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After roles on the likes of Dragnet and The Twilight Zone, Leonard Nimoy earned the attention of producer and writer Gene Roddenberry and was cast on Star Trek as Mr. Spock. Star Trek premiered in 1966 and turned Nimoy into a legitimate star. Nimoy has always stayed active as an actor, but his role as Spock from the show and the Star Trek movies appearing over the years dominates his reputation.
Aspiring Young Actor
Leonard Nimoy was born Leonard Simon Nimoy on March 26, 1931, in Boston, Massachusetts. Nimoy was the youngest child of Max and Dora, Yiddish-speaking Jewish immigrants who had escaped from Stalinist Russia. The family settled in the West End of Boston, where Max was a popular local figure and enjoyed his life as a barber. The young Nimoy brothers -- Leonard and older brother Melvin -- were neighborhood fixtures, and sold newspapers in Boston Common.
The acting bug bit Nimoy early on, and he was just 8 years old when he appeared in his first play. He performed throughout his teen years at Boston's English High School, and after his graduation in 1949, he attended Boston College. While playing the role of Ralphie in a collegiate production of Clifford Odets' Awake and Sing, Nimoy noticed that another Odets play was making a professional, pre-Broadway debut in Boston. After seeking career advice from one of the play's established cast members, Nimoy submitted an application to California's Pasadena Playhouse. He made his way out to the West Coast using money he earned by selling vacuum cleaners.
Big Break: 'Star Trek'
By the early 1950s, Nimoy was appearing in bit parts in feature films, and his first title role came with 1952's boxing-themed Kid Monk Baroni. After a two-year stretch in the U.S. Army Reserve beginning in 1953, and marrying Sandra Zober in 1954, Nimoy resumed his acting career in 1955. He began studying with Jeff Corey, a highly respected acting coach, and continued to land bit parts on television series and B-movies. During this time, he became a father of two; daughter Julie was born in 1955 and son Adam followed in 1956.
After carving out a niche with day-player roles on the likes of Dragnet, The Rough Riders, Sea Hunt, Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, Dr. Kildaire and Perry Mason, Nimoy's featured role on a 1965 episode of The Lieutenant earned the attention of producer and writer Gene Roddenberry. At the time, Roddenberry was casting for the upcoming sci-fi series Star Trek, and thought Nimoy would be ideal for the role of the stoic, logical, and brilliant science officer known as Dr. Spock. Roddenberry even allowed Nimoy to contribute his own elements to the character. Nimoy developed both the pacifistic Vulcan Nerve Pinch and the two-fingered Vulcan salute; the latter is reportedly based on a Jewish blessing.
Star Trek premiered in 1966, and turned both Nimoy and co-star William Shatner into legitimate stars. The groundbreaking show garnered a steady following (and earned Nimoy three Emmy nominations), but forged an active rivalry between its two competitive leading men.
"The truth is, every good actor has an ego," Shatner said in his book, Up Till Now: An Autobiography. "I was supposed to be the star, but Leonard was getting more attention than I was. It bothered me." Despite the show's cult popularity, Star Trek closed down production and was taken off the air by 1969.
Branching Out
After the series ended, Nimoy was snapped up as a series regular on the show Mission: Impossible. He spent the next two years playing the role of The Great Paris, a master of disguise and illusion. He left the show in 1971.
After recovering from a stomach ulcer, Nimoy resumed an intensive acting schedule, touring as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof and adding made-for-TV movies to his usual roster of film and television work. During this time, he began to explore other pursuits. Nimoy stepped behind the camera, and established a reputation as a competent television director. Throughout the 70s, he issued several volumes of poetry, and in 1975, he released his self-penned (and fan-offending) autobiography, I Am Not Spock, which featured a series of imagined discussions between himself and his most famous character. However, he never strayed far from on-screen work, and in 1976, he began hosting the long-running series, In Search Of..., a show devoted to investigations of the unusual and the paranormal. In 1978, he starred in the hit remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
'Star Trek' Films
With the advent of the 1977 blockbuster Star Wars, America confirmed its love of big-budget sci-fi. At the same time, audiences showed a renewed interested in Star Trek as a result of re-run syndication. Paramount Pictures, determined to stay competitive with George Lucas's high-grossing creation, decided to capitalize on the Star Trek series, giving the green light to a big-screen version of Star Trek. After settling some longstanding financial issues with the studio, Nimoy signed on to reprise his role as Mr. Spock.
The film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, was released in 1979. It was a box-office smash, and was nominated for three Oscars. Nimoy returned for 1982's sequel, Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan, and even directed the third and fourth installments in the series -- 1984's Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
After Mr. Spock
The following year, Nimoy used his brief time away from the franchise to hone his directing chops further, and in 1987 he helmed the enormously successful Three Men and a Baby. That same year, he and wife Sandra divorced, and the following year, he wed actress Sandra Bay.
As the Star Trek film series ambled on, Nimoy and Shatner began to feel the strain. The two had put their contentiousness aside for the sake of the movies, but by the time 1989's Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and 1991's Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country hit movie theaters, Nimoy said his goodbyes to the franchise. The following year, he showcased his first screenwriting effort with Vincent, an adaptation of a former work that he directed and starred in.
Source: http://www.biography.com/people/leonard-nimoy-9423757?page=1
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