David Gautreaux

David Gautreaux is an American actor whose career has taken in stage, television and film. Born in 1951, he is perhaps best known for a part that never made it to air: Xon, a 22-year-old Vulcan science officer created for the planned Star Trek: Phase II. Paramount Pictures announced plans for a new Star Trek series in 1977, and when Leonard Nimoy declined to return as Spock, the character of Lieutenant Xon was created to fill the void. The studio instead turned the project into a motion picture, and with Nimoy back on board, Gautreaux was cast as Commander Branch, leader of the station Epsilon 9, which the V'Ger cloud destroys early in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). His television work includes guest appearances on Man From Atlantis, T. J. Hooker, L. A. Law, ER, The West Wing, NCIS, Boston Legal and The Blacklist, and he had recurring parts on Damages and Franklin & Bash.