Data's new mission

The actor went through a lot of makeup experiments to arrive at his character's look.
By LUAINE LEE
KNIGHT RIDDER/TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE
NEW YORK -- At first actor Brent Spiner was disinclined to play the fact-packed android Data on "Star Trek: the Next Generation." Now he's glad he did.
"I took the job in the series because I was absolutely SURE I would only be there for a year," he says. "There was no way we could do another 'Star Trek.' And the laugh was on me because here we are 15 years later and four shows later. It's turned out to be a really nice thing, actually. It's hard to believe we're still doing it."
He's doing it again on the big screen in "Star Trek: Nemesis," which opens nationally Friday.
Scores of characters
Putty-colored pancake makeup and luminous contact lenses may not be every actor's career dream. But Spiner has created scores of characters besides Data. He's co-starred in films like "Independence Day," "Phenomenon" and "Out to Sea" and appeared on TV in "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge," "Geppetto," and in the series "Mad About You" and "Dream On."
Data was to prove one of the most cherished of the Enterprise's expanded crew. "I remember my first day doing makeup tests. I had 35 makeup tests in different colors, every color from bubble-gum pink to battleship gray. I had Billy Idol's white hair. At the end they put it on a reel and showed ["Star Trek" originator] Gene Roddenberry, to see what he liked. ... And the first one that came up he said, 'OK, that's fine.'"
When he was a little kid growing up in Houston, Spiner wanted to be an actor. But he was timid to say so. "I thought about acting because of my heroes -- Jerry Lewis was my god when I was a small child, and Laurel and Hardy. I wanted to be those guys. I was fortunate when I got into high school that I had a teacher who approached it very seriously. And many of the people who were in my high school drama class are professionals today."
He shared the campus green room with star siblings Randy and Dennis Quaid. "My best friend, who I grew up with, was in my drama class -- Tommy Schlamme, who's executive producer for 'The West Wing' and won numerous Emmys directing 'West Wing' and 'Sports Night' and 'ER' and other things. We had this wonderful teacher, Cecil Pickett, who really inspired us all and made us all think, 'You can do this for a living.' And so we did."
High school openings
That illustrious class of thespians starred in several plays during their high school years. "It's odd. I've been in five Broadway shows now, had opening nights on Broadway, which is a big deal. But opening nights at Bellaire High School in Houston, Texas, were the most exciting opening nights I've ever been through. And they've never been surpassed, even by Broadway opening nights," he says, shaking his head.
"Because we knew we had something good and knew we had something good to offer. It was such a talented group of people that we knew we were going to surprise everybody because we were working at a different level, even in high school."
Unfamiliar face
Although he spent seven seasons as the erudite Data, he says his face is not that familiar to fans. "I don't get recognized in my own country that often. I have the best of both worlds. I could play here for nine months and a few people would recognize me. ... It would be ridiculous to think I could get to the end of my life and people would not mostly relate to me as Data, but it is more exciting when someone comes up to me and says, 'I saw you in something else and enjoyed it.' But I don't have a problem with that. I have a difficult time answering their questions. People say, 'How come in Episode 17 you did so and so? Or in episode 140 you did this?' I don't know what they're talking about because I didn't watch the show. I did it one time, and it was over."
In the beginning
When Spiner, 53, first began acting, his parents fretted about his future. "I was doing a play here in New York and injured my back and didn't work for two years and was considering at that point in time what else could I do. Fortunately my back got better and I continued to get work -- actually more work than I'd gotten before, so I didn't have to think too strongly about it.
"Now my parents don't really worry about my future because I'm an actor. They don't say to me anymore, 'Maybe you should have something to fall back on.'"