Uploaded December 2022 | Updated September 2026, 5 days ago
Fifteen years ago was my first day in Starfleet Academy! ✨
December 7th, 2007 was a dreadfully rainy & cold 14-hour shoot at a blimp hangar in Tustin, but despite the exhausting two days of marching in stiff boots & climbing into shuttles over & over (for a scene I’m not even sure I'm on screen), I was a fanboy living a dream come true! And thanks to taking extensive notes, I remember each day like it was yesterday… 📝
I’ll never forget the Long Beach shoot where we’d watch Zachary Quinto’s Spock break character as he’d flub a line & swear, or when he’d have his five o'clock shadow shaved on set w/ a hot towel draped around his costume’s collar. Or how often Tyler Perry struggled to pronounce “the Kobayashi Maru exam,” at one point giving up & quipping “the Kobe-Shaq test.” And all throughout downtime, JJ Abrams would beatbox into the god mic. 😂
Then came that fateful Friday when a last-minute costume adjustment landed me a seat all day right behind the main cast. Anton Yelchin cracked everyone up w/ a perfect Walken impression. John Cho turned & said something to me & I’m still not sure what (all I heard was “dude”?). Karl Urban & I chatted about Superman, Batman comics, Y the Last Man. And for the final shot, JJ proudly introduced to us all the great Leonard Nimoy in full Spock Prime makeup, who very uncharacteristically grinned & waved. What a legend! 🖖🏼
Northridge (where everyone got sunburned) & Lebec (where PAs literally carried around buckets of sunscreen) were the final days of principal photography on 2009’s "Star Trek," but then four years later I was called in as a Starfleet cadet once more on "Star Trek Into Darkness" for a rather chill day at the Getty. And for the shot of us reacting to the USS Vengeance crashing, I got to work w/ JJ’s daughter Gracie (the cadet on the right). Alas "Star Trek Beyond" moved production to Vancouver so a second reprisal was not to be, but I couldn’t have asked for a cooler first experience as a background actor & Trekkie. 😊
#startrek #startrek2009 #startrekintodarkness #intodarkness #starfleet #starfleetcadet #starfleetacademy #backgroundactor
Fifteen years ago was my first day in Starfleet Academy! ✨
December 7th, 2007 was a dreadfully rainy & cold 14-hour shoot at a blimp hangar in Tustin, but despite the exhausting two days of marching in stiff boots & climbing into shuttles over & over (for a scene I’m not even sure I'm on screen), I was a fanboy living a dream come true! And thanks to taking extensive notes, I remember each day like it was yesterday… 📝
I’ll never forget the Long Beach shoot where we’d watch Zachary Quinto’s Spock break character as he’d flub a line & swear, or when he’d have his five o'clock shadow shaved on set w/ a hot towel draped around his costume’s collar. Or how often Tyler Perry struggled to pronounce “the Kobayashi Maru exam,” at one point giving up & quipping “the Kobe-Shaq test.” And all throughout downtime, JJ Abrams would beatbox into the god mic. 😂
Then came that fateful Friday when a last-minute costume adjustment landed me a seat all day right behind the main cast. Anton Yelchin cracked everyone up w/ a perfect Walken impression. John Cho turned & said something to me & I’m still not sure what (all I heard was “dude”?). Karl Urban & I chatted about Superman, Batman comics, Y the Last Man. And for the final shot, JJ proudly introduced to us all the great Leonard Nimoy in full Spock Prime makeup, who very uncharacteristically grinned & waved. What a legend! 🖖🏼
Northridge (where everyone got sunburned) & Lebec (where PAs literally carried around buckets of sunscreen) were the final days of principal photography on 2009’s "Star Trek," but then four years later I was called in as a Starfleet cadet once more on "Star Trek Into Darkness" for a rather chill day at the Getty. And for the shot of us reacting to the USS Vengeance crashing, I got to work w/ JJ’s daughter Gracie (the cadet on the right). Alas "Star Trek Beyond" moved production to Vancouver so a second reprisal was not to be, but I couldn’t have asked for a cooler first experience as a background actor & Trekkie. 😊
#startrek #startrek2009 #startrekintodarkness #intodarkness #starfleet #starfleetcadet #starfleetacademy #backgroundactor
