De Lancie was born inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, on March 20, 1948,[1] one of two children born toJohn de Lancie (1921–2002), principaloboist of thePhiladelphia Orchestra from 1954 to 1977, and Andrea de Lancie (July 3, 1920 – October 18, 2006). His mother was French. His parents met in Paris. He has a sister.[2]
As a child, he was diagnosed withdyslexia and struggled to read throughout his school years.[3] He did not learn to read until he was 12. One of his teachers recommended that his parents encourage him to consider a career as an actor. He began to act around the age of 14, performing in a high school production ofWilliam Shakespeare'sHenry V.[4] He went on to study acting at Kent State University (he was in attendance during theKent State shootings on May 4, 1970)[5] and won a scholarship toJuilliard. He performed in numerous stage productions, at venues such as theAmerican Shakespeare Festival and theMark Taper Forum, and established a successful career in film and television.[4]
My popularity is very disproportionate to the amount of times that I actually was on the show. ... It's a double-edged sword. I never partook of the financial rewards of the show in terms of being a regular, I just came on and once a year would do a show.
De Lancie
Initially, de Lancie was too busy to audition for the part of Q, butGene Roddenberry (whom he did not know) arranged a second opportunity. De Lancie recognized that even thoughStar Trek was only a small part of his career, it opened doors for him.[6] In a 2012 interview, he said that he recalled his original audition, after which Roddenberry approached him, touched him on the shoulder, and said, "You make my writing sound better than it is."[7]
In April 2021, it was announced that de Lancie would reprise his role of Q in the second season ofStar Trek: Picard.[8] He subsequently appeared in multiple episodes of seasons two and three.
Known for his distinctive speaking style, de Lancie lent his voice to a number of projects. InMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, he voicedDiscord, a recurring character. Discord was inspired by Q as an omnipotent being who embodies mischief and chaos, but is genuinely good-hearted and is occasionally helpful to the heroes of the show;[citation needed] another connection to Q is that Discord often uses fewercontractions in his vocabulary.[citation needed] Discord is best described as ananti-hero, also similar to Q. Initially,Lauren Faust wanted to cast someone who could impersonate de Lancie, but Hasbro suggested casting de Lancie himself. Ironically, de Lancie has stated in an interview that, in preparation for his role as Discord, he did not draw from his past experience as Q.[20] De Lancie mentioned during a 2013 convention panel that his voice recordings of Discord are slightly sped up and lose their deep bass sound. Nevertheless, fans still praised de Lancie for his performance.[21] According toJim Miller inThe Art of Equestria, de Lancie's sessions are always done by phone, but his first session as Discord was videotaped.
In September 2019, de Lancie narrated as "Forever of the Stars" in the first ever live performances ofAyreon's Sci-Fi concept albumInto the Electric Castle.[28]
While on stage at the 2012 Ottawa ComicCon, de Lancie announced that he had made plans to co-produce a documentary about "bronies" (older, usually male teenage and adult fans ofMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic). He said he was taken aback by how disrespectfully national news media portrayed the brony fandom.[29] He started aKickstarter campaign to help fund the documentary, since titledBronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony.[30] The campaign began on May 13, 2012, and by June 10 had reached $322,022, becoming Kickstarter's second-highest funded film project of all time.[30]
Raised by secular parents, de Lancie is an advocate foratheism andhumanism. Of his education in a religious school inPhiladelphia, he remembers associating religion with manipulation. Rather than developing a religious outlook, he became fascinated by an ever-changing world: "I'm wondering if one of the things at the core of believing in God, or not, has to do with change. I have grown to embrace change. Personally, I love reading the science section in the paper every morning. I'm in awe of humankind's boundless curiosity."[31][32]
My name is John de Lancie, and I am a god. At least, I've played one on TV. And I'm here to tell you as a god that I was created by humans. And the words I spoke were written by men and women ... My creators took great care in exalting me to the position I hold today. And just like all the gods before me—Zeus, Baal, Yahweh—my god creators wanted you to believe that I am the omnipotent one.... Truth be told,... I don't exist any more than the thousands of other gods that humans have created, worshipped, and died for since the beginning of time.... But if you insist on believing in me, you do so at your own risk.... I will lead you down the path of ignorance, intolerance, and bigotry.... All because you believe.[31][33]
On July 14, 2017, de Lancie attended the unveiling of a statue ofClarence Darrow at the Rhea County Courthouse,Dayton, Tennessee, the site of theScopes Trial in 1925, where Darrow had argued in favor of the teaching ofevolution and secular education.[34][35]
In October 2019, de Lancie was a featured speaker at the annual conference of theCenter for Inquiry,CSICon.[31][36] At the conference he announced two new projects.[37] The first, an animated series, titledGod's Goofs, is meant to point out that intelligent design is absurd. The second project is a play based on the historic intelligent design trialKitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (2005) inDover, Pennsylvania — the first direct challenge brought in US federal courts testing a public school district policy that required the teaching ofintelligent design.[38]
^de Lancie, John (May 31, 2006)."John de Lancie".The Trek Nation (Interview). Interviewed by Michelle Erica Green – via trektoday.com.
^abcdefghijklmno"John de Lancie (visual voices guide)". Behind The Voice Actors. RetrievedOctober 13, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors and their respective characters found in its credits or other reliable sources of information.
