Bruce Horak (born August 5, 1974) is a Canadian artist [1] and television and stage [2] actor, known for portraying Hemmer on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds . Horak is the first legally blind actor to portray a character in the Star Trek franchise. [3] [4]
Horak was born in Calgary, Alberta. At age 18 months, he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, which caused him to lose his right eye and over 90% of the vision in his left eye. [3] Horak's father, Karl Horak, was also visually impaired, having lost his left eye to disease. [5] Horak developed an interest in writing and theater in third grade, when a theater company came to his school and put on a play.
Horak attended at Mount Royal University, where he studied theater. He also trained at the Loose Moose Theatre in Calgary.
One of Horak's earliest plays was What You Can't See, in 1999, about a boy who hides his visual impairment. In 2001, he co-created The Canada Show, a comedic attempt to distill the history of Canada into a one-hour space. In 2005, he co-created the one-man show This is Cancer, described as a dark comedy. Horak also stars as Cancer in the play. [6] He appeared in the role of Jake in a production of Evil Dead: The Musical in 2009. [7] In 2019, he co-created Goblin: Macbeth, a play which imagines goblins finding the works of Shakespeare, and attempting to act out a play without fully understanding what they are doing. [8]
On Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Horak plays Hemmer, the Aenar chief engineer aboard the Enterprise. The Aenar are a blind race in Star Trek, closely related to the Andorians, and the producers wanted a visually impaired actor to play the role of Hemmer. [9] Horak, who describes himself as a Star Trek fan, eagerly auditioned for the role and won it. When Horak accepted the role, he was told Hemmer's character would have a limited run in Strange New Worlds. He appeared as Hemmer in six of the ten episodes of Season 1. He later appeared in one Season 2 episode in both a pre-recorded/flashback scene with Uhura and as an illusory Hemmer. In addition to Hemmer, Horak also played the Klingon commander General Garkog in Season 2's "Subspace Rhapsody". [10]
Horak has painted hundreds of portraits, and has an aim to paint one thousand of them. In one of his plays, "Assassinating Thomson", he paints a portrait of the audience during the play. [11] His paintings have been showcased at several Canadian galleries.
Horak has also recorded an album with Canadian artist Onalea Gilbertson under the name The Rail Birds. The album, called Intensive Care, was made available online in 2020. [12]
Horak was married to Rebecca Northan, who he met while at Mount Royal. They did not remain married, but she has been his co-collaborator on many of his plays.
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Warehouse 13 | Philo Farnsworth | 1 episode |
2022 | In the Dark | Brendan | 2 episodes |
2022–23 | Star Trek: Strange New Worlds | Hemmer, Additional Roles | 8 episodes |
2023 | Transplant | Adam Viri | 2 episodes |
2023 | Family History Mysteries: Buried Past | Clark | Television movie |
Year | Title | Role | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | Gitch | Gitch | Short |
2023 | Star Trek: Very Short Treks | Hemmer (voice) | 2 episodes |
Year | Award | Category | Nominated Work | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2000 | Betty Award | Outstanding New Play | What You Can't See / Quest Theatre | Nominated [13] |
2007 | Betty Award | Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Comedy or Musical | This is Cancer / Alberta Theatre Projects | Won [13] |
2009 | Betty Award | Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Comedy or Musical | Evil Dead – The Musical / Ground Zero Theatre / Hit and Myth Productions | Won [13] |
2011 | Betty Award | Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Comedy or Musical | The Wizard of Oz / Alberta Theatre Projects | Nominated [13] |
2014 | Betty Award | Outstanding New Play | Legend Has It / Rebecca Northan, with Renee Amber, Bruce Horak, Mark Meer, Jamie Northan, and Sean Bowie | Nominated [13] |
2019 | Betty Award | Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Drama | Assassinating Thomson / Lunchbox Theatre and Inside Out Theatre | Nominated [13] |
2022 | Betty Award | Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Drama | Richard III / The Shakespeare Company and Hit and Myth | Won [13] |
Sir Patrick Stewart is an English actor whose career has spanned seven decades in theatre, film, television and video games. He has received accolades throughout his career including two Laurence Olivier Awards and a Grammy Award, as well as nominations for a Tony Award, three Golden Globe Awards, four Emmy Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama in 2010.
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is an American science fiction television series created by Akiva Goldsman, Alex Kurtzman, and Jenny Lumet for the streaming service Paramount+. It is the 11th Star Trek series and debuted in 2022 as part of Kurtzman's expanded Star Trek Universe. A spin-off from Star Trek: Discovery, it follows Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the starship Enterprise in the 23rd century as they explore new worlds and carry out missions throughout the galaxy during the decade before Star Trek: The Original Series.
The first season of the American television series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds follows Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the starship Enterprise in the 23rd century as they explore new worlds and carry out missions throughout the galaxy during the decade before Star Trek: The Original Series. The season was produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout, Weed Road Pictures, H M R X Productions, and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers serving as showrunners.
The second season of the American television series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds follows Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the starship Enterprise in the 23rd century as they explore new worlds and carry out missions throughout the galaxy during the decade before Star Trek: The Original Series. The season was produced by CBS Studios in association with Secret Hideout, Weed Road Pictures, H M R X Productions, and Roddenberry Entertainment, with Akiva Goldsman and Henry Alonso Myers serving as showrunners.
"Subspace Rhapsody" is the ninth episode of the second season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. In this episode, Captain Christopher Pike and the crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) encounter a naturally occurring fold in subspace which, when interacted with, causes the entire crew to start singing their private thoughts and feelings. The episode is a musical, the first in the history of the Star Trek franchise.