William Alan Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor and novelist. He gained worldwide fame and became a cultural icon for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk, captain of the starship USS Enterprise, in the television series Star Trek from 1966 to 1969, Star Trek: The Animated Series and in seven of the subsequent Star Trek feature films. He has written a series of books chronicling his experiences playing Captain Kirk and being a part of Star Trek as well as several co-written novels set in the Star Trek universe. He has also authored a series of science fiction novels called TekWar that were adapted for television.

Shatner also played the title veteran police sergeant in T.J. Hooker from 1982 to 1986. He has since worked as a musician, bestselling author, producer, director, and celebrity pitchman, most recently as the "Negotiator" for the Priceline.com travel website. From 2004 to 2008, he starred as attorney Denny Crane on the television drama Boston Legal, for which he has won three Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. As of 2009, Shatner stars as the voice of Don Salmonella Gavone on the animated series "The Gavones."

William Shatner was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, the son of Anna (née Garmaise) and Joseph Shatner, a clothing manufacturer. He has two sisters, Joy and Farla. His paternal grandfather, Wolf Schattner, anglicized the family name to "Shatner". Shatner's grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Poland and Hungary, and Shatner was raised in Conservative Judaism. He attended Willingdon Elementary School, in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce and Baron Byng High School, in Montreal, as well as West Hill high school in NDG and earned a Bachelor's degree in commerce from McGill University.