Background and career
John Sherwood de Lancie Jr. (born March 20, 1948) is an American actor. De Lancie's first television role was in Captains and the Kings in 1976. His other television series roles include Eugene Bradford in Days of Our Lives (1982–1986; 1989–1990), Frank Simmons in Stargate SG-1 (2001–2002), Donald Margolis in Breaking Bad (2009–2010), Agent Allen Shapiro in Torchwood (2011), the voice of Discord in My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (2011–2019), as well as Q in various Star Trek series, beginning with Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1987 and leading up to the third season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in 2025. De Lancie became an outspoken secular activist and was a featured speaker at the 2016 Reason Rally and at CSICon 2019.
De Lancie was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 20, 1948, one of two children born to John de Lancie (1921–2002), principal oboist of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1954 to 1977, and Andrea de Lancie (July 3, 1920 – October 18, 2006). His mother was French. His parents met in Paris. He has a sister. As a child, he was diagnosed with dyslexia and struggled to read throughout his school years. He did not learn to read until he was 12. One of his teachers recommended that his parents encourage him to consider a career as an actor. He began to act around the age of 14, performing in a high school production of William Shakespeare's Henry V. He went on to study acting at Kent State University (he was in attendance during the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970) and won a scholarship to Juilliard. He performed in numerous stage productions, at venues such as the American Shakespeare Festival and the Mark Taper Forum, and established a successful career in film and television.
De Lancie's break out role was of Eugene Bradford on the soap opera Days of our Lives, which De Lancie played in episodes beginning in 1982 until 1990. His on screen partnership with actress Arleen Sorkin was called "TV's Zaniest Couple" by Soap Opera Digest in 1985.
De Lancie portrayed the almost-omnipotent character Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), and in episodes of several subsequent Star Trek series taking place during that era. Q, notable for his chaotic, mischievous personality, is one of the few characters appearing in multiple series of the franchise: eight episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation ("Encounter at Farpoint", "Hide and Q", "Q Who", "Deja Q", "Qpid", "True Q", "Tapestry", "All Good Things..."), one episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ("Q-Less"), three episodes of Star Trek: Voyager ("Death Wish," "The Q and the Grey," "Q2"), one episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks ("Veritas"), nine episodes of Star Trek: Picard ("The Star Gazer", "Penance", "Assimilation", "Watcher", "Fly Me to the Moon", "Two of One", "Mercy", "Farewell", and "The Last Generation"), and one episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ("Wedding Bell Blues"). De Lancie's son Keegan de Lancie appeared with his father as Q Junior in one episode of Star Trek: Voyager ("Q2").
Initially, de Lancie was too busy to audition for the part of Q, but Gene Roddenberry (whom he did not know) arranged a second opportunity. De Lancie recognized that even though Star Trek was only a small part of his career, it opened doors for him. In a 2012 interview, he said that he recalled his original audition, after which Roddenberry approached him, touched him on the shoulder, and said, "You make my writing sound better than it is."
De Lancie also appeared on the television show Stargate SG-1 as the character Colonel Frank Simmons.
