Wil Wheaton loves to tell stories. He’s been doing it his whole life.
By age ten, he had already been acting for three years. In 1986, at age 12, he earned critical acclaim as Gordie Lachance in Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me; at 14, he began his four-year turn as Wesley Crusher on the hit TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Since then, Wil has appeared in dozens of films and TV series, with recurring roles on TNT’s Leverage, SyFy’s Eureka, and the hit webseries The Guild. He is the creator, producer, and host of the wildly successful webseries Tabletop, credited with reigniting national interest in tabletop gaming. Most recently, he played a fictionalized version of himself on CBS’s The Big Bang Theory, one of the most highly rated and watched sitcoms of the last decade.
An accomplished voice actor, Wil has lent his talents to animated series including Family Guy, Teen Titans, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold. His video game credits include four installments each of the Grand Theft Auto and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon series, as well as Fallout: New Vegas, DC Universe Online, and Broken Age.
His audiobook narration of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and was one of Goodreads’ 10 Best Narrator and Audiobook Pairings of All Time. He has also lent his voice to titles by John Scalzi, Randall Munroe, and Joe Hill.
When he isn’t acting, narrating, or podcasting, Wil Wheaton is writing.
A lot.
He is the author of Just A Geek, Dancing Barefoot, The Happiest Days of Our Lives, Hunter, and Dead Trees Give No Shelter, plus a forthcoming novel, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything. He has contributed columns to Salon.com, The A.V. Club, LA Weekly, Playboy, The Washington Post, and the Suicide Girls Newswire.
In recent years, Wil has earned recognition as an outspoken mental health advocate, chronicling his own journey in his blog and as a public speaker for the National Alliance on Mental Illness. His powerful, candid essay about his struggle with chronic depression and anxiety garnered national attention.
Wil lives in Los Angeles with his badass, irrepressible wife Anne, two rescued dogs, one cat, and two vintage arcade cabinets. If you’re not a robot, you can reach him at: wil at wilwheaton dot net.
As a psychologist, I appreciate your advocacy on the mental health front. As a homebrewer who manages an active website and podcast, I’m curious to know if you’re still in the hobby? Stay rad, Wil!
Mr. Wheaton , I have always admired your acting career, especially “Stand by Me” “Star Trek: The Next Generation” & guest appearances on
“The Big Bang Theory” I read your article on Medium.com ,https://medium.com/@wilw/my-name-is-wil-wheaton-i-live-with-chronic-depression-and-generalized-anxiety-i-am-not-ashamed-8f693f9c0af1 I personally can feel your pain, I had a very unhappy childhood, My parents were very loving, but I had episodes of sadness, depression & anxiety, I think it’s really cool how you are honest to yourself and others about your condition, that does a great job of reducing stigma, Since Health Class in High School, I have studied Mental illness in my spare time, the questions you asked yourself “What if… or “What if…” sound like a form of OCD, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, which many Hollywood celebrities have, My Mother had Mental illness before her death in September 2014 at the age of 63, she had Type One Bipolar Disorder, since she was 19 in 1969 , in the Medium.com article, you said in your speech to Nami’s Ohio statewide conference regarding people suffering from Mental illness that
“It will get better, It always gets better” While I think you are a great actor & great human being, and I can sense you are being honest & sincere , I feel I have a Moral Obligation to point out the sad ugly truth, the sad reality, that for Many People Suffering from Mental illness & Other Unbearable Sufferings, the sad reality is, for Many Suffering People, things Never get better, only worst, much worst, Often Unbearable Intolerable Unspeakable Problems are Chronic,Lifelong & are sadly Permanent, I do not consider myself to be a pessimist, but a realist, plus the fact remains even if things do ultimately get better for some suffering people, the sad reality is, that things could always get worst again in the future, things always find a way to go wrong in life, Sh-t Happens, if things do get better for some people, things could always get worst again, such as Cancer, or some other Horrible Disease, Natural Disasters, Accidents, Becoming Homeless, Job Loss, etc, Life has it’s ups and downs, Plus Many People suffering from Mental illness & Other Mental & Physical Conditions & Disabilities suffer from Crippling Debilitating Loneliness, Social Isolation & Rejection, Many Suffering People are living in the Shadow of a Nightmare, they cannot enjoy their lives in the Present,- The Now, because of their painful pasts, and they live in deadly fear of the future, they are nervous wrecks, we live in very uncertain chaotic times, people are very afraid, all in all, Keep up the good work, and Please Respond when you can, myself and other Star Trek Fans, hope you will appear on the upcoming series, Star Trek: Picard which is coming out this January 2020