Patrick Stewart calls major injustice for Brent Spiner’s lack of Emmy

Brent Spiner had an amazing gift at playing Lt. Commander Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation

Think of how difficult it must have been to play an android. Brent Spiner has portrayed this character off and on since 1987, and for the most part, he was acting without emotion or the ease of movement other actors had. Despite that, Spiner infused Data with a childlike appreciation for everything around him and earned a place in the hearts of Star Trek: The Next Generation fans.

Spiner had a number of standout episodes, and Patrick Stewart, in his memoir “Making it So,” specifically points out the actor’s work in “The Offspring” and “Brothers.” [via slashfilm] And despite Spiner’s ability to leap from character to character and portray evil and good in such differentiating ways, he was never nominated or awarded an Emmy for his work as Data, something which Stewart calls “a major injustice.”

"“Brent Spiner’s performance is staggeringly good — he found new depths to his character’s Pinocchio-like predicament of being a human invention who wishes to become human. It’s a major injustice to me that Brent has never won an Emmy for playing Data, not to mention the androids Lore and B-4 and the bizarre Soong family of mad scientists.”"

Brent Spiner has won one award as Data for his part in Star Trek: First Contact

Spiner was nominated for three awards during his time as the android, winning one—Best Supporting Actor for Star Trek: First Contact, awarded by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films (USA).

And while it is, indeed, an injustice that Spiner hasn’t won (or even been nominated) for an Emmy, it doesn’t come as a surprise as Star Trek actors are frequently overlooked. (Star Trek: Picard submitted twelve actors for nomination consideration this year, but none were nominated.) The Emmys tend to focus on sound editing, makeup, or visual effects when it comes to Trek. And that itself is also a major injustice.