Robert Duncan McNeill (born November 9, 1964 in Raleigh, North Carolina) is an American actor, producer, movie director, and television director who is best known for his role as Lieutenant Tom Paris on the television show Star Trek: Voyager.
McNeill grew up in Atlanta, and began his career acting in local and regional productions before becoming a student at The Juilliard School in New York City. He enjoyed early success as a professional actor, winning the role of Charlie Brent on All My Childrenand starring in the feature film Masters of the Universe. He also starred in an acclaimed episode of the 1980s version of The Twilight Zone, "A Message from Charity." He then appeared with Stockard Channing in the Broadway production of Six Degrees of Separation before returning to Los Angeles to pursue roles on television. He appeared in featured guest roles on numerous TV series, including Homefront, L.A. Law, Quantum Leap, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Murder, She Wrote and was a featured cast member on the short-lived series, Going to Extremes before earning the role of Tom Paris on Voyager.
McNeill began his directing career with several episodes of Voyager. He then wrote, produced, and directed two award-winning short films, The Battery and 9 mm of Love, and began to direct other episodic television. While he has since performed as a guest star on television shows like The Outer Limits and Crossing Jordan, McNeill is now focusing on his directing career, helming episodes of Dawson's Creek, Everwood, Star Trek: Enterprise, Dead Like Me, The O.C., Las Vegas, Summerland, and Supernatural. His directing credits for 2006-2007 include episodes of Desperate Housewives, Medium, Standoff, The Nine, The Knights of Prosperity, In Case of Emergency, What About Brian and My Boys. In 2007 he directed the season 5 premiere of Las Vegas, the pilot of Samantha Who (which features his Star Trek: Voyager co-star Tim Russ ) and then signed on as a producer - director of the new NBC show Chuck, helming episodes two, six, and seven of the series.
McNeill is married and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children.
