(written from a Production point of view)
Kenneth Meseroll (born 15 April 1952; age 67) is the actor who played Ensign McDowell in the Star Trek: The Next Generation fifth season episode "The Next Phase".
Meseroll was born in Highland Park, New Jersey, USA. Prior to his appearance on Star Trek, he voiced Derek Wildstar in the animated television series Star Blazers (1979) and had a guest role in an episode of The Cosby Show (1991). His only other acting credit in the 1990s is the 1999 television crime drama Lansky on which he worked with Michael Krawic, David Selburg, James Harper, Robert Miano, Peggy Jo Jacobs, Scott Haven, Tom Towles, Francis Guinan, Bert Remsen, Michelle Bonilla, James Noah, and Maury Ginsberg.
Since 2000 he appeared in the television drama The 70's (2000, with Tina Lifford, Leslie Silva, Robert Joy, Jeanetta Arnette, David Gautreaux, Buck McDancer, Hassan Nicholas, Mark Rolston, Michael Rothhaar, David Ruprecht, and Jack Shearer), the television drama After Diff'rent Strokes: When the Laughter Stopped (2000, with Corey Mendell Parker), and in the sport drama Carman: The Champion (2001, with Michael Nouri, Scott L. Schwartz, Zack Duhame, Manny Perry, and Michael Muñoz).
More notable, Meseroll appeared in episodes of Family Law (2000, with Julie Warner, Henry Darrow, Christopher McDonald, and Salli Elise Richardson), The X-Files (2001, with Dan Desmond, Scott MacDonald, Wade Williams, and Jennifer Parsons), Crossing Jordan (2002, with Miguel Ferrer), The Practice (2003, with Jim Lau), CSI: Miami (2004), Numb3rs (2005, with J. Paul Boehmer and Amanda Carlin), The West Wing (2005, with Ron Ostrow), ER (2006, with Scott Grimes and Michelle Bonilla), Criminal Minds (2007, with Billy Brown and Sofie Calderon), Shark (2008, with Jeri Ryan, Sterling Macer, Jr., Kathleen Garrett, James Black, and Joseph Will), Without a Trace (2007 and 2008, with Enrique Murciano, Bill Smitrovich, Cullen Douglas, and Lou Simon), Cold Case (2008, with Steven Anderson and Marlene Forte), Medium (2009), and Mad Men (2009).
Following a leading role as Fred Hesse in the short lived science fiction television series 10,000 Days in 2010, Meseroll guest starred in episodes of Criminal Minds (2010, with Michael Reilly Burke) and Grey's Anatomy (2010, directed by Allison Liddi).
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