Wil Wheaton Richard William Wheaton III , better known as Wil Wheaton , is an American actor and writer best known for playing Wesley Crusher on throughout its first four seasons . Although he left the show following , he would return as a guest star four more times – twice in the fifth season and twice in the seventh season . More recently , Wheaton was briefly seen as Wesley at the beginning of during William T . Riker and Deanna Troi ' s wedding . Most of his scenes from this movie were cut , but they can be found on the Special Edition DVD . According to his blog , in , Wheaton returned to the " Star Trek " franchise when he voiced members of Nero ' s Romulan crew in J . J . Abrams ' . Wheaton was born in Burbank , California . He married Anne Prince in 1999 . He lives with his wife and two stepsons in Pasadena , California . On it was announced that an asteroid has been named after him , 391257 Wilwheaton . He shares this honor with fellow Trek alums George Takei and Nichelle Nichols , as well as Gene Roddenberry himself . Early acting career . Wheaton made his television acting debut in the 1981 movie " A Long Way Home " , in which he played the younger version of the lead character . He then voiced the character of Martin in the popular 1982 Don Bluth film " The Secret of NIMH " ( which featured a score by Jerry Goldsmith ) , after which he appeared in the films " Hambone and Hillie " , " The Buddy System " , and " The Last Starfighter " . Wheaton had a speaking role in the latter film , but the scenes featuring his dialogue were cut in post - production . Marc Alaimo , Barbara Bosson , and Meg Wyllie also appeared in " The Last Starfighter " . Prior to being cast as Wesley Crusher , Wheaton was best known for his role as Gordie in the acclaimed 1986 film " Stand by Me " , directed by Rob Reiner . The following year , Wheaton guest - starred on an episode of " Family Ties " , appearing with Brian Bonsall . Bonsall began appearing on TNG as Alexander Rozhenko just as Wheaton was leaving that series . Also in 1987 , Wheaton appeared in the TV movie " The Man Who Fell to Earth " with Robert Picardo and Bruce McGill and starred in the horror film , " The Curse " , along with his sister , Amy . When TNG was originally being developed , the character of Wesley Crusher was actually a girl named " Leslie Crusher " . It was writer David Gerrold who suggested to Gene Roddenberry that the character be a boy and recommended Wheaton for the part . Robert Justman also advocated Wheaton ' s casting , and following a typical audition , the young actor ultimately won the role . Wheaton received three nominations from the Young Artist Awards for his role as Wesley Crusher , winning one of them . Although he enjoyed his time on TNG and praises the work of his fellow actors on the show , Wheaton has been vocal in his dislike of his own character , echoing the sentiments of the more vocal fans who found the character to be annoying . Wheaton left the show as a regular in the fourth season so he could pursue offers to appear in feature films . The producers intentionally left open the possibility of Wheaton returning in guest appearances , and he did so in four later episodes . ( " " 2nd ed . , p . 149 ) Wheaton noted that " " Patrick [ Stewart ] never treated me like I was a kid . We had directors who treated me like I was a kid . " " He also saw Stewart as someone he always learned from when acting with him . ( " " Selected Crew Analysis Year Four – Crew Profile : Wesley Crusher " " , TNG Season 4 DVD special feature ) Post - TNG acting career . Films . After TNG , Wheaton portrayed the character of prep - school denizen in the 1991 film , with Michael Champion . He co - starred with DS9 actor Aron Eisenberg in the 1993 independent drama " The Liars ' Club " and starred in the 1995 direct - to - video horror movie " Mr . Stitch " with Ron Perlman . He also had a supporting role in 1996 ' s " Pie in the Sky " ( which featured his TNG castmate Brent Spiner in a cameo ) . Although he has worked primarily on independent films , he did make a brief return to mainstream cinema when he received a role in the 1997 Disney comedy " Flubber " with his co - star Christopher McDonald , as well as Clancy Brown . His later independent film credits include " Foreign Correspondents " ( 1999 ) , " The Girls ' Room " ( 2000 ) , and " Jane White Is Sick & Twisted " ( 2002 ) . His performance in the latter film won him the Best Actor award from the Melbourne Underground Film Festival . In 2000 , Wheaton worked on two projects for the independent film production company , United Film Organization ( UFO ) . The first was the sci - fi thriller " Deep Core " , in which he co - starred with DS9 ' s Terry Farrell and guest actor Bruce McGill . The second was the horror flick " Python " , which co - starred Sean Whalen . . . and a really big snake . Television . Wheaton also made several television guest appearances , including an alien - themed episode of " Diagnosis Murder " , which also featured cameos by TOS actors George Takei , Walter Koenig , Majel Barrett , and Grace Lee Whitney , as well as " Lost in Space " star and guest star Bill Mumy . In addition , Wheaton can be seen in a few TV movies , including 1998 ' s " The Day Lincoln Was Shot " . In this historical drama produced for the TNT network , Wheaton played Robert Todd Lincoln , the first son of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln – the latter of whom was portrayed by star Donna Murphy . The movie also featured fellow " Trek " alumni Gregory Itzin and Titus Welliver . In 2005 , he guest - starred in an episode of " CSI : Crime Scene Investigation " with " Voyager " guest Wallace Langham . In October 2007 , Wheaton shot an episode of the CBS series " Numb3rs " revolving around a sci - fi / comic convention . In the episode , entitled " Graphic , " Wheaton portrays a loathsome comic book artist who is robbed of a rare and valuable comic he owns . The episode aired on 23 November , 2007 and also featured actor Christopher Lloyd as the artist of the book stolen from Wheaton ' s character . Wheaton guest - starred on the CBS series " Criminal Minds " in an episode which aired 22 October , 2008 . Wheaton posted a chronicle of his experiences on the set on his blog and later in his most recent book " Sunken Treasure " . He also appeared in the 26 August , 2009 episode of " Leverage " entitled " The Two Live Crew Job " with Noa Tishby . In 2009 , Wheaton appeared as himself – or , rather , an " evil " version of himself – in a guest role on the CBS sitcom " The Big Bang Theory " , in which his " Star Trek " persona as Wesley Crusher was emphatically acknowledged . In 2010 , Wheaton announced on his Twitter account ( and later his website ) that he will be " playing Evil Wil Wheaton again " for an episode to begin taping on 2 March , 2010 . Making good on his promise , Wheaton has subsequently appeared in a number of episodes of the series , having become the most frequent recurring guest star with a " Star Trek " pedigree . Wheaton reunited with co - star Brent Spiner on the series in the fifth season episode " The Russian Rocket Reaction " . In the same episode good - natured fun was poked at Wheaton ' s role in " Stand by Me " , when the writers had one of the main characters state , " " ( . . . ) but I chose to go to a party thrown by the one kid from " Stand By Me " that no one remembers . " " It was partly on the strength of his performance in this movie that Wheaton was chosen for the role of Wesley Crusher . In 2010 - 11 , Wheaton appeared on the SyFy series " Eureka " in a recurrent guest - starring role as Dr . Isaac Parrish , a scientist competing for a position on the Astreus Mission to Titan , as well as vying for Dr . Fargo ' s love interest . He and Fargo are quite often at odds , starting with when they were both campers at a science summer camp . Voice - over work . In recent years , Wheaton has been working prominently as a voice actor for several video games and animated TV shows . He can be heard in several " Ghost Recon " games , as well as " EverQuest II " . In three " Grand Theft Auto " games – " San Andreas " , " Liberty City Stories " , and " Vice City Stories " – he can be heard as radio news personality Richard Burns . On television , Wheaton primarily voiced Aqualad on " Teen Titans " and Cosmic Boy on " Legion of Super Heroes " . His voice can also be heard in the " Batman : The Brave and the Bold " episode " The Fall of the Blue Beetle " , in which he voices Ted Kord , the second DC Comics character to bear the name Blue Beetle . In addition , Wheaton voiced himself in an episode of Seth MacFarlane ' s " Family Guy " in which he and his TNG cast mates ( also providing their own voices ) were kidnapped by Stewie Griffin ( voiced by Seth MacFarlane ) . Wheaton has also been voicing the recurring role of Mike Morningstar aka Darkstar in Cartoon Network ' s " Ben 10 : Alien Force " . In November 2009 , Wheaton revealed that he did ADR voice work on J . J . Abrams ' . Specifically , he provided the voices for all of the Romulan s aboard the " Narada " , including those played in the film by Jason Brooks and Joe Quinto . Wheaton became involved with the film after Greg Grunberg , who also provided his voice for " Star Trek " , informed Wheaton that Abrams was looking for voice actors and asked if he would be interested . Excitedly answering in the affirmative ( though thinking that it may be a prank ) , Wheaton received a call from Abrams shortly thereafter and was asked to come in to the ADR studio and record some dialogue . According to Wheaton , only after the recording session began did he know for sure that it was not a joke . Most of Wheaton ' s dialogue was altered to make each of his Romulan characters sound different . Other appearances . Wheaton participated in " " game show in 2001 , along with LeVar Burton , Denise Crosby , John de Lancie , Roxann Dawson , Robert Picardo , Armin Shimerman , and William Shatner . In 2008 , Wheaton worked with " Family Guy " creator ( and ardent " Star Trek " fan ) Seth MacFarlane on the latter ' s new web series , " Cavalcade " . In 2009 , Wheaton guest - starred in the third season of , an online - only show about players of a massively - multiplayer online role - playing game . In 2013 , Wheaton made a brief appearance in a commercial advertisement for automobiles , televised in the United States during the telecast of . Writing , blogging , and geekdom . Since his days on TNG , Wheaton has become a vocal representative and icon of the " geek " and " nerd " communities . He was one of the early internet " bloggers " and currently maintains his own called WIL WHEATON dot NET , in addition to making regular updates on Twitter . He is also a posting member at Slashdot ( " news for nerds , stuff that matters " ) . Among his projects was blogging reviews of episodes of " Star Trek : The Next Generation " for TVSquad . Following a reduction of the site ' s budget by AOL , however , the column was dropped . Wheaton then went on to expand on the columns and produced a book , " Memories of the Future , Volume 1 " , in , with further volumes planned . He was also a regular host of InDigital , part of the Revision3 Internet TV network , prior to the show ' s end . Wheaton has published two collections of short stories with a memoir , " Just a Geek " , being published between . He also contributed a story to the 2005 anthology " Stories of Strength " . His most recent book , entitled " The Happiest Days of Our Lives " , was published in 2007 . Wheaton also wrote " Te Cura Ipsum " , one of the TOS - based stories for " Kakan ni Shinkou " , Tokyopop ' s second volume of " " . Wheaton currently writes a weekly column for " LA Weekly " . In addition , he is currently writing a science fiction novella ( potentially a novel ) , which he describes as " " . . . a noir kinda thing , set in a dystopian future Los Angeles . ( It ' s not " Blade Runner . " [ . . . ] I ' ve taken the appropriate world - building steps to make sure it doesn ' t go there . ) " Wheaton is also a contributor to the YouTube channel / production company , for which he produces and hosts the series " " . Wheaton , a self - professed lifelong gamer , plays various board and card games with friends ( from acting , his personal life and the internet ) , including Rod Roddenberry and Jeri Ryan ( with whom he played " Star Trek Catan " ) .