Canadian-American actor, author, producer, director, screenwriter, and singer. William Shatner has turned a year older today. He is celebrating his 89th birthday, and while we are sure he has some special plans for today, (although we hope is practising social distancing given the COVID-19 outbreak), we are going to take this opportunity to give some interesting facts about this talented man.

Shatner was born and raised in Canada. So it's not surprising that he is bilingual. Considering he took birth in Montreal, Quebec, he can speak in French and in English.

Shatner began his acting career in 1952, however, it is in 1954 that he got his first big acting job. He started performing at world-famous Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario after taking training as a classical Shakespearean actor.

While he has many successful films and TV shows to his credit, the highlight of Shatner's career has to be Star Trek in which he was cast as Captain James T. Kirk for the second pilot from 1966 to 1969. However, after his contract with the show came to an end, he was having difficulty finding work. unfortunately, he lost his home and lived in a truck bed camper with less money. However, Shatner didn't lose hope and rebuilt his acting career by taking any acting offer that came his way.

Since we are talking about Star Trek, we would also like to take this opportunity to talk about his love for Dobermans. There is a connection between the two because at one point he even had one named his dog, Kirk after his Star Trek character.

View this post on Instagram Recycling this photo for #nationalloveyourpetday #wednesdaymotivation A post shared by William Shatner (@williamshatner) on Feb 20, 2019 at 6:33am PST

Shatner also does a lot of charity. At one point of time, he auctioned his kidney stone that had been removed. The proceeds went to Habitat for Humanity organization that looks after building houses for those in need.

Shatner married four times. Yep! Although he has been married to Elizabeth Shatner since 2001. They also have three daughters, Leslie, Lisabeth and Melanie. Many don't know this, his third wife, Nerine Kidd, sadly died in their pool at their home in California in August 1999.

Shatner also had a musical career where he did his renditions of popular numbers. He has a very different style of singing. It's more like reading the songs, which has left the critics divided. We wish William Shatner a very happy birthday.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 22, 2020 10:43 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).