Tim Russ

Acting

In 1985, Russ appeared in The Twilight Zone episodes "Kentucky Rye" as Officer #2 and "Voices in the Earth" as Archer. He made a brief appearance in the comedy film Spaceballs as a trooper who "combs" the desert with a giant comb.^[4][5] Russ had a prominent role in the Charles Bronson film Death Wish 4.

Russ has been involved in the Star Trek franchise as a voice and film actor, writer, director, and producer. He played several minor roles before landing the role as the main character Tuvok in Star Trek: Voyager. Russ screentested, in 1987, for the role of Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation before being cast as Tuvok. Russ went into Voyager as a dedicated Trekkie with an extensive knowledge of Vulcan lore,^[6] and has played the following roles in the Star Trek universe:

• Devor, a mercenary aboard the Enterprise-D disguised as a service engineer in The Next Generation episode "Starship Mine" (1993)
• T'Kar, a Klingon in the Deep Space Nine episode "Invasive Procedures" (1993)
• A human tactical Lieutenant on the USS Enterprise-B in the film Star Trek Generations (1994).
• Tuvok's Mirror Universe counterpart in the Deep Space Nine episode "Through the Looking Glass" (1995).
• A changeling impersonating Tuvok in Star Trek: Picard season 3.

In 1995, Russ co-wrote the story for the Malibu Comics Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #29 and 30, with Mark Paniccia. Russ performed voice acting roles as Tuvok for the video games Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force and Star Trek: Elite Force II. Russ is the director and one of the stars of the fan series Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, the first third of which was released in December 2007, with the remaining two-thirds released in 2008.^[7]

Russ's character's name D. C. Montana in The Highwayman was a reference to Trek writer D. C. Fontana.^{[citation needed]}

In 1990, he appeared in an episode of Freddy's Nightmares.^[8]

Russ directed and co-starred in Star Trek: Renegades, and in both 2013 and 2014 reprised his role as the voice of Tuvok in the massively multiplayer online game Star Trek Online.^[9]

Later work

Russ appeared as Frank, a sarcastic doorman in the sitcom Samantha Who? from 2007 to 2009, and appeared for six seasons as Principal Ted Franklin in Nickelodeon's show iCarly. He also portrayed a doctor on an episode of Hannah Montana, "I Am Hannah, Hear Me Croak".

Russ won an Emmy Award in 2014 for public service ads he did for the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office on intellectual property theft and cyberbullying.^[10]

He played Captain Kells in the 2015 Bethesda Game Studios video game Fallout 4.^[11]

In June 2025, following Mel Brooks’ announcement of Spaceballs 2, slated for release in 2027, Russ teased on social media that he may appear in the film, along with his more famous co-stars.^[12]

Music and astronomy

Russ has been a lifelong musician and a singer.^[13] In addition, Russ has been an avid amateur astronomer most of his adult life, and is a member of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society. In 2021 he was among a small group of citizen astronomers who assisted in detection of the asteroid 617 Patroclus in preparation for NASA's Lucy probe.^[14] In February 2022, he stated that he owned a 10-inch Dobsonian telescope, an 8" Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, and a Unistellar eVscope.^[15]

Film

Television