Performing in the “Star Trek” franchise can define an actor’s career, as it did for “Trek” luminaries like Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Stewart, and Jeri Ryan. But “Trek” fame can have its downsides, too, from being typecast to frustrations with alien makeup. For actor Brent Spiner, who played the android Lieutenant Commander Data on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” his biggest gripe wasn’t either of those. Nor was it working with his most challenging co-star, Spot. Instead, he was at his most annoyed when fans on the street would call him “Data,” rather than “Brent” or “Mr. Spiner.”

“Sometimes I think [playing Data] limited me in ways I wished it hadn’t, but I realize I don’t have any control over that,” Spiner told Vice Magazine in a 2012 interview. “The only thing that bothers me — and it happens all the time — is when people see me and shout, ‘DATA! DATA’! I’m fine with people recognizing me. I just wish they shouted, ‘Guy who played Data’!” It’s a minor but understandable frustration, because it undoubtedly happens all of the time. Spiner is recognizable to sci-fi fans all over the world, and many simply can’t separate him from the character he’s played for decades. It probably hasn’t gotten any better for him, either. In 2023, the actor returned to the franchise for all three seasons of “Star Trek: Picard.”

Though Brent Spiner says that fans calling him by his character’s name was his biggest grievance stemming from his role as Lieutenant Commander Data on “The Next Generation,” it certainly wasn’t his only problem. In fact, it’s somewhat surprising that the actor would call that out as his primary hassle, because he has also spoken out about the issues he endured with the difficult makeup process that turned him into an emotionless, metallic-skinned, yellow-eyed android.

“The make-up was a nightmare,” Spiner said in a Reddit AMA in 2012. “Particularly the contact lenses,” he added, noting that the whole process took nearly an hour and a half of sitting in a makeup chair, being covered in gold paint, having a wig applied, and contact lenses inserted. Thankfully, he had some comfort. “That process was made very pleasurable by [makeup supervisor] Michael Westmore, a genius and a very nice man.” The regular marathon in his prep chair still wasn’t the worst of his suffering. The fallout from the makeup itself was arguably worse. Spiner has said that those infamous yellow contact lenses caused serious issues with his eyes.

In December of 2014, the actor took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to state, “This February, Star Trek will e[sic] celebrating 25yrs since my first eye infection. No gifts please.” Despite the problems with his physical transformation, it was a deep sense of FOMO that kept Spiner returning to his role as the fan-favorite android. Weighing the gifts of the “Trek” franchise versus the troubles, it’s doubtful that Spiner would find any comfort in his suffering instead affecting the other actors who auditioned for Data.