Tom Morga

From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.

You may also be looking for comic book artist Tom Morgan.

Thomas "Tom" A. Morga is a stuntman, stunt actor, and stunt coordinator who holds the record for being the most seen stuntman in Star Trek. Between 1979 and 2005 he appeared in six feature films and all four spin-off television series, doubled main actors and guest actors, and played almost every major race. Morga also served as assistant stunt coordinator to Dennis Madalone on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager for fourteen years. This position included fight choreographies for episodes such as "Blood Oath" and the creating of props such as the blade weapons in "Battle Lines". For the most of his appearances he received no on-screen credits.

Morga was born in Burbank, California and worked, prior to his career in the stunt business, as a smokejumper, stationed in Missoula, Montana, between 1969 and 1974, during his college time. His work as a smokejumper brought him into his first television appearance when he was featured in an episode of the animal documentary television series Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. In the episode he appeared in, his team saved a wild buffalo herd from a forrest fire. This experience inspired him to take a stunt career.

He started his career in the stunt industry in the '70s and performed in several live stunt shows such as one for the Universal Studios Tour. He moved on to work as stunt double for Patrick Duffy in the television series The Man from Atlantis (1977-1978), where he performed alongside Gene LeBell and Hubie Kerns under the coordination of the late Paul Stader. His work included doubling for Duffy in scenes outside the water and on the surface. This was also the first time he worked as stunt coordinator for an episode. He also doubled Duffy in a few episodes of the long running soap Dallas and landed parts in films such as the three-time Golden Globe nominated Movie Movie (1978) and the first Star Trek feature film, in which he doubled Spock actor Leonard Nimoy.

In the '80s he doubled actor Jeff Goldblum in the television series Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980), which starred Ben Vereen and was coordinated by Dennis Madalone and Bruce Boxleitner in Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983-1987), as well as Ron Perlman in the fantasy series The Beauty and the Beast (1987-1990), which featured Armin Shimerman and Tony Jay. In 1982 Morga became a member of the "Stuntmen's Association of Motion Pictures". Morga also got screen time in series such as Dynasty (starring Joan Collins), Hart to Hart, MacGyver, The Six-Million-Dollar Man, Matlock, Fantasy Island (starring Ricardo Montalban), Spenser: For Hire (with Avery Brooks), and the first spin-off Star Trek series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Other actors he doubled for film and television projects include James Keach, James Coburn, David Hasselhoff, John Travolta, the late Walter Matthau, and Steve Railsback.

Beside his television work he was also busy on the big screen, where he doubled Harold Ramis in Ghost Busters (1984), performed in Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985, with the late David Graf), the academy award-nominated Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985, alongside Kate Mulgrew and Joel Grey), the sequel Jaws: The Revenge (1987), the science fiction film Alien Nation (1988), and three more Star Trek feature films. During this period he stepped into another genre he became famous for: the horror film. Morga played the lead villain Michael Myers in the first scenes of Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988). He also appeared in the genre films Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986).

In the '90s he continued his work in feature films, appearing in Hudson Hawk (1991), Child's Play 3 (1991, starring Brad Dourif), Sam Raimi's Army of Darkness (1992, again with Dennis Madalone, and with Christopher Doyle and Patricia Tallman), the seven-time academy award nominated The Shawshank Redemption (1994, with Clancy Brown, Bob Gunton, and William Sadler), Batman Forever (1995, with Rene Auberjonois), Independence Day (1996, with Brent Spiner), Deep Impact (1998, with James Cromwell and Denise Crosby), and The Mask of Zorro (1998). He again doubled for Jeff Goldblum in the sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) and performed in the sixth Star Trek feature.

On television he continued in television series', including NYPD Blue, Babylon 5 (starring Andreas Katsulas, Bill Mumy, and Star Trek stunt partner Patricia Tallman), Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, She Spies, Dragnet, and as stunt double for Michael Richards in Seinfeld.

In 2001 he doubled for Keith Carradine in Cahoots and appeared in Dr. Doolitlle 2. He acted in Dennis Madalone's music video "America We Stand as One" (2002), also as assistant director; the comic adaption Spider-Man (2002) alongside Spice Williams-Crosby and starring Kirsten Dunst, the short film Jennifer is Dead (2002), with Pat Tallman, Dennis Madalone, and Lynn Salvatori, Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can (2002), Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), National Treasure (2004), the tenth Star Trek feature film, and all three Pirates of the Caribbean films (2003, 2006, and 2007), with Lee Arenberg and fellow stunt performers Brian J. Williams, Theo Kypri, Christopher Leps, Dana Dru Evenson, Alex Chansky, and Jay Caputo. In 2007 he was part of the stunt team which was awarded with a Taurus World Stunt award for best fight sequence in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and shared this award with Mark Aaron Wagner, Thomas DuPont, Lisa Hoyle, Tony Angelotti, Jeff Wolfe, Phil Culotta, and Jeremy Fry.

Currently he has been serving as stunt coordinator for Corbin Bernsen's Dead Air (set for 2008), also with Patricia Tallman. The film will be finished in April 2008.

Contents 1 Star Trek notes 2 Star Trek appearances 2.1 Stunt Double appearances 2.2 Other appearances 3 External links

[edit] Star Trek notes

• While filming a stunt for the episode "The Way of the Warrior", Dennis Madalone took a hit in his eye and Morga replaced him to fulfill the stunt sequence. In the final aired version both stuntmen played the holographic Skull warrior in the fight sequence with Michael Dorn.
• Morga filmed scenes as a Starfleet crewman for the episode "The Visitor", in which he performed stunts followed by an explosion. These scenes however were removed from the aired version, and Morga did not appear on-screen.

[edit] Star Trek appearances

Klingon first officer Star Trek: The Motion Picture	Starfleet officer Star Trek III: The Search for Spock	The Brute Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country	Romulan guard TNG: "Redemption II" (uncredited)
Nausicaan dom-jot player TNG: "Tapestry" (uncredited)	Borg drone TNG: "Descent" "Descent, Part II" (uncredited)	Prytt trooper TNG: "Attached" (uncredited)	Cardassian soldier TNG: "Journey's End" (uncredited)
Klingon assassin TNG: "Firstborn" (uncredited)	Cardassian soldier TNG: "Preemptive Strike" (uncredited)	Bajoran man DS9: "A Man Alone" (uncredited)	Klaestron kidnapper DS9: "Dax" (uncredited)
Nol-Ennis warrior DS9: "Battle Lines" (uncredited)	Bajoran security deputy DS9: "Progress" (uncredited)	Kellerun soldier DS9: "Armageddon Game" (uncredited)	Maquis guard DS9: "The Maquis, Part II" (uncredited)
Jem'Hadar soldier DS9: "The Search, Part II"	Romulan guard DS9: "Visionary" (uncredited)	Holographic skull fighter DS9: "The Way of the Warrior") (uncredited)	Klingon warrior DS9: "The Way of the Warrior" (uncredited)
Crewman Janklow DS9: "Starship Down" (uncredited)	MP guard DS9: "Little Green Men" (uncredited)	Soto DS9: "The Sword of Kahless"	Argrathi guard DS9: "Hard Time" (uncredited)
Minnis VOY: "Alliances" (uncredited)	Klingon soldier (left) DS9: "Nor the Battle to the Strong" (uncredited)	Cardassian soldier DS9: "Empok Nor" (uncredited)	Terok Nor guard DS9: "Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night" (uncredited)
Madrat DS9: "Time's Orphan" (uncredited)	Asylum orderly DS9: "Shadows and Symbols" (uncredited)	Bajoran Pah-wraith follower DS9: "Covenant" (uncredited)	Holographic Viking VOY: "Heroes and Demons" (uncredited)
Starfleet security officer VOY: "Non Sequitur" (uncredited)	Kazon-Nistrim guard VOY: "Investigations" (uncredited)	Akritirian prisoner VOY: "The Chute" (uncredited)	Crewman Carlson VOY: "Worst Case Scenario" (uncredited)
Borg drone VOY: "Unimatrix Zero" (uncredited)	Osaarian marauder ENT: "Anomaly" (uncredited)	Seleya crewmember ENT: "Impulse" (uncredited)	Xindi-Reptilian ENT: "Carpenter Street"
Klingon soldier ENT: "Borderland" (uncredited)

[edit] Stunt Double appearances

Stunt double for Jonathan Frakes TNG: "Conspiracy" (uncredited)	Stunt double for Brian Cousins TNG: "The Next Phase" (uncredited)	Stunt double for James Horan TNG: "Suspicions" (uncredited)	Stunt double for Michael Bofshever TNG: "Timescape" (uncredited)	Stunt double for Peter Crombie DS9: "Melora" (uncredited)
Stunt double for Christopher Neame VOY: "Heroes and Demons" (uncredited)	Stunt double for John Durbin DS9: "A Simple Investigation" (uncredited)	Stunt double for David Lee Smith VOY: "Darkling" (uncredited)	Stunt double for Keith Carradine (left) ENT: "First Flight" (uncredited)

[edit] Other appearances

[edit] External links

• TomMorga.com - official site
• Tom Morga at the Internet Movie Database
• Tom Morga at BauerFilms.com
• Tom Morga at FridayThe13thFilms.com
• Tom Morga at Stuntmen.com
• Tom Morga - former official site