Star Trek's Hot New Hero Chris Pine

By Alexis Chiu/Los Angeles, with Scott Huver/Los Angeles

UPDATED 05/25/2009 at 01:00 AM EDT • Originally published 05/25/2009 at 01:00 AM EDT

He's 28, a Hollywood heir and galactically good-looking in a Starfleet uniform. Get to know Chris Pine, Star Trek's brash James T. Kirk.

ACTING RUNS IN THE FAMILY
His dad, Robert, played Sgt. Getraer on TV's CHiPs; mom Gwynne Gilford starred in the 1987 He-Man film Masters of the Universe; and his late grandmother Anne Gwynne was an actress and WWII-era pinup model. "I couldn't be prouder," his dad says of Chris's success. "He's an incredibly hard worker."

HE'S GOT BRAINS TOO
Pine graduated from U.C. Berkeley with an English degree in 2002 and then worked as a restaurant server before landing his breakout role in 2004's The Princess Diaries 2.

HE WASN'T A TREKKIE
"I was more of a Star Wars kid," says Pine. "But [my grandmother] was a big William Shatner fan. She watched T.J. Hooker every time she babysat me."

HIS NEXT ROLE?
Uncle! Sister Katie, 36, a psychologist, is expecting her first child in August. Careerwise, Pine is prepping to star in the play Farragut North with Chris Noth in L.A.

WILLIAM SHATNER APPROVES
"Perfect casting," says the original Kirk, who predicts, "He's young and he's handsome and he will be rich."