Robert Picardo (photo ©Gage Skidmore) was born on October 27, 1953, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, into a family of Italian origin on both father and mother’s sides.

Robert Picardo went to Yale University as a pre-medical student with the intention of becoming a doctor but soon started acting in musicals produced at the college and decided to become an actor and eventually graduated in drama. Curiously, however, on several occasions, including some of his most famous roles, he played the part of a doctor.

In the second half of the ’70s, Robert Picardo worked in several Broadway musicals and had his first parts in TV shows. In the ’80s he started having parts in some movies as well, both telefilms and actual movies shown in theaters, starting with “The Howling” (1981).

In 1984, Robert Picardo married Linda Pawlik. Their marriage lasted until last year. Together they had two daughters.

The great fame for Robert Picardo came when he was cast as Dr. Dick Richards in the TV show “China Beach”, which aired from 1988 to 1991. Between 1990 and 1991, he also played Coach Cutlip in the TV show “The Wonder Years”.

In 1995, Robert Picardo started playing what is probably his best-known character: the Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH) in the television series “Star Trek – Voyager”, which aired until 2002. It’s perhaps the best character of the show and Picardo also directed two episodes and scripted the episode “Life Line”.

Robert Picardo played some variants of the EMH in the movie “Star Trek: First Contact” and the episode “Doctor Bashir, I Presume” of the TV show “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine“. In the latter case, Picardo also played Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, the creator of the EMH. He’s playing Dr. Zimmerman again in the TV movie “Star Trek: Renegades”.

In subsequent years, Robert Picardo appeared in other movies and TV shows, and in 2004 he played for the first time Richard Woolsey in the TV show “Stargate SG-1”. In the following years, he played the same character in the TV show “Stargate: Atlantis”, being part of the regular cast of its fifth season, and in an episode of “Stargate Universe”. He’s among the few to have appeared in all the Stargate shows.

In recent years, Robert Picardo guest starred in other TV series and has also lent his voice to two of the games of the series “Call of Duty”. Maybe he’s waiting to find another role as a doctor.