a Spike TV Video Game Award for his work as Emperor Uriel Septim. He also lent his voice to several editions of the Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia.

His voice talents also appeared in a number of commercials including the UK TV Adverts for Domestos 5x Longer Bleach and Moneysupermarket.com, an advertisement for Shell fuel, and an American advertisement for the prescription drug Crestor. He also voiced the UK and Australian TV advertisements for the PAL version of Final Fantasy XII.^[48]

Stewart used his voice for Pontiac and Porsche cars and MasterCard Gold commercials in 1996, and Goodyear Assurance Tyres in 2004. He also did voice-overs for RCA televisions. He provided the voice of Max Winters in TMNT in March 2007. In 2008, he is also the voice of television advertisements for Currys and Stella Artois beer. In 2010, he is the voice in television advertisements for National Car Rental.^[49]

He voiced the narrator of the Electronic Arts computer game, The Sims Medieval, for the game's introduction cinematic and trailer released on 22 March 2011.^[50] He also voiced the story plaques and trailer of the MMOG LEGO Universe.

Personal life[link]

Stewart at the 2010 Metropolitan Opera's opening night of Das Rheingold

Stewart and his first wife, Sheila Falconer, have two children: Daniel Stewart and Sophie Alexandra.^[51] Stewart and Falconer divorced in 1990.^[52] In 1997, he became engaged to Wendy Neuss, one of the producers of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and they married on 25 August 2000, divorcing three years later.^{[52][n 1]} Four months prior to his divorce from Neuss, Stewart played opposite actress Lisa Dillon in a production of The Master Builder, and the two were romantically involved until 2007.^[53][54]

Having lived in Los Angeles for many years, Stewart moved back to England in 2004. In an interview with the BBC's Gavin Esler, he said this was because he was homesick and because he wanted to return to work in the theatre.^[6] In the same year, Stewart was appointed as Chancellor^[55] of the University of Huddersfield and subsequently as a Professor of Performing Arts in July 2008. In spite of his hectic acting schedule, Stewart takes his university role seriously and regularly attends graduation ceremonies in the UK and Hong Kong, as well as teaching master classes for drama students during his visits.^[56] Stewart was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2001 New Year Honours list, after receiving which he said, "I'm very touched and very pleased with this and it was a delightful morning."^[57] Stewart was made a Knight Bachelor in the 2010 New Year Honours for services to drama.^[58][59] He acknowledged the "unlooked-for honour" and paid tribute to his former English teacher who encouraged him to perform.^[13]

His politics are rooted in his belief in fairness and equality.^[6] He considers himself a social democrat and is a member of the Labour Party.^[60][61] He stated, "My father was a very strong trade unionist and those fundamental issues of Labour were ingrained into me."^[60] He has been critical of the Iraq War and recent UK government legislation in the area of civil liberties, in particular, its plans to extend detention without charge to 42 days. He signed an open letter of objection to this proposal in March 2008.^[62] Stewart identifies himself as a feminist.^[63] Additionally, he has publicly advocated for the right to assisted suicide.^[64]

Stewart is president of Huddersfield Town Academy, the local football club's project for identifying and developing young talent. He is a lifelong supporter of the club.^[65] In an interview with American Theatre, Stewart was asked if he could be something other than an actor, what would he be. He stated "From time to time, I have fantasies of becoming a concert pianist. I've been lucky enough through the years to work very closely with the great Emanuel Ax. I've said to him that if I could switch places with anyone it would be with him."^[3]. Stewart is also something of a petrol-head; has an MSA Competition Licence and is competing in the 2012 Silverstone Classic Celebrity Challenge race.

Stewart's son Daniel is a television actor,^[66] and has appeared alongside his father in the 1993 made for television film Death Train, and the 1992 Star Trek episode "The Inner Light" playing his son.^{[n 2]}

In July 2011 Stewart received an honourary doctorate of letters from the University of East Anglia.^[67][68]

Theatrical performances[link]

Patrick Stewart signing autographs following a production of Hamlet at the RSC in July 2008

The Royal Shakespeare Company[link]

Stewart has been a prolific actor in performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company, appearing in more than 60 productions.^[69] His first appearance was in 1966 in The Investigation and in the years that followed he became a core member of the company, taking on three or four major roles each season.^[70] In 2008, he played Claudius in Hamlet. His most recent role there was in spring 2011, when he played Shylock in Rupert Goold's avant garde production of The Merchant of Venice.

Other[link]

This section may need to be updated. Please update this section to reflect recent events or newly available information, and remove this template when finished. Please see the talk page for more information. (January 2011)

• 1995: Played Prospero in The Tempest for the New York Shakespeare Festival, with the production later transferring to Broadway.
• 1997: The Shakespeare Theatre Company (Washington, D.C.), Stewart in a race-bending performance,^[39] in a "photo negative" production of a white Othello with an otherwise all-black cast.^[40][71]
• 2000: On 9 April 2000, Stewart opened in Arthur Miller's The Ride Down Mt. Morgan at the Broadway Ambassador Theatre. Lukewarm reviews and poor box office convinced the producers (including the Shubert Organisation) to post a closing notice and, in memorably impassioned Saturday matinée and evening curtain speeches, Stewart accused them of not being supportive, stating "Arthur Miller and I no longer have confidence in our producers' commitment to promote and publicise this extraordinarily provocative and vastly entertaining play."^[72] They subsequently took the matter to Actors Equity, which ruled that Stewart had to apologise publicly for his outburst.
• 2001: Played George in Edward Albee's play Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Guthrie in Minneapolis. Also portrayed Robert Johnson in J.B. Priestley's play Johnson Over Jordan at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds.
• 2003: Played the lead role of Halvard Solness in Henrik Ibsen's play The Master Builder at the Albery Theatre, London. Portrayed Davies in Harold Pinter's The Caretaker in Broadway's American Airlines Theatre^[73]
• 2006: Portrayed Prospero in The Tempest at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and then the Novello Theatre, and Mark Antony in Antony and Cleopatra at the Swan Theatre, for the Royal Shakespeare Company as part of the cycle performing all Shakespeare's works in a year.
• 2007: He appeared at Chichester Festival Theatre^[74] during the Summer 07 Festival playing the title role in Rupert Goold's acclaimed revival of Macbeth in the Minerva studio theatre,^[75] and as a grizzled Malvolio with a Scottish accent and kilt in Philip Franks' inventive main house staging of Twelfth Night. The Chichester production of Macbeth transferred to the Gielgud Theatre in London's Shaftesbury Avenue,^[76][77] where his performance won him the Best Actor Award in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2007. Goold also received the Best Director Award for the production.^[78]
• 2008: The title role in Macbeth at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City.
• 2008: The title role in Macbeth at the Lyceum Theatre, New York City. Stewart was nominated for the 2008 Tony award for Leading Actor in a Play, but lost out to fellow Shakespearean actor Mark Rylance.^[79]
• 2008: The roles of Claudius and the Ghost in Hamlet alongside David Tennant as the eponymous Hamlet with the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon.^[80] This was later made into a television play and broadcast on BBC1 on 26 December 2009.^[81] The same production was broadcast in the U.S. as part of PBS' Great Performances series on 28 April 2010.^[82]
• 2009: Performed in Waiting for Godot in one of the two lead roles, Stewart as Vladimir (Didi) alongside Ian McKellen as Estragon (Gogo).^[83]
• 2010: Performed the part of William Shakespeare in Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death by Edward Bond at the Chichester Festival Theatre, transferring to the Young Vic Theatre in February of the following year. This was a role he had first performed in 1976 at the Other Place, Stratford.^[70]
• 2010: Played Robert in a Broadway production of David Mamet's A Life in the Theatre in 2010.

Filmography[link]

Stewart at the 62nd Primetime Emmy Awards, 2010.

Notes[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Schulman, Michael (15 November 2010). "The Talk of the Town: The Boards: Roommates". The New Yorker 86 (36): 36–?. http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2010/11/15/101115ta_talk_schulman. Retrieved 28 January 2012. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Patrick Stewart

Star Trek portal

• Patrick Stewart at the Internet Broadway Database
• Patrick Stewart at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Patrick Stewart at the Internet Movie Database
• Patrick Stewart at AllRovi
• Patrick Stewart at the TCM Movie Database
• Patrick Stewart at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Trek star's space travel unease BBC interview
• Interview with Sue Lawley on Desert Island Discs
• "Hardtalk Sir Patrick Stewart". BBC. 25 January 2012. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00mzjx1. Retrieved 25 January 2012. 
• Mirfield – Patrick Stewart's birthplace
• Patrick Stewart interview (www.independent.co.uk)
• Patrick Stewart at Emmys.com