Born on the 27^th of October 1953 Picardo grew up in Philadelphia. After graduating from William Penn Charter School he attended Yale University as a pre-med student. (Ironic considering he was destined to play the EMH on Star Trek and several other Dr's on other shows)

While at Yale, Picardo landed a role in Leonard Bernstein's Mass, a musical theatre piece originally commissioned for the 1972 opening of the Kennedy Centre in Washington. Bernstein convinced Robert and his parents that he should pursue acting and in 1974 he graduated from Yale with a BA. in Drama.

He then enrolled in the Circle in the Square Professional Theatre Workshop whose other success stories include Kevin Bacon.

Due to lack of acting opportunities Picardo was forced to take a job waiting tables.

In 1976 his theatrical career progressed by appearing in a number of plays. This progressed onto Broadway. By now He became involved in TV and was nominated for an Emmy award for his role as Mr Cutlip in the series "The Wonder Years" starring Fred Savage. He was awarded the Viewers for Quality Television Founder's Award for his performances in both China Beach and The Wonder Years.

Picardo has an extended list of TV credits ranging from LA Law to ER.

He's also been in numerous feature films.
Alongside Dennis Quaid Picardo can be seen in the film Innerspace as the "Cowboy".
Other credits include: Gremlins II, Star Trek First Contact. (Complete list below)

Picardo directed episodes of Star Trek Voyager "Alter Ego & One Small Step"

Robert currently lives with his wife and their 2 daughters in LA

Interesting fact:
He originally auditioned for the role of Neelix in
Star Trek: Voyager.