Introduction
Timothy Darrell Russ (born June 22, 1956) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, and musician. He is known for his roles as Lieutenant Commander Tuvok on Star Trek: Voyager, as Frank on Samantha Who?, and as Principal Franklin, a recurring character on the Nickelodeon live-action teen sitcom iCarly.
Life and career
Russ was born in Washington, D.C. to a state government employee mother and a U.S. Air Force officer father. He spent part of his childhood in Turkey. During his early life, Tim Russ owned many dogs.
Star Trek and other roles
In 1985, Russ appeared in the Twilight Zone (1985) episode "Kentucky Rye" as "Officer #2."
Russ made a brief appearance in the comedy movie Spaceballs as the trooper who shouts "We ain't found shit!" while "combing" the desert with an afro comb.
Russ has been extensively involved in the Star Trek franchise, as a voice and film actor, writer, director, and producer. He played several minor roles before landing the role as the main character Tuvok, a character seen from the first, January 1995 episode of Star Trek: Voyager. Russ screen-tested, in 1987, for the role of Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation before gaining the role of Tuvok. Russ went into Voyager as a dedicated Trekkie with an extensive knowledge of Vulcan lore and has played the following roles in the Star Trek universe :
- Devor, a mercenary hijacking the Enterprise-D disguised as a service engineer in the "Starship Mine" episode of The Next Generation (1993)
- T'Kar, a Klingon in the Deep Space Nine episode "Invasive Procedures" (1993)
- A human tactical Lieutenant on the USS Enterprise-B in the film Star Trek Generations (1994).
- The Mirror Universe counterpart of his Voyager character, Tuvok, who was a member of the Terran Resistance in the Deep Space Nine (1995) episode "Through the Looking Glass".
In 1995, Russ co-wrote the story for the Malibu Comics Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #29 and 30, with Mark Paniccia. Russ performed voice acting roles as Tuvok for the computer games Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force and Star Trek: Elite Force II. Russ is also the director and one of the stars of the fan series Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, the first third of which was released in December 2007, with the remaining two-thirds released in 2008.
Russ's character's name D.C. Montana in The Highwayman was a reference to Trek writer D. C. Fontana.
In 1990, he appeared in an episode of Freddy's Nightmares.
Russ directed and co-starred in Star Trek: Renegades, and in both 2013 and 2014 reprised his role as the voice of Tuvok in the MMO Star Trek Online.
Later work
Russ appeared as Frank, a sarcastic doorman in Christina Applegate's ABC comedy, Samantha Who? from 2007 to 2009, and appeared for seven seasons as Principal Ted Franklin in Nickelodeon's show iCarly. He also portrayed a doctor on an episode of Hannah Montana, "I Am Hannah, Hear Me Croak."
Russ won an Emmy Award in 2014 for public service ads he did for the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office on intellectual property theft and cyber bullying.
Music
Russ has been a musician for over 40 years, and a singer for at least 35.
- Only a Dream in Rio (1998)
- Tim Russ (2000)
- Kushangaza (2001)
- Brave New World (2003)
- 2nd Thoughts (2007)