James Parks (born 16 November 1968; age 55) is the actor who played Vel in the Star Trek: Voyager third season episode "The Chute" and Bennings in the Star Trek: Enterprise third season episode "North Star". The son of veteran actor Michael Parks, James Parks has become an accomplished acting talent in his own right.
One of his earliest television appearances was Line of Fire: The Morris Dees Story (1991, co-starring Corbin Bernsen and Casey Biggs). The following year, he made his feature film debut with a small role in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992, starring Mädchen Amick, Miguel Ferrer, and Ray Wise).
In 1995, Parks and veteran Trek actor Scott MacDonald guest-starred in an episode of Space: Above and Beyond. The next year, Parks appeared on Babylon 5 along with Bruce McGill, Phil Morris, and series regulars Andreas Katsulas and Bill Mumy. After his appearance on Voyager, Parks was seen in Alien Nation: The Enemy Within, starring Gary Graham, Eric Pierpoint, Michele Scarabelli, Ron Fassler, Tiny Ron, and Kerrie Keane. He could also be seen on Apollo 11 (1996, with Matt Frewer, Tim Kelleher, Jim Metzler, George Murdock, Stephanie Niznik, and Scott Alan Smith). He then appeared in Rough Riders (1997, with Brian Keith, Mark Moses, Marshall R. Teague, and Titus Welliver).
Other television series Parks has appeared on outside of Trek include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Profiler (including an episode with Pat Healy), JAG (including an episode with David Graf), Walker, Texas Ranger (with Noble Willingham), Nash Bridges (in an episode with Daniel Roebuck), The District (with Roger Aaron Brown), The X-Files (in an episode with Neal McDonough), Stargate SG-1 (including an episode with Scott MacDonald), Bones (in an episode with Clayton Rohner), and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. He was also seen in the very first episode of Deadwood along with Jim Beaver, Keith Carradine, Christopher Darga, Brad Dourif, Paula Malcomson, Leon Rippy, and Keone Young. In 2005, he appeared in an episode of Brannon Braga's Threshold, starring Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Brent Spiner.
Parks also has a handful of films to his credit, the most notable of which is Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003), in which he played deputy and "son number one" to Sheriff Earl McGraw – played by Parks' real father, Michael. James Parks' other films include Daltry Calhoun (2005, with Andrew Prine) and The Darkroom (2006, with Richard Riehle).