Walter Koenig | |
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Koenig at the 2013 Phoenix Comicon
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Born |
Walter Marvin Koenig September 14, 1936 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
Residence | North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California |
Education | Grinnell College |
Alma mater | University of California, Los Angeles |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 1962–present |
Known for | Pavel Chekov, Mr. Bester |
Home town | New York City, New York |
Television | Star Trek, Babylon 5 |
Spouse(s) | Judy Levitt |
Children | 2 |
Website | walterkoenigsite |
Walter Marvin Koenig (/ˈkeɪnɪɡ/; born September 14, 1936) is an American actor, writer, teacher and director, known for his roles as Pavel Chekov in Star Trek and Alfred Bester in the Babylon 5 series. He wrote the script for the 2008 science fiction legal thriller InAlienable.
Koenig was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of businessman Isadore Koenig and his wife Sarah (née Strauss). They moved to Manhattan when Walter was a child, where he went to school. Koenig's parents were Russian Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union; his family lived in Lithuania when they emigrated, and shortened their surname from "Königsberg" to "Koenig". Koenig's father was a communist who was investigated by the FBI during the McCarthy era. Koenig attended Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa with a pre-med major. He transferred to UCLA and received a Bachelor of Arts in psychology. After a professor encouraged Koenig to become an actor, he attended the Neighborhood Playhouse with fellow students Dabney Coleman, Christopher Lloyd, and James Caan.