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John Estill Vickery III (born November 3 or 4*, 1950) is an actor who has performed on Broadway, but is probably best known for his roles in various TV series, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space 9, and Babylon 5.

Vickery was born in 1950 to Dr. John Estill Vickery, Jr. and Florence Edith Vickery at the East Oakland Hospital. According to the California Birth Index, he was born November 3. When he was born in 1950, the family was living at 2441 Castello Street. His father had a practice in the Fruitvale Medical Building, and was chief of staff at the hospital in 1958. By that time, the family lived at 639 Haddon Road; 2 they lived there until at least 1969.

He attended the College Preparatory School (then on Claremont Avenue). His final year, he also took math courses at UC Berkeley, but he then switched to studying theater at UC Davis. According to a 1984 Oakland Tribune article:

It was a high school teacher who recruited him to to perform in classroom scenes from Shakespeare. "You're going to act," the teacher said. "No I'm not," Vickery responded.

"I couldnt think of anything more embarrassing," he recalled. But when the appeal of math faded, he happily switched to theater and the University of California at Davis. 1

* NB: Wikipedia and other sources like IMDb say he was born November 4, but they also incorrectly say he was born in Alameda, and was a math major at UC Davis, so November 4 is suspect. Vickery's parents moved to Alameda after his father retired.

Vickery married Virigina Lantry in 1987. They have one daughter, Alexandria Grace Vickery.

Acting Career

Vickery's first professional appearance was in "Sticks and Bones" at the Berkeley Stage Company in 1975. Over the following years, he appeared in various Bay Area stage productions, mostly in Berkeley.

In 1980 he moved to New York, and appeared in various productions, including several Shakespeare plays. His first big break was getting the part in Tom Stoppard's "The Real Thing" on Broadway in 1984. 1

Vickery was cast for a one-time part on Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1991 ("Night Terrors"). 3 Over the years, he got parts on other Star Trek series. From 1994 to 1997, he had a recurring part as Neroon on Babylon 5. He has also had parts on NCIS, Frasier, and other TV shows.

In 1997, he originated the role of Scar in the Broadway musical version of The Lion King.

From c.2008 to c.2012, he performed in numerous productions at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. 4

In an interview in 2017, he described himself as "semi-retired," but he was still performing with the LA Theatre Works in Venice, CA. 3,5

Links and References

  1. Oakland actor is now the real thing: a Broadway star Oakland Tribune July 6, 1984 (p2)
  2. Dr. John Vickery Named Hospital Chief of Staff Oakland Tribune December 16, 1958
  3. Catching Up with TNG, DS9 & ENT Guest, John Vickery startrek.com May 24, 2017
  4. John Vickery abouttheartists.com
  5. John Vickery L.A. Theatre Works
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