Patrick Stewart Career Retrospective | SAG-AFTRA Foundation Conversations

Career Q&A with Patrick Stewart. Moderated by Joe Neumaier, WQR
Patrick Stewart is one of the most acclaimed performers working today. His career includes numerous and varied roles on both stage and screen.
Stewart will next be seen on TV in the second season of Blunt Talk, a half-hour comedy executive produced by Seth MacFarlane and Jonathan Ames, in which he plays ‘Walter Blunt,’ a British import intent on conquering the world of American cable news. His performance in season one earned him a Golden Globe Award nomination for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy.” Season two will premiere on Starz later this year.
On the big screen, Stewart was most recently seen in the thriller Green Room, directed by Jeremy Saulnier, in which he plays the leader of a Neo-Nazi group that imprisons a young punk band. The film played the Director’s Fortnight at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival and premiered at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival to rave reviews. Stewart also recently wrapped production on Damian Harris’ Wilde Wedding, starring opposite Glenn Close and John Malkovich.
Stewart will return to the London stage in fall 2016, reuniting with Sir Ian McKellen in Harold Pinter’s “No Man’s Land,” which they’ve previously performed at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California and on Broadway in Fall 2013. This was part of their “Two Plays in Rep,” which also included a reprisal of their production of Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” that led to critical acclaim on London’s West End in 2009. Directed by Sean Matthias, the “Two Plays in Rep” on Broadway earned stellar reviews and two extensions due to popular demand.
In 2014, Stewart starred in two very different roles-first as a past-his-prime dance instructor in Stephen Belber’s Match, which premiered at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and earned stellar reviews for Patrick’s performance. He also reprised his role as ‘Professor Charles Xavier’ in the huge summer blockbuster, X-Men: Days of Future Past. Stewart created the role in the first installment of the franchise in 2000 and is the only actor to have played the role in almost all of the subsequent installments. This film joined the original cast, including Sir Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry, with the new cast, including James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender.
Perhaps best known as ‘Captain Jean-Luc Picard’ on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stewart has enjoyed a successful film and television career, earning Golden Globe, Emmy and SAG Award nominations. Screen appearances include King of Texas, Jeffrey, Dune, Excalibur, L.A. Story, Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Conspiracy Theory, Extras (for which he earned an Emmy nomination), The Lion in Winter, I, Claudius, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. His vocal talents have been heard on The Simpsons, American Dad and Family Guy, and as narrator of Seth MacFarlane’s hit comedies, Ted and Ted 2.
On Broadway and West End stages, Patrick has also appeared in “A Life in the Theatre,” “The Master Builder,” “The Ride Down Mt. Morgan” and “The Tempest.” For his acclaimed solo production of “A Christmas Carol,” Stewart played over 40 characters, garnering an Olivier, Drama Desk and What’s on Stage Award. For his performance in the title role of Macbeth, which he played at Chichester, London, BAM and then on Broadway, he earned a Tony Award nomination and won the Best Actor Award in the Evening Standard Theatre Awards.
Stewart is an Honorary Associate Artist with the RSC, having appeared in over 60 productions including, most recently, a 2008 production of Hamlet, opposite David Tennant, which earned him an Olivier Award, and 2005 repertory productions of Antony and Cleopatra and The Tempest. In 1978, he won an Olivier Award for his performance in Peter Brook's production of Antony and Cleopatra and was nominated for his role in The Merchant of Venice. He also appeared in the now legendary Peter Brook production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Additional recent credits include Edward Bond's Bingo at the Young Vic and Chichester Festival Theatre; and as Shylock in a 2011 RSC production of The Merchant of Venice, directed by Rupert Goold.
In the 2001 New Years’ Honours list, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth conferred on Patrick the order of the Officer of the British Empire (O.B.E.) and in 2010 Patrick received a knighthood for his services to Drama.

[@etstars9739]

Sir Patrick Stewart is a wonderfully engaging and emotive person. A living legend ☺

[@stephenward7856]

I could happily listen to this guy talk for the rest of time. What a wonderful man!

[@Poetic_Justice1962]

Patrick Stewart is a living catalogue of experience and greatness, and his friendship with Ian McKellen is no less than epic.

[@time4sanity]

I so adore Sir Patrick...just can't get enough of that voice, that humility, that humor, that kindness! May he live forever!

[@luckystarpiano]

Amen amen 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

[@tarjindersingh4681]

My favourite scene of Patrick's was the next gen episode when he heeded a heart transplant and he said that through a understanding of art music poetry literature you can understand the universe, and all the exploration becomes meaningful . That struck a chord

[@luckystarpiano]

What a brilliant and inspiring human being

[@a0402330]

MY CAPTAIN ALWAYS.

[@RezaManzoori]

Juho Kojima he made it so

[@a0402330]

@@RezaManzoori Yes he did.

[@zajournals]

Such an honest, humble man. Bravo. 👍

[@drjjpdc]

My favorite episodes of SNG are his scenes with John de Lancie (Q). Especially the episode when Patrick shows what humanity can become repeating part of the "What a piece of Work is man speech". I also saw him on Broadway performing his one man show of the Christmas Carol.

[@ewyna34]

I have been in awe of this man for many many many years and to see how well spoken and diverse he is as himself I am in even more awe. I love how honest and upfront he is. Not many can or will do that. He is very right about British actors being the end all. I think they are infinitely better trained than American actors. Now I'm not disparaging American actors not one bit! I have my favorites here too. English are just that bit more so I think.

[@amileoj9043]

Among the many, many joys of this interview (really, an extempore lecture) two stand out, both concerning how to play Macbeth: - The "note" given by Ian McKellen, about the "Tomorrow" soliloquy. - Patrick Stewart's own account, towards the end, of the dynamic between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, that as he absorbs her ambition, her being diminishes.

[@DonDuracell]

It should say SIR Patrick Stewart! I'm now halfway through the Q&A and I'm smiling so muhc my face starts to hurt. :-)

[@justinsjourney3224]

Patrick is just SO much fun.

[@zonkedmusician1502]

I would love to sit and have a pint with him and just talk. What a wonderful, interesting and kind man.

[@69nisi]

Thank you so much....

[@justoroca6231]

Espectacular....al ver esta charla, más q una entrevista, sentí que conocí un poquito al menos, a un actor tan querido como P.S. mis felicitaciones al entrevistador por dejar que Sir Patrick contestara tan larga y relajadamente.

[@h.huffen-puff4105]

Lovely man. Truly generous!

[@jiml]

He should've received a nomination for his performance in Logan it really hurt to see him in the shape he was in the film it was such a heartbreaking ending not only for Charles but Logan as well

[@testprepdojo9729]

I will watch ever recorded interview with him on KZbin

[@earlofdoncaster5018]

If Patrick Stewart ever gets to the point the world will come to an end.

[@andrewstorm8240]

Good questions

[@danjameson1572]

anyone seen "Hennessy" with Rod Steiger? Sir Patrick has a great short and brutal part.

[@siiodn]

47:46 Lionel Messi

[@marcziegenhain8420]

Who am I to argue with the captain of the Enterprise?

[@TheQueekyOne]

I disliked this video because it was only an hour and twenty when it should of been ten days and twenty hours of just this man talking

[@rsr789]

He should have played Data, because he never ages... looks like he did 30 years ago.

[@vaskylark]

At 6:07 he says "Engaged". Sorry couldn't help it, it stuck out to me haha

[@luckystarpiano]

I actually felt a little jolt lol got a visual of his unique command gesture he always does when he says that in the show

[@s.wstudioproductions5977]

does he talk about lifeforce in this at all, if so, can anyone please, give me the time in the video were he does

[@tadeufilippini]

Life is a Miracle or is it a walking shadow?

[@JamesTaylor-yh9rl]

my older brother is a priest and smokes like you cant believe

[@noahstrodtman6121]

Lmao

[@jockejocke1]

19:50 Eva Marie Saint is still alive. In three days she will be 98!

[@natureallmighty]

Ladies and gentlemen (and those who are yet to make up their minds): I give you Benedict Cumberbatch in 40 years.

[@annasloan2349]

Agree, he may the only actor in the last ten years to come even an inch close to one day being the actor that Patrick Stewart is. Good call.