William Shatner Issues Bold PSA as He Celebrates 95th Birthday

Michelle Stein March 23, 2026, 8:25 am

What To Know

William Shatner celebrated his 95th birthday by starring in a PETA video.
In his birthday Instagram post, Shatner humorously reflected on aging, sharing photos taken by his daughter and joking about still enjoying cigars at 95.
Fans and celebrities flooded Shatner’s social media with birthday wishes, referencing his iconic Star Trek role and encouraging him to “live long and prosper.”

William Shatner just celebrated his 95th birthday — and the Star Trek icon issued a bold PSA as he marked the milestone.

On March 17, days before his birthday, the actor who played Captain Kirk starred in a new video on behalf of PETA.

“I just want to say that PETA is terrific,” Shatner said in the clip. “The animals that took millions of years, in some cases, billions of years, to evolve and be part of the environment, they’re dying because of man.”

He added, “It is really bad. It’s tragic. This beautiful planet that is so gorgeous and so interconnected, we’re killing it. And we have a chance to stop that. We have the science to stop it, and we must clean up our act now before it’s too late.”

The end of the video featured text that read, “Please go vegan. Every animal is someone.”

On March 22, Shatner’s actual birthday, he posted a cheeky update on Instagram with two photos taken by his daughter, Lizabeth Shatner. (He also has two other daughters, Melanie and Leslie, with his first wife, Gloria Rand.) The first shot showed him smiling near a body of water, while the second snap featured him in the same setting, but smoking a cigar.

“At 95, I’m still smokin’! 😝,” he quipped in the caption. “I’ve learned two things: Never waste a good cigar. Never trust anyone who says you should ‘act your age.’ 😉👍🏻.”