Actor / Director Profile

Stephen Manley was born in Encino in 1965. He was adopted by Stella and Sam Manley when he was a few months old. His adoptive grandfather, Stephen Soldi, was an actor in many films such as "Singing in the Rain" (the man Gene Kelly gives an umbrella to at the end). He was best known for playing "Wimpy" as a character to Popeye. His only daughter Stella was contracted as a teenager to MGM studios and was in the movie "Viva Zapata" with Anthony Quinn.(She was the girl thrown into the train by him). Soon Stephen became the third generation actor, first appearing on "The Art Linkletter Show" at 9 months of age. He soon landed many parts in film, television and commercial. He is best known for his role in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" in which he plays young Spock during the famous Pon Farr scene. By 18 he attended college at The Pasadena Art Center and graduated with a degree in Film and Fine Art. He wrote, produced and directed a film called "Greasepaint" which played for two years on Bravo and won awards at the Houston Film Festival. After a needed break from the film industry he soon began working on other film projects. More recently, he acted in a few independent films and is now pursuing acting jobs again.