From Star Trek: The Original Series to Star Trek: Discovery, here’s a list of every actor who has played Spock. The iconic half-Vulcan first officer of the USS Enterprise has been a defining character of Star Trek since its inception, so it’s no wonder Spock is a reoccurring character in subsequent installments of the franchise. Though the actors stay in Spock’s characteristic typing, each new version of Spock brings new energy to the role.
The character of Spock is so well defined, it is nearly an archetype of the science fiction genre itself nowadays. Calculating and emotionless but rarely ever cold, Spock manages a balance between his human feelings and practiced Vulcan focus. Using a mastery of pure, objective logic, Spock is a strong leader within the United Federation of Planets, and essential to their objective to discover and interact with unknown civilizations.
As iconic as the role of Spock is, only a select few actors have been allowed to fully embody the character. It is typically against Star Trek tradition to reuse or remake characters across series; usually, unique crews feature in each series with the overall focus on the mission rather than individual character arcs. Nevertheless, Spock keeps coming back in various timelines and ages, but who did the best job as the character is up for debate. Here’s every actor who has played Spock in Star Trek, chronologically ordered by appearance.
Leonard Nimoy
Spock was originated by Leonard Nimoy, who played the first iteration of the character on Star Trek: The Original Series. From Spock’s constant composure to the knockout technique, “the Vulcan nerve pinch,” Nimoy determined everything iconic about the character. The actor reprised his signature role many times over his career, appearing as Spock in all six of the original films, briefly in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the rebooted 2009 Star Trek as well as its sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness.
Nimoy also voiced the character in Star Trek: The Animated Series and on musical albums, notably his premiere work, Mr. Spock’s Music from Outer Space. Receiving three Emmy nominations for his work as Spock, Nimoy was also the only Star Trek cast member to have directed for the series; the films Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home were both Nimoy’s work. Though the actor did star on stage and screen outside the confines of Star Trek, Nimoy’s rendition is so attached to Spock that the two names are almost synonymous.
Billy Simpson
Billy Simpson became the first of many actors to play Spock in his childhood. Simpson voiced a young Spock in Star Trek: The Animated Series in the episode “Yesteryear.” Simpson’s voice acting career was contained mostly to his youth. Simpson did expand his repertoire significantly, working as the Demented News correspondent on the Dr. Demento Show, a comedy music radio show.
Carl Steven
The first actor besides Nimoy to portray the character, Carl Steven, played a nine-year-old Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. In The Search for Spock, the crew of the Enterprise attempted to recover and resurrect Spock after his death in the previous film, The Wrath of Khan. Steven had a fairly successful career as a child actor; notably, he was the voice of Young Fred Jones on the cartoon A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and had a lead role in the sci-fi series Weird Science.
Vadia Potenza
Again featured in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Vadia Potenza played the thirteen-year-old Spock. Like the other young Spocks in The Search for Spock, this version of the role was used to portray a rapidly aging Spock over the course of the movie. Currently, Potenza works behind the camera, primarily as an editor, on television and short films, including Hotel Impossible.
Stephen Manley
The 17-year-old version of Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was played by Stephen Manley. In The Search for Spock, the young versions of Spock embodied the half-Vulcan’s physical form, but not his mind, as Spock’s spirit had attached itself to Dr. Leonard McCoy, the Enterprise’s chief medical officer. Manley’s work as a youth was somewhat limited, but he continues to professionally act to this day, recently appearing on Tyler Perry's The Haves and Have Nots.
Joe W. Davis
The second-oldest Spock in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock was played by Joe W. Davis, who was 25-years-old at the time. Only when Spock’s body could be brought back to his homeworld, Vulcan, could his mind and body rejoin in The Search for Spock, a risky process called fal-tor-pan. Davis went on to appear in only a few further known roles, notably acting as Buddy Holly in Mr. Rock ‘n’ Roll: The Alan Freed Story.
Frank Welker
For such a legendary voice actor, Frank Welker’s turn at Spock was incredibly minor; Welker merely performed some of Spock’s screams in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Welker is one of the highest-grossing actors of all time, known almost entirely for his voice-acting career. Welker is best known for voicing Fred Jones from Scooby-Doo since the original 1969 cartoon and has also notably voiced, more recently, Scooby-Doo, lazy cat Garfield, Transformers Megatron, Galvatron, and Soundwave, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in the video game Epic Mickey.
Zachary Quinto
Zachary Quinto revitalized the role of Spock in 2009’s Star Trek, reprising this character in the sequels Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond. Quinto played into the new action-packed approach to Star Trek, bringing focus to Spock’s conflict between powerful emotions and the desire to repress them. Quinto is also known for his role as Sylar, the major antagonist in the superhero drama Heroes, as well as his Emmy-nominated performance in American Horror Story: Asylum. His appearances in Hitman: Agent 47, Snowden, and Hotel Artemis are all noteworthy as well; Quinto is an excellent actor and brought lots of power to Spock’s traditionally demure role.
Jacob Kogan
Kogan has had a surprisingly varied acting career for someone so young. He got his start appearing on Law and Order and the twisted comedy Wonder Showzen, moving on to receiving critical acclaim for his role as the sinister boy in 2007’s Joshua. Also, in 2009’s Star Trek, Jacob Kogan played Quinto’s younger counterpart in flashbacks. Most recently, Kogan had a major role in the science fiction series The Tomorrow People.
Liam Hughes
The most recent series, Star Trek: Discovery season 2 finds Liam Hughes playing Spock as a child once more. In Star Trek: Discovery, the USS Discovery’s crew investigates suspicions around a mysterious being, the Red Angel, among solving other crises. Hughes is currently still an active child actor, also appearing in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Supernatural, and The Flash. However, his most major role so far has been in the Hallmark series, When Calls the Heart.
Ethan Peck
Ethan Peck more prominently appears in Star Trek: Discovery, portraying an adult Spock, although a version ten years before he becomes a member of the USS Enterprise. Peck’s Spock also appears in Short Treks, the mini-series of one-off adventures in Discovery’s canon. Other shows that one might recognize Peck from include 10 Things I Hate About You and Gossip Girl. The grandson of one of the great classic film actors, Gregory Peck, the actor is set to reprise the role of Spock in the coming series, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Star Trek: Discovery releases new episodes Thursdays on Paramount+.