Leonard Nimoy was born on the 26th March, 1939 in Boston to Russian-Jewish immigrants. Although not very interested in studying academically, Nimoy was fond of acting and made his stage debut at the age of eight when he starred in "Hansel and Gretal". He continued starring in community plays until the age of eighteen.

After taking a summer course at college, Nimoy moved to California in search of a professional acting career and  in 1954 he married fellow actress Sandra Zober. Nimoy then joined the armed forces and served eighteen months at Fort McPhearson, Georgia. Here he wrote and narrated several shows for the Army's Special Service Branch.

On discharge from the Army, Nimoy took a variety of jobs including movie usher and taxi driver in order to pay for his bills whilst he was enrolled in the Pasadena Playhouse. Nimoy's film debut was in 1951 with a small role in a film entitled "Queen for the Day" but his first major breakthrough came in 1952 when he had the starring role in "Kid Monk Baroni" in which he played a deformed boxer. After leaving the Pasadena Playhouse he had several roles in television shows including "Doctor Kildare","The Outer Limits" and "The Virginian" amongst others.

In 1966, Nimoy got his big break in "Star Trek" playing the role of science officer Spock. During this successful period, Nimoy released several albums, the first being "Leonard Nimoy Presents Spock's Music From Outer Space" and the album even spawned a hit single.

After "Star Trek" finished in 1969, Nimoy stayed in television playing Paris in "Mission: Impossible", taking over from Martin Landau. He stayed with the show for two years then gained roles in several made for TV movies.

In 1975 Nimoy enrolled in college where he earned a masters degree in education. 1978 saw a change of direction for Nimoy however when he starred in the critically acclaimed and highly successful remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" alongside Donald Sutherland. After filming had finished, Nimoy embarked on a three year tour of the United States with a one-man play he had both written and directed and it ran for 150 performances and was also shown on the A&E Network.

Also within this period, work began on the first "Star Trek" film, "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" (1979), more films followed with Nimoy directing "The Search for Spock" (1984) and "The Voyage Home" (1986) which is one of the most popular of the series. He also received writing credits for "The Voyage Home" and "Undiscovered Country" (1991) which he Executive Produced.

In 1985 Nimoy received his star on the "Hollywood walk of Fame" and whilst his professional career was on the up, his personal life was suffering and in 1986, Nimoy and his wife divorced and Nimoy continued his directing outside of the "Star Trek" genre by making the hugely successful "Three Men and a Baby" (1987). It was around this time that Nimoy's passion for photography really flourished and he produced several books featuring his poetry and black and white photos.

On March 19th 2001, Nimoy and his current wife, Susan Bay, donated  $1 million (US) towards the refurbishment of Los Angeles' Griffith University and as thanks a new lecture hall, the "Leonard Nimoy Event Horizon" was named in his honour. 

Works Cited and Consulted

The Official Star Trek Website
The Official Leonard Nimoy Fan Club (US)
Leonard Nimoy's Official Photography site
Biography.com