

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963; age 57) is a British actor who portrayed Captain Gabriel Lorca, commanding officer of the USS Discovery, in Star Trek: Discovery. [1] Isaacs also voiced the character as part of the Discovery-themed Star Trek Online expansion, Rise of Discovery. [2] He is best known for playing Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter film franchise.

In March 2017, it was announced that Isaacs was cast as Captain Lorca in Star Trek: Discovery. [3]

For his role as Lorca, Isaacs won an Empire Award for Best TV Actor and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Actor on a Television Series. [4] [5]

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Career

Before Star Trek

Isaacs first became known to American movie-going audiences portraying NASA physicist Ronald Quincy in the 1998 Jerry Bruckheimer-produced, Michael Bay-directed hit Armageddon, co-written by J.J. Abrams and working alongside Jeff Austin, Brian Brophy, Jim Fitzpatrick, Anthony Guidera, John Mahon, J. Patrick McCormack, Marshall Teague, Peter White, and Lawrence Tierney. Isaacs reteamed with Bruckheimer as Army Ranger operative Mike Steele in the 2001 war epic Black Hawk Down. Set during the disastrous raid in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993, Isaacs costarred with Eric Bana, Tom Hardy, Glenn Morshower, and Enrique Murciano. Other military roles include Soldier (1998) with Elizabeth Dennehy and the villainous British army officer Tavington in 2000's The Patriot, co-starring Rene Auberjonois and Leon Rippy.

Stepping out of military roles, Isaacs co-starred in the supernatural 2000 television film The Sight, with Kevin Tighe. In 2001, Isaacs transitioned to romantic fare beginning with Sweet November with the likes of Robert Joy and Frank Langella. 2002 found Isaacs making a return to military drama co-starring in Windtalkers with Holmes R. Osborne and Christian Slater. That year Isaacs appeared as Charles Beck in Passionada, which co-starred Seymour Cassel. Finally that year was High Times Potluck opposite Frank Gorshin.

Isaacs joined veteran Colm Meaney in 2004's Battle of the Brave. Isaacs would appear uncredited in the 2005 superhero film Elektra costarring TNG guest Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. That year Isaacs was back in romantic films costarring in Nine Lives with K Callan. Following this Isaacs made a foray into comedy in the sports-themed Tennis, Anyone with Debra Wilson. For 2007, Isaacs was seen in the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino anthology film Grindhouse where Isaacs joined James Parks and Tom Towles.

Isaacs is also known for his voiceover work in video games. He was the voice of the villainous Ra's al Ghul in 2010's Batman: Under the Red Hood with Brian George, Bruce Greenwood, Dwight Schultz, and Wade Andrew Williams followed by Castlevania: Lords of Shadows and its 2014 sequel Lords of Shadow 2 both times with Patrick Stewart. Isaacs' other work that year included the telefilm Pleading Guilty where he was joined by Mädchen Amick, John Larroquette, and Leland Orser. In addition to Harry Potter, Isaacs joined another franchise lending his voice to Cars 2 with DS9 recurring actor Paul Dooley.

2013 saw Isaacs costarring in the telefilm The Surgeon General joining Clancy Brown. Isaacs was on the big screen in Sweetwater opposite Stephen Root. Isaacs worked in 2014's After the Fall with Keith Carradine. That year, Isaacs costarred in the NBC remake of Rosemary's Baby starring Zoë Saldana in the title role whereas the original costarred Gail Bonney and Elisha Cook. Isaacs also portrayed the primary antagonist, the Grand Inquisitor, in the first season of Star Wars Rebels, in which Brent Spiner also had a recurring role. Isaacs concluded the year in the World War 2 film Fury with Brad William Henke. In 2015, Isaacs won a role in Stockholm, Pennsylvania with past Trek actors Rosalind Chao and Tom Wright. Next, Isaacs was back in video game voiceover work with Justice League: Gods & Monsters alongside Larry Cedar, Penny Johnson, Bruce Thomas, and Marcelo Tubert. With Alice Eve joining him, Isaacs starred in the title role of the short film Lithgow Saint.

As a performer on series television, Isaacs appeared as British photojournalist Simon Ayres on The West Wing in 2004, appearing in the penultimate and final episodes of the fifth season (with Terry O'Quinn, Ron Canada, Steven Culp, and Natalija Nogulich) and the sixth season premiere. Isaacs also guested on the HBO comedy Entourage in 2008 with Alan Dale.

Isaacs' first starring role was as Irish-American mobster Micheal Caffee in the Rhode Island-set Brotherhood which aired on Showtime. Isaacs' character was a fictional analogue of real-life Boston mob figure Whitey Bulger. On that series his mother was played by Fionnula Flanagan. Isaacs also starred in the Netflix series The OA from 2016 to 2019, which also featured Alice Krige.

After Star Trek

On 1 September 2017, Isaacs, as Captain Lorca, in collaboration with the dance troupe Diversity, switched on the Blackpool Illuminations, the start of that year's annual festival of lights in Blackpool, UK. This was the first time Star Trek was involved in the highly celebrated switching-on ceremony.

Since the end of his run, thus far, in Star Trek: Discovery, Isaacs starred in the films Scooby! (with Frank Welker) and Operation Mincemeat in 2020, as well as the TV series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (with Shazad Latif and Simon Pegg) in 2019 and Castlevania (with Tony Amendola) in 2020.

Star Trek appearances