'Star Trek' Star James Frain Files For Divorce After 19-Year Marriage

Actor James Frain is filing for divorce from his wife, director Marta Cunningham.

According to court documents obtained by The Blast, “The Tudors” star is filing for divorce after almost two decades together.

According to court documents obtained exclusively by The Blast, actor James Frain is filing for divorce from his wife, Marta Cunningham, after nineteen years together. The couple wed in 2004 and shares two children: a son named Ezra and a daughter named Sukari.

The “Star Trek: Discovery” actor cited “irreconcilable differences” as the reason for the split. Although the former couple has been married for nineteen years, Frain claims that they separated in January of this year.

Although their son is eighteen and still in high school, their daughter is a minor, so there is still the subject of child support to consider. In addition to spousal support, Frain is asking a judge for “any additional relief this Court may deem equitable.”

In terms of dividing separate property, the court documents state that Frain “has not yet ascertained all separate property assets and debts. Therefore, the Petitioner will, if and when appropriate, seek leave to amend once ascertained.” The same goes for community property, with Frain noting that he “has not yet ascertained all community and quasi-community assets and debts.”

The 54-year-old actor had a recurring role as Sarek on “Star Trek: Discovery.” In an interview with Variety, James Frain revealed that it was a “challenge” for him to play a Vulcan and conceal his emotions.

“When I dug around in the canon and the backstory of the character, the idea of Vulcans — there’s a sort of origin story,” he explained. “Apparently, they were a very passionate and expressive species, and they had a catastrophic nuclear war on their planet and they came to the conclusion that that war occurred because of these out-of-control feelings that need to be repressed and managed.”

“They built a culture based on logic so that nothing like that could ever happen again. So in their prehistory, there’s this massive repression,” he continued. “I thought that was really interesting, how that can be handed down from generation to generation. Yet there is for all of the Vulcans a conflict between something inner that has to be denied and a code of conduct that is absolutely rigorous.”

James Frain also said that it was “tricky” trying to navigate the extremes of being too robotic or too emotional. “Too much of one is boring. Too much of the other is out of character. It’s interesting to play,” he said. “It’s very challenging. I never know really if I’ve got it right. But that’s always the question in every scene, every beat — am I calibrating this correctly?”

Sarek is a character who has appeared in other versions of “Star Trek.” Frain admitted that Mark Lenard “performed most of who Sarek is” and described the Vulcan as a “beloved character” when he was first introduced.

“I had to honor that,” Frain said. “I felt like I had to provide something that could conceivably lead to where he ends up in the [original] series. I didn’t want to get locked up in imitation. I don’t think that’s helpful.”

James Frain might be best known for appearing as Thomas Cromwell in the Showtime historical drama “The Tudors,” which aired from 2007 to 2009. He also played Franklin Mott in the HBO drama “True Blood,” and Ferdinand Chevalier in BBC’s sci-fi thriller “Orphan Black” from 2015 to 2017.

He made his film debut as Peter Whistler in 1993’s “Shadowlands.” He went on to star in Robinson Crusoe in 1997 and has made appearances in 2010’s “Tron: Legacy,” 2011’s “Water for Elephants,” 2013’s “The Lone Ranger,” and 2019’s “Against the Clock.”

After appearing on a 2020 episode of “What We Do in the Shadows,” Frain made his last appearance as Sir Damian Campbell in the mini-series “Showtrial,” which wrapped up its five-episode run in November 2021.

At this time, neither James Frain nor Marta Cunningham has publicly commented on their divorce.