Photos show Patrick Stewart's legendary career, from Shakespeare to 'Star Trek'

Patrick Stewart in 2018.

Jack Taylor/Getty Images

• Patrick Stewart has died after a "brief" battle with Alzheimer's and Lewy body dementia. He was 86.
• Stewart was one of the most prolific actors of his generation.
• He was best known for playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard in "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

Any actor will tell you that they'd be lucky to play a character long enough — and iconic enough — to become beloved by generations of fans worldwide.

Patrick Stewart had two.

The acting legend, who died on October 28, 2026, at the age of 86, played Captain Jean-Luc Picard, the captain of the USS Enterprise in the "Star Trek" franchise, for 36 years. He played the character from the premiere of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in 1987 through three seasons of "Star Trek: Picard," which concluded in 2023.

Of course, that's not the only character Stewart will be remembered for.

In 2000, Stewart was cast as Professor Charles Xavier, aka Professor X, the kind, yet complicated, telepathic leader of the X-Men. He went on to play Xavier eight more times in the X-Men series. He reprised the role for what will now be the final time in "Avengers: Doomsday," which is set for release in December.

In addition to Picard and Xavier, Stewart was a prolific theater actor and was knighted by the Queen in 2010 for his services to drama. He was a Shakespeare devotee, as a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company from 1966 to 1982. He also kept many of us sane during the pandemic by reading one of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets a day and posting them on Instagram.

Here's a look back at his 60-year career, onstage and on screen.

Before Patrick Stewart was on TV or in movies, he was a stage actor.

Patrick Stewart, who is starring as Launce in The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of The Two Gentlemen of Verona, with Blackie, a dog rescued in Leamington Spa by the Avon Dog Rescue Service, Blackie was immediately cast for the role of Crab, who has an important relationship in the play with Launce, 21st December 1970.

Malcolm McNeill/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

Stewart's first professional acting credit was in 1959 in the play "Cyrano de Bergerac." He then became a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1966.

He made his Broadway debut in 1971 in "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

He was nominated for five Olivier Awards, winning three. He was also nominated for a Tony and three Drama Desk Awards, winning one.

Patrick Stewart poses with his award for best supporting role at the Laurence Olivier Awards at the Grosvenor House on March 8, 2009 in London, England

Nat Jag/Getty Images

His first Olivier nominations both came in 1979. First, for best actor in a revival of "The Merchant of Venice," which he did not win, and second, for Best Supporting Actor in "Antony and Cleopatra," which he did win.

He won twice more: In 1994 for Best Entertainment for his one-man production of "A Christmas Carol" and in 2009 for Best Supporting Actor in "Hamlet."

His Tony Award nomination was in 2008 for best actor in a play for "Macbeth."

His Drama Desk win was in 1992 for his one-man version of "A Christmas Carol."

He appeared in dozens of productions in both London and New York.

Patrick Stewart, actor, who is playing the role of Captain Jean Luc Picard in Star Trek The Next Generation, pictured 20th April 1988.

Ken Lennox/Mirrorpix/Getty Images

It's impossible to list all his theatrical roles, but he was a true giant — so much so that his colleague and future close friend Ian McKellen told him that he shouldn't throw his stage career away to star in some sci-fi TV show.

"'No!' he said. 'No, you must not do that. You must not. You have too much important theater work to do. You can't throw that away to do TV. You can't. No,'" Stewart wrote in his memoir, "Making It So."

Of course, that sci-fi show was his big break.

His big break came in 1987, when he was cast as Captain Jean-Luc Picard on "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

British actor Patrick Stewart (as Captain Jean-Luc Picard) in a scene from an episode of the television series 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' entitled 'The Next Phase,' California, May 16, 1992.

CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images

Before "The Next Generation," there had been just one captain of the Enterprise: Captain Kirk, as played by William Shatner. Stewart had some large shoes to fill, but, as he would've said, he made it so.

Stewart played Picard for seven seasons of "TNG," plus an appearance on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine."

"TNG" became a deeply respected and beloved series, even garnering an Emmy nomination for best drama series in 1994 — a feat that wouldn't have been possible without Stewart's stewardship. He was also nominated for a SAG Award in 1994 for outstanding actor in a drama series.

"Without question, Jean-Luc is the most significant role of my career. And I will be forever grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of what is now such a historic franchise," he said in 2026.

He played Picard in four films, including "Star Trek: Generations," in which William Shatner passed the torch to Stewart and his crew.

Actor Patrick Stewart and actor William Shatner attend the "Star Trek" 25th Anniversary Celebration on June 6, 1991 at Paramount Pictures Studios in Hollywood, California.

Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

Stewart starred in four "TNG" films: "Star Trek: Generations," "Star Trek: First Contact," "Star Trek: Insurrection," and "Star Trek: Nemesis."

In "Generations," Stewart and Shatner appeared onscreen together, with Kirk giving Picard some advice on holding on to the captain's chair.

Shatner posted a statement on X after the news of Stewart's death, writing, "Sir Patrick Stewart was a friend, a colleague, and a magnificent actor. From the stage to the bridge of the Enterprise, he brought intelligence, grace, and a deep sense of humanity to everything he did. Captain Picard stood for the best of us, and so did the man who played him. I was filled with affection and admiration for him and his work."

After an 18-year break, Stewart returned to Picard and starred in three seasons of "Star Trek: Picard."

Brent Spiner, LeVar Burton, Jeri Ryan, Gates McFadden, Patrick Stewart, Alex Kurtzman, Jonathan Frakes, Terry Matalas and Michael Dorn attend the IMAX "Picard" screening at AMC The Grove 14 on April 19, 2023 in Los Angeles, California

Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Paramount+

Many "TNG" fans were less than pleased with how we left the crew of the Enterprise in 2004's "Nemesis," which is considered a low point for the franchise.

So, Trekkies everywhere were thrilled when news of "Star Trek: Picard" became public. Stewart reprised his role for three seasons, concluding in 2023.

In 2000, Stewart began playing Professor Charles Xavier in the "X-Men" film series.

20th Century Fox

The only other role that could rival Captain Jean-Luc Picard is Professor Charles Xavier, the leader of the X-Men.

He appeared in "X-Men," "X2," "X-Men: The Last Stand," "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," "The Wolverine," "X-Men: Days of Future Past," "Logan," "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," and "Avengers: Doomsday" as the telepathic, preternaturally wise mutant.

On set, he befriended his costar and fellow legend, Ian McKellen. The two became fast friends.

Actors Sir Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart attend the UK Premiere of "Mr Holmes" at the Odeon Kensington on June 10, 2015 in London, England.

Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

The two were so close that McKellen officiated Stewart's wedding to his wife, Sunny Ozell, in 2013.

In addition to playing Xavier and Magneto, the two also acted together onstage in productions of "Waiting for Godot" and "No Man's Land."

Stewart and his costar Hugh Jackman also had a close bond, which was on display when they reunited for the 2017 film "Logan."

Actors Hugh Jackman and Patrick Stewart attend the 'Logan' (Masaryk) photo call during the 67th Berlinale International Film Festival Berlin at Grand Hyatt Hotel on February 17, 2017 in Berlin, Germany.

Dominique Charriau/Getty Images

Xavier and Logan (aka Wolverine) had a particular bond throughout all the "X-Men" films, and it seemed that continued offscreen.

The two reunited for "Logan," which, at the time, was thought to be their final hurrah as the two mutants. It became one of the best comic-book films of all time, with Stewart even getting Oscar buzz, though he lost out on the nomination.

"We lost one of the greats of stage and screen today," Jackman wrote on Instagram after Stewart's death. "And, in my book, a tremendous friend and man. I learned so much from him. I will miss you, Patrick Stewart, all of my days."

One of Stewart's other longest-running roles was in "American Dad!" He appeared in over 120 episodes across 22 seasons.

Actor Patrick Stewart and Executive producer Seth Macfarlane arrive for the Premiere Of STARZ "Blunt Talk" held at DGA Theater on August 10, 2015 in Los Angeles, California.

Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images

MacFarlane, the creator of "Family Guy," "American Dad," and Ted," among other shows, is famously a huge Trekkie. His shows constantly reference "Star Trek," and he frequently got members of the cast to voice themselves on "Family Guy."

But with Stewart, he took it a step further, casting him as Avery Bullock, the unhinged deputy director of the CIA, on "American Dad."

He also narrated the two "Ted" films.

Patrick was one of those icons who we somehow all took for granted would always be with us." MacFarlane wrote on X. "We have lost a legendary actor today, and for many of us, a good friend. He will be deeply missed by the entire planet.

Stewart was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2010 for his services to drama, solidifying his status as a British national treasure.

Actor Sir Patrick Stewart poses with his award after he was Knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham PalaceJune 02, 2010 in London, England

Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images

"The knights of the theatre represented to me not only the pinnacle of the profession but the esteem in which the profession was held," he said at the time, per the BBC. "To find myself, to my astonishment, in that company is the grandest thing that has professionally happened to me."

He is one of 95 actors who have been bestowed the honor, according to People.

He was also a torchbearer at the 2012 London Olympics.

In this handout image provided by LOCOG, Torchbearer 095 Patrick Stewart carries the Olympic Flame on the Torch Relay leg through Croydon (London Borough) during Day 66 of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay on July 23, 2012 in London, England.

LOCOG via Getty Images

Being a torchbearer is a huge honor, especially when the games are in your home country.

"I have attended world premieres of big movies that have not had the excitement, and the sense of pleasure and pride that people are exhibiting today," Stewart said. "It was thrilling. I shall never forget today."

In July, Stewart said, "I can't imagine ever officially 'retiring.' I'll always and forever be an actor."

British actor Patrick Stewart arrives for the 84th Peabody Awards at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on June 9, 2024.

ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images

One of Stewart's final interviews was with TV Insider in July 2026, which he did to promote his new audiobook, a recording of Shakespeare's sonnets.

When asked whether he would ever retire, Stewart said no, though he noted that parts for people his age were few and far between. But he did shout out one of his final voiceover roles — and he had quite a varied voiceover career — in the series "Bait," in which he voiced a pig's head.

His final role will be this December in "Avengers: Doomsday."

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

After playing an alternate version of Xavier in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," Marvel confirmed back in March 2025 that Stewart would be reprising the original Xavier in "Avengers: Doomsday."

"It was a true privilege to know him and to work with him. His legacy lives on not only in decades of extraordinary work, but in the many, many people he mentored. He will be deeply missed," Marvel head Kevin Feige said in a statement.

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I've spent seven figures on longevity technology. I still think 4 simple habits matter more.

Gary Brecka wants to live until he's 120

Hoda Davaine/Getty Images for smoov

• Gary Brecka is a biologist who worked on predicting mortality for insurance companies.
• He's 56 and hopes to live to 120.
• He's purchased hyperbaric chambers and red light beds, but says sleep and community are more important.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Gary Brecka, co-founder of Ultimate Longevity Center. It has been edited for length and clarity.

I'm a biologist, and for years, I worked helping insurance companies try to predict exactly when their customers might die. I also expect to live to 120 — and I'm only 56 today.

Everyone on earth has a predicted life expectancy, based on large-scale data. When I worked for insurance companies, I used their data to analyze the specific factors that affected individual life expectancy.

What I found surprised me. For example, high blood pressure wasn't always associated with increased mortality. A lot of data from insurance companies ran counter to mainstream medical dogma.

My work was sometimes grim. One day, I found a potentially deadly medical error in a patient's chart, but I had no means to tell her. That was the day I decided I wanted to stop working to predict death and start helping people live longer, happier, healthier lives.

Skip the diets and cleanses, but move daily

A lot of longevity work isn't flashy. It's about the same healthy habits that we all know we should practice. If you show me someone's daily habits, I'll show you where they'll be in three to five years.

There's no evidence for dogmatic dieting, whether that's following keto, carnivore, or any other dietary trend. What extends life is the absence of processed foods. Likewise, you don't need to cleanse: if you're peeing, pooping, and sweating, you're already living a detox lifestyle.

Unsurprisingly, exercise is critically important. I know from working in insurance that a sedentary lifestyle is one of the biggest risk factors for death: sitting is the new smoking. Daily mobility is non-negotiable for me — I block off time for it on my calendar daily.

Put sleep on the calendar and don't use your phone in bed

Sleep is one of the most critical aspects of longevity. It's our human superpower, the time when our brains clear waste and form memories. And yet, sleep is the most bullied part of most people's calendar. It happens only after everything else is done.

I take the opposite approach: sleep is the first thing I put on my calendar. I am meticulous about keeping a solid sleep schedule, and I make my bedroom a sanctuary. To get good sleep — and all the health benefits that come with it — your nervous system needs to be regulated and relaxed.

I bring my phone into the bedroom, but put it on airplane mode. I don't scroll, watch TV, send work emails, or do anything else that could put my nervous system on high alert.

Build community around healthy habits

How often have we heard a story about spouses who have been married for decades, dying in quick succession? That's because relationships are critical to longevity — and they're something money can't buy. Your community and connections have a huge impact not only on your lifespan but also on your health span.

My kids range in age between 18 and 28, spanning all of Gen Z. Their peers are realizing how important community is. Run clubs are becoming more popular among that demographic. It's not just about physical health — anyone can lace up their sneakers and run a 5K — but about the community building that takes place before and after exercise.

We should all take a page from their books. Building social space with like-minded people who share your passions and purpose will help you live longer.

I've spent big on health technologies

The basic tenets of longevity — sleep, community, exercise, and unprocessed foods — will allow me to live a happy, healthy life. And they don't come with an unattainable price tag.

Because I have the means, I also use expensive technologies that can further harm my health. I've spent well into seven figures on health technology, including saunas, cold plunges, red light beds, and hyperbaric chambers at my two houses.

I'd rather have a hyperbaric chamber than a Ferrari, and a red-light bed than a Rolex. But I also know that you can't skip the basics of healthy living, no matter what cutting-edge technology you have access to.

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Amazon warehouse workers tell us what they really think about their new robot coworkers

Robots at work inside an Amazon warehouse

Jess Lynn Goss for BI; Rebecca Zisser/BI

Amazon warehouse workers used to spend much of their days walking, pushing carts through long aisles to manually retrieve customer orders from shelves.

Today, hundreds of "Hercules" robots do this instead, carrying towering yellow storage pods filled with inventory to employee workstations.

"I'd walk like 10 miles a day on average," said Mohammed Khan, who started as an entry-level picker 12 years ago and is now a senior manager at an Amazon warehouse in Tracy, California.

Amazon's robots "cut down all that walking time," he told Business Insider during a recent tour of the facility.

Mohammed Khan

Jess Lynn Goss for BI

This site is ground zero for a wave of automation that's beginning to wash over the industry. The warehouse and logistics sectors have been powerful sources of job growth since Amazon kicked off the e-commerce revolution 30 years ago, as Business Insider's award-winning Warehouse Nation series revealed in 2022.

If robots automate many warehouse tasks, this powerful engine of job growth could grind to a halt, wiping out thousands of positions and countless opportunities for future workers.

Amazon says employees are being retrained to do more valuable work, such as managing and maintaining robots. Will these new jobs be enough to cover what might be lost? Or could we actually end up with more or better jobs?

Business Insider went looking for answers inside the giant facility in Tracy, a city in California's Central Valley where suburban neighborhoods give way to open farmland.

Read more from Business Insider's Robonomics series

• Why Silicon Valley VCs are investing billions in robotics
• The robot revolution faces these three big challenges

"Autonomous to an extent"

Amazon's Cardinal robot

Jess Lynn Goss for BI

Across 1.4 million square feet — the equivalent of 23 football fields — robots with names like Hercules, Robin, Cardinal, Pegasus, and Proteus move inventory and sort packages. But they don't run the warehouse alone. Human workers still pick and pack orders, load trucks, and intervene when automated systems fail.

Jobs have not disappeared, but they're changing. Machines increasingly handle work that once required employees to walk miles and lift boxes, while workers monitor and troubleshoot them. The Tracy site employs more than 3,000, up from roughly 1,000 when it opened in 2023, an Amazon spokesperson told Business Insider.

"They're autonomous to an extent," Khan said of his robot counterparts. "They still need a lot of help and maintenance and oversight."

Amazon's Hercules robots on the move

Jess Lynn Goss for BI

An Amazon spokesperson said rising customer demand drove the facility's workforce growth and that robots help workers process more packages safely and efficiently rather than simply replacing them.

Amazon's more automated, next-generation fulfillment centers are about 25% more productive and cut order-processing time by as much as 25%. And these sites support roughly 30% more skilled jobs in areas including reliability, maintenance, and engineering.

Process assistants monitor robot activity

Jess Lynn Goss for BI

The "Quarterback" watches robots

One of the workers now doing that kind of job is Briana Brager.

She joined Amazon about two years ago as an entry-level employee after spending years caring for her family. She had no prior experience in a traditional workplace.

Today, she's a process assistant who helps oversee the warehouse's robotic systems. When a chute jams or a robot stops working, she coordinates the response to keep packages moving.

Briana Brager

Jess Lynn Goss for BI

"The robots do a lot, but we still have to maintain them," she said.

Brager began as a picker before moving into a specialized role supporting robotic-floor operations. She got two weeks of intensive training, followed by additional job shadowing, to learn how to work safely around the equipment. Her current job is less physically demanding than her previous one, she said.

Her role is informally known as the "quarterback" position. She monitors fleets of robots and dispatches employees when a machine needs intervention.

"We call the shots," Brager said.

Meet Robin

Amazon's Robin robot at work

Jess Lynn Goss for BI

At the Tracy warehouse, humans and robots move orders together from storage to the loading dock. Employees stow individual items in fabric inventory pods, which Hercules robots carry to pick stations. Workers retrieve the items, then pack and label them.

Robin, a large robotic arm, picks finished packages off a conveyor and places them on small Pegasus mobile robots. Pegasus carries the packages to staging areas alongside other orders headed to the same destination. Cardinal then loads the sorted orders into carts, and Proteus ferries the carts toward outbound trucks.

Briana Brager and Robin

Jess Goss for BI

Khan, the warehouse manager, said workers performed Robin's task manually until a few years ago. They handled packages one at a time, checked them for damage, scanned them, and fed them into the sorting system. He estimated that one Robin can perform roughly the work of two to seven people doing that process manually.

Amazon said that when it introduces systems such as Robin, employees take on other work at the site, including operating robots, clearing jams, monitoring the robotic floor and quality control, and maintenance engineering.

Robots move the carts, too

Proteus offers a clear example of how these new warehouse jobs are taking shape. Amazon brought the robots to Tracy last year.

Proteus robots

Jess Lynn Goss for BI

Unlike Hercules, which operates in fenced-off areas, Proteus can move through spaces shared with people. There are roughly 200 of the robots at the Tracy facility, Amazon said.

Before Proteus arrived, workers manually pushed carts filled with packages to the loading dock. Now the robots pick up full carts, carry them to staging areas near the dock, and retrieve empty carts for the return trip.

Some employees who once moved those carts now work as "ground-floor monitors," Amazon said. Instead of spending their shifts moving packages, they respond when a Proteus reports a fault. If the problem is simple, they can reset the robot; otherwise, human maintenance staff take over.

Some workers trained in these jobs have gone on to Amazon's mechatronics apprenticeship program, which can lead to more technical maintenance work.

Proteus robots at work

Jess Goss for BI

When automation hits the "jackpot"

For all the robots moving through the Tracy warehouse, people remain essential when automation breaks down.

Amazon calls one such destination the "jackpot." When an item loses its routing information while moving through the facility, the automated system sends it to this area, which works a bit like a lost-and-found for packages.

Here, a human worker must determine where the wayward package belongs and return it to the correct flow. "It will require manual intervention," an Amazon representative said.

Other situations require human judgment, too. Products can fall from storage pods and inventory can be damaged or mislabeled. Packing individual products into boxes and loading them onto delivery vehicles are tasks that also remain heavily dependent on people.

Dustin Mean, a stower at an Amazon warehouse

Jess Lynn Goss for BI

This helps explain why even a highly automated Amazon warehouse still employs thousands of workers. The company said it needs people for new packing stations as well as roles across the facility that keep operations running safely and efficiently.

Current and future Tetris

By the time packages get to the loading dock at the Tracy facility, the robots are gone. At least for now.

A person loads each trailer. Amazon uses equipment that extends into the trailer and adjusts to a worker's height, reducing bending and back-and-forth walking. But workers still arrange the packages themselves, trying to fill the trailer to use as much of the space as possible.

"It's a lot of Tetris," one Amazon representative said.

Amazon's warehouse in Tracy, California

Jess Lynn Goss for BI

Amazon is already exploring how to automate this task, though. As Business Insider previously reported, Project Tetromino aims to use AI and robotics to automate sorting and vehicle loading at delivery stations, where the work has long remained stubbornly manual.

But that vision remains a work in progress. Amazon's machines can carry shelves, sort packages, stack boxes, and move carts around people. Workers still pack orders, load trailers, perform quality checks, handle hiccups and exceptions, and keep the machines running when they fail.

For Amazon, the immediate payoff is not necessarily a warehouse with fewer people, but one where the same workforce can accomplish more. Tracy employs roughly the same number of people as a nearby Amazon facility with fewer robots, company officials said, but the Tracy location processes more volume.

Process assistants monitor robot activity

Jess Lynn Goss for BI

Khan compared the technology to something far less futuristic: a calculator.

The robots streamline work that once consumed employees' time without necessarily eliminating the work itself, he said. "It's not that the amount of work has changed," he said. "It's how we approach it."

Asked whether robots could eventually replace more jobs, including his own, Khan did not try to predict the future.

"Who knows? That's not in our purview right now," he said. "But I would say roles are evolving, and that's the cool aspect about it."

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Best Dyson Week deals on vacuums, Airwraps, and air purifiers

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more

Tons of Dyson's best sellers are at their lowest prices of the year during Dyson Week

Jaclyn Turner/Business Insider

• Dyson Week offers up to $400 off top vacuums and hair tools until October 31, 2026.
• The Dyson V15 Detect vacuum is now $600, its lowest price, and my favorite vacuum I use every day.
• Dyson's new V16 Piston vacuum is 20% off, with cutting-edge tech and a new cleaner head

In the lull between October Prime Day and Black Friday deals at the end of next month, big-ticket discounts have been few and far between. However, if you've been holding off on upgrading your home or hair routine, Dyson Week offers some of the best prices we'll see all year.

We're talking all of Dyson's greatest hits, including the best Dyson vacuum I've ever tested, the brand's latest cleaning technology, and coveted airwraps. They're all on sale, up to $400 off, through October 31. I wouldn't wait too long because I anticipate the best deals selling out.

Shop all Dyson Week deals

Best Dyson deals at a glance

• The best Dyson I've tested: Dyson V15 Detect Absolute Car Cleaning Edition
• Dyson's latest floorcare launch: V16 Piston with a Floor Dok
• The deepest price cut: Dyson Gen5Detect Outsize
• Coveted haircare: Dyson Airwrap i.d. multi-styler and dryer Straight+Wavy
• An air purifier/fan combo that follows your movements: Dyson Find+Follow™ Purifier Cool PC3

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My favorite vacuum of all time

Why it's a good deal: This is the vacuum I still reach for, despite having tested all the latest models. Dyson's flagship vacuums have started to creep into the $1,000 range, but at its historical low of $600, the V15 Detect is a much smarter buy. While the most recent Dyson vacuums have slightly longer battery life and higher rated suction power, the V15 Detect cleans like a dream. In fact, I prefer the performance of the digital motorbar cleaner head for cleaning carpets to its newer developments. The deal feels much more justifiable when it's at its lowest historical price of $600. The Absolute Car Cleaning Edition on sale also comes with an extension hose, a stubborn dirt brush, and a small dusting brush.

New markdowns on Dyson's latest technology

Why it's a good deal: This is one of the first major discounts on Dyson's flagship model, taking 20% off the V16 Piston with a Floor Dok. It packs the brand's latest tech — including suction matching the corded Ball Animal 3, up to 70 minutes of runtime, and a new all-floors laser head that reduces the need to swap attachments. Convenience additions like a compressing dustbin and a foot lever for changing heads make this top-tier model much easier to justify at this price.

The next-gen of an entry-level classic

Why it's a good deal: We've long touted the Dyson V8 as the benchmark entry-level model (typically on sale for $269-$299). Dyson's V8 Cyclone builds on that body, with 30% more suction (150 AW vs. 115 AW), up to 60 minutes of battery life, three power modes, and trigger-free push-button operation. A $150 discount makes this upgraded model an easy choice over the original.

More Dyson floorcare deals

• Dyson Gen5detect: $719.99 (was 1,049.99)
• Dyson Gen5outsize Absolute: $749.99 (was $1,149.99)
• Dyson V10 Konical: $399.99 (was $499.99)
• Dyson PencilWash: $199.99 (was $349.99)
• Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones: $479.99 (was $599.99)
• Dyson Ball Animal 3 Complete: $399.99 (was $599.99)

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The iconic Airwrap

Why it's a good deal: I previously covered this deal around Prime Day, and at $500, this is the lowest price you'll find on this full-featured model, including Bluetooth to guide you through timing heat. Though if you want the multi-styler at its most basic and lowest price point, the Dyson Airwrap Origin gets you a basic long-barrel curler, a fast dryer, and a brush for $399.

More Dyson haircare deals

• Dyson Airwrap Origin: $399.99 (was $549.99)
• Dyson Corrale Straightener: $349.99 (was $539.99)
• Dyson Supersonic Nural hair dryer: $329.99 (was $399.99)

Plus, receive a complimentary travel bag and hair tool stand at checkout

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A fan and air purifier combo that channels airflow directly to you

Why it's a good deal: The PC3 introduces AI-driven "Find+Follow" air projection, which uses presence-detection sensors to direct purified cooling airflow wherever you move in the room. Combined with upgraded K-Carbon gas filtration, a 50% quieter sleep mode, and Matter smart-home integration, this markdown delivers one of Dyson's most feature-packed air purifiers has been discounted.

More Dyson air treatment deals

• Dyson Purifier Cool Gen1: 399.99 (was $479.99)

Dyson Week FAQs

What is Dyson Week?

Dyson Week is a weeklong shopping event with temporary price cuts on its most popular vacuums, hair tools, and fans, including recently launched items. The deals run through Saturday, Oct. 31.

Where can I find the cheapest Dyson?

While Dyson Week has some of the lowest prices of the year on its products, consider shopping Dyson's Certified Refurbished Outlet for deep savings, like a V8 for as low as $180. The products have been expertly serviced and hygienically cleaned to work like new with all genuine parts, and come with a six-month warranty.

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The Big Law firms sending the most lawyers into Big Tech's arms

Google has a thing for Big Law lawyers.

Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

• Big Law has plenty of competition for its best lawyers.
• Some of the most ambitious lawyers want to work for clients in their legal departments.
• New Pirical data shows which law firms have the most alumni working in Big Tech.

Big Law has a hard time keeping its lawyers.

It's not just rival firms dangling basketball-player salaries, extra vacation, and branded merch to lure away top talent.

Big Tech is competing for those lawyers, too.

New data shared with Business Insider reveals which firms send the most lawyers to the biggest names in tech.

Pirical, a legal people-analytics company, tracked lawyers who previously worked at the 200 largest law firms by revenue in the United States and now hold legal roles at seven tech companies: Google, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX. Pirical filtered out summer associates and interns.

Morrison Foerster and Wilson Sonsini tied for the top spot, each with 40 alumni working in legal roles across the seven companies. Both firms regularly represent tech startups and the investors backing them.

Latham & Watkins followed with 33 former lawyers. Kirkland & Ellis, the industry's revenue leader, ranked 11th with 21 former lawyers working at those companies, tied with Paul Hastings and Sidley Austin.

Pirical's analysis may have missed lawyers whose job titles fell outside its search criteria, said Craig Savitzky, its insights and content editor. He said newer companies, particularly Anthropic, are also likely undercounted because their legal teams are growing faster than public profiles are updated.

Big Law-Big Tech pipeline

For attorneys hoping to land a coveted job at a tech giant, a stint at a white-shoe law firm can be a stepping stone. They can trade billable-hour quotas for a seat closer to the business, attractive pay, and just one client to keep happy instead of dozens.

That combination makes these roles "some of the most highly desirable and sought-after positions" for law firm associates, said Casey Sullivan, a recruiter with CMW Legal Search.

There's another draw, Sullivan said. The companies at the forefront of artificial intelligence are wrestling with some of the thorniest legal questions of the day, from intellectual property to regulation.

"That's where the most interesting work is for lawyers," he said.

Not all law firms are equally effective launch pads. Pirical's Savitzky noted that the firms near the top of the list have deep ties to the tech industry, if not the deepest pockets.

Cooley brought in $2.4 billion in revenue last fiscal year, placing it 29th on The American Lawyer's ranking of top law firms by revenue. But it tied fourth on Pirical's list, with 29 alumni working at the seven tech companies, including nine at Nvidia, a longtime client.

Davis Wright Tremaine, which has represented Microsoft in antitrust and employment lawsuits, has 13 alumni working in the software giant's legal department. Fenwick, which advised Wiz and Fitbit on their sales to Google, has 13 lawyers at the search giant.

Business Insider also sliced the data another way, looking at which of the seven tech giants employ the most alumni from the top 25 firms on Pirical's list.

Big Law is effectively a feeder school for Google's legal team. The company employs 322 alumni of the top 25 law firms on Pirical's list, more than any other tech company studied.

That doesn't necessarily mean Google is the most desirable location for lawyers leaving Big Law. Savitzky said the numbers likely reflect the sheer size of Google's legal department and the decades it has had to recruit from top firms.

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The 'Big Bad Theory'

Bloomberg/Getty; Jeremy Strong/Sony Pictures; Finn Gomez/Getty; Tyler Le/BI

Writing villains is supposed to be hard. No grand, world-dominating plan ever really makes sense in a story. Soon after "The Dark Knight" came out, David Goyer, its writer, told me the Joker had been a real relief. "Blessedly, because of who the Joker is, we just said, 'fuck the plan. We don't have to do it. He's the Joker. He's the anti-plan,'" Goyer said. "Trying to take over the world is such an impossible, stupid idea — as if anyone could do it with a single act, you know?"

Yet now very real people seem to try just that, on the regular. Except if you believe Hollywood, they're not insane clowns. They're billionaire tech bros. It's starting to seem like every movie and TV bad guy is a douchebag who got rich making stuff that works on your phone. Mark Zuckerberg in "The Social Reckoning," Elon Musk in "Musk," Elizabeth Holmes in "You Can See Everything," Sam Altman in the upcoming "Artificial," Sam Bankman-Fried in "The Altruists." In these stories, at varying levels of fictionality, the evil villains' megalomaniacal plans mostly make sense. Some of them even got away with it. America is eagerly consuming stories about them. "You Can See Everything" grossed $15 million on opening in just 855 theaters, twice what its producers expected.

The more interesting question is why these founders are our demons, all of a sudden. Chalk it up to the reality of the "techlash," the society-wide revulsion to Big Tech's ubiquity and power. But if you really want to understand the extent to which everyone thinks Silicon Valley is so uncanny these days, you should be watching a CBS legal procedural called "Cupertino." It's a sharp look at tech and its discontents — but more than that, it clarifies how widely the techlash is spreading.

"Cupertino" comes from the TV-making couple Michelle and Robert King, best known for the "The Good Wife" and "The Good Fight." In their new show, a slick lawyer played by Mike Colter gets iced out of the tech company he cofounded at the same time as a more junior attorney also gets ousted. The two join their wrongful-termination lawsuits against the company, eke out a big settlement, and start a firm to represent "little guys" against Silicon Valley giants. In one plotline, a drone maker tries to blame a mid-level coder for one of its bots falling out of formation during a show and killing a man — it turns out the company had changed batteries to accommodate a prospective military contract. In another, a mysterious whistleblower client asks for help to force an Anthropic-like company to put guardrails around its most powerful AI. Then the whistleblower claims to in fact be the AI.

It's all in good fun. The actors are beautiful. They banter well. Colter wears the hell out of a suit. Busy Philipps plays a Mackenzie Scott-like benefactor of the new law firm — if Scott used her incredible wealth to become a hardcore partier.

A CBS show like "Cupertino" picks bad guys that millions of people can easily recognize as deserving of comeuppance. It picked the overlords of Silicon Valley.

But thematically, there's depth. That Colter is the only Black person for miles does not go unremarked. His new partner Olivia Siffre (pronounced "cypher"), played by Rachel Keller, is a devout, cross-wearing conservative from the Midwest, an alumna of Liberty University. Their closest allies don't come from the ranks of coders, marketing, or venture capital but are instead service workers, tradespeople, and the waitstaff from a nearby TGI Fridays. (Alas, a fiction — there are no TGI Fridayses in the Valley.)

So see that class rage for what it is. The fantasy here is that the middle-American proletariat gets to stick it to bespoke-suited, arrogant C-level types and unkempt, geniuser-than-thou sex pests. Because for the last few years, those people have had all the power. "They always have a friendly audience, an accommodating interviewer who won't ask them anything controversial. And then they get into territory where the price is much higher," Robert King said in a recent interview. "They reveal who they really are: robotic, inhuman nerds who never got laid in high school and are now kind of crazy with power, self-importance, and a sense of entitlement."

The point is, the "little guys" fighting this good fight seem like they're supposed to be proxies for the viewer. "Cupertino" is a CBS procedural, the genre of shows like "NCIS" and its offspring — things that no one watches, except for 10 million people every week. That's a lot. CBS typically has the largest primetime viewership of any network, and the oldest — like, people in their 70s. It's all well and good for young coastal sophisticates to post about Elizabeth Holmes' inability to grasp the Who's-on-First routine, but "Cupertino" is aimed at America's parents and grandparents. And apparently they are excited to see the people who make their phones portrayed as the wealthy engines of every inconvenience — sources of half a billion dollars to Republicans only, builders of data centers, creators of chatbots that drive kids to death by suicide, purveyors of screens that watch you back. "Cupertino" debuted to rapturous reviews and more than 3 million viewers, beating "Grey's Anatomy" in its time slot.

A show like "Cupertino" is meant to have a low barrier to entry; it picks bad guys that millions of people can easily recognize as deserving of comeuppance. It picked the overlords of Silicon Valley.

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Not so long ago it would've seemed preposterous to give a scrawny, socially awkward, brainy little guy the job of Big Bad. They're the assistant, or the butt of a particular kind of joke, like the spectrum-y heroes of the wildly popular "Big Bang Theory" — Klingon-speaking, physics-doing, Green Lantern oath-knowing clods. Still, I can think of examples of "bad guy, subtype: tech nerd" going back to the early days of science fiction. Mad scientists like Dr. Frankenstein or Dr. Jekyll, or various HP Lovecraft antiheroes, probably count. So too might the arrogant cyberneticist in Robert Heinlein's "Waldo."

A rough analog in the mid 20^th century might be the rogue industrialist. After all, James Bond villains have often been tech-bro adjacent. Karl Stromberg in "The Spy Who Loved Me" wants to build independent ocean settlements; he's basically a seasteader. Hugo Drax in "Moonraker" is a eugenics-obsessed CEO who wants to build space stations, which sounds familiar. Max Zorin, played by Christopher Walken in "A View to a Kill," is an "industrialist" and the product of Nazi genetic experiments. But his megalomaniacal plan is to use a California natural disaster to gain a monopoly on silicon computer chips. That's just Jensen Huang on any given Tuesday.

The weirdest new phenomenon here is how personal it all is. Evil technology oligopolies have been representatives of oppressive capitalism in Hollywood for decades — but they were faceless. The anonymity was part of the terror. Think of the company that orders Bruce Dern to destroy the last forest in his spaceship biodome in "Silent Running," the Umbrella Corporation in "Resident Evil," or Cyberdyne Systems, creator of Skynet in the Terminator movies.

More recently, film and television have started identifying not just faceless corporations but specific tech-coded people as their worst-of-the-worst. And not just any people, but people geofenced into Silicon Valley: "Glass Onion," "Don't Look Up," "Ex Machina," "Devs," "Super Pumped" (fictionalized Uber), "WeCrashed" (fictionalized WeWork), "The Playlist" (fictionalized Spotify), and "The Dropout" (fictionalized Theranos), "Mythic Quest" — the list goes on.

Actually, Cyberdyne's a good example of one important way these depictions have changed; in 1984's "The Terminator," Cyberdyne is a Los Angeles-area heavy-industry firm. In 2015, "Terminator Genisys" moved Cyberdyne to a gleaming tech campus explicitly modeled on the headquarters of Oracle. It's an inside joke, though not the ha-ha kind. The movie's producers included Megan and David Ellison, children of Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. David now owns the merged studios of Warner Bros. and Paramount, and he just got a billion-dollar investment from Elon Musk. The new company, Skydance, includes in its holdings … CBS.

Christopher Walken's Bond villain has a megalomaniacal plan is to use a California natural disaster to gain a monopoly on silicon computer chips. That's just Jensen Huang on any given Tuesday.

"A sequence of Hollywood contemporary science-fiction movies identifies Silicon Valley capitalists as a new type of villain," write Northumbria University film studies scholars Joe Street and Russ Hunter in a 2024 paper. These new movies critique tech, they say, using an approach "in the grand tradition of cinematic science fiction touchstones such as the Cold War alien invasion films that allegorized fears of Communism in 1950s America."

In other words, movies about time-travelling killer robots and dead-eyed billionaires aren't so different, after all. Horror is about shared anxieties. Old-school mad scientists posed a threat because they dared to do experiments that contravened the laws of nature; they were evil for love of the game. The Silicon Valley bad guys are worse, because they do it for profit. "When presented with an innovation," Street and Hunter write, "the prime movers in these corporations think not of moral or ethical concerns and crucially not of the material impact of what they are doing — but only of the innovation's potential for financial gain."

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Is Hollywood's techlash actually on the rise? The schlemiels of "Silicon Valley" premiered in 2014. I have tech-bro-villain articles in my files going back to 2022 at least. And the business world has always been fodder for stories filtered through the anxieties of the time—what was Ebenezer Scrooge if not a capitalist oppressor?

Mapping the full arc of technology-associated villains would be, in the words of Ted Underwood, "hard to code." Underwood's an English and information science professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, researching ways to identify literary trends across time, in big canons. "In addition to tracing the history of villains, you'd have to think how often these social types appear as heroes," he says. For every Max Zorin there's a Tony Stark. Ethan Hunt's nobody without tech aces Luther and Benji. "Star Trek" doesn't trek without Scotty, or Chief O'Brien. Every movie heist is basically a hack. And let me just say unto you: "MacGyver." "One hypothesis would be that what we're feeling right now with evil tech bro villains is just that the counterbalancing examples have dropped out," Underwood says.

Clearly, though, tech billionaires and their hangers on have actively tried to make themselves into main characters. Some of them seem to think they're the only real consciousnesses in a simulation, a virtual world populated with non-player characters like you and me. At minimum they evince a belief that they possess a greater depth of perception and knowledge. As the architect and tech historian Fred Scharmen once wrote, "for this particular kind of person, wealthy and powerful or not, intelligence comes paired with a certain kind of malignance. The Evil Nerd is sharp, and also mean, their big brains are oriented towards anger and destructiveness." The Thiels, Altmans, Musks, and Karps of the world turn what had been nerdy weakness into nerdy strength. They go on friendly podcasts and show up in pictures taken with presidents. We don't have to imagine them delivering what the screenwriter John Rogers, creator of the anticapitalist TV show "Leverage," calls the Evil Speech of Evil. They monologue at tech conferences! These guys embody their ideologies; l'enterprise, c'est moi.

And what happens if that kind of behavior gets depicted, week in and week out, on a popular legal procedural TV show? Even if that show airs on a network owned by one of those "evil nerds"? Hard to say. Maybe it'll be enough to turn some people into the Joker.

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I've spent over $150,000 on my appearance to help my career. I don't regret a dollar of it.

Danielle Fewings before and after receiving Sculptra and cheek filler.

Courtesy of Danielle Fewings

• Danielle Fewings, founder of Get Clear Beauty, has invested in cosmetic treatments since she was 27.
• Fewings' journey with aesthetic procedures began with a breast reduction and includes Botox and filler.
• Her $150,000 investment in herself has supported both personal confidence and professional success.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Danielle Fewings, a 40-year-old entrepreneur from New York City. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

I started my career in digital marketing and ran my own agency from 2020 until 2025, when I sold it. I'm now the founder of Get Clear Beauty, an aesthetic treatment marketplace, which I started in 2026.

I've always felt like there was something missing from my appearance, as if someone much more confident was buried beneath it all. I got my first procedure done in 2013 and have had many since.

I don't regret any of them.

I'm the most treatment‑forward person in almost every room I'm in

In my broader New York circle, routine maintenance is completely normal. People are getting Botox and lip filler, and a few have had breast augmentations. Most are dipping in rather than going all in.

I'm honestly the most treatment-forward person in almost every room I'm in. In any given conversation, I'm the one who's had the most work done, which is a little wild when I think about it.

For most of the people I know, the max is Botox. Routine maintenance is common around me, but no one I'm close to has done anywhere near as much as I have.

My first major decision was my breast reduction at 27

I wore a 32G and desperately wanted them smaller. I call this my gateway surgery because it was honestly a very easy recovery, so I had this ease as the template, which gave me the confidence to keep pursuing additional treatments.

It made me more willing to put myself out there, both in dating and especially in showing up online to create content for my business, which matters enormously when you're building something. It shifted how I approach relationships, too, both friendships and romantic ones.

When you feel confident inside and out, you see yourself as more valuable, recognize your worth, and become more selective about who you let into your life. As I've felt better about myself, I've been more intentional about the relationships I keep close, and I see a direct correlation between the two.

I've never made decisions due to outside pressure

My choices have always been personal. I've never done any of this for another person or because of outside pressure. It has always been about putting my best self forward, and if that takes some tweaks and some money, I'm willing to do it.

I'm a very confident person — I just haven't accepted every imperfection. My upper blepharoplasty is a good example: most people would say I didn't need it, and they would be right, because no one needs any of these things. I wanted it. My eyelids felt heavy, and I chose to change that.

I'm fully committed to antiaging and the maintenance it requires. I go to my quarterly Botox appointments and my annual lip filler appointments, and I'll be ready for a facelift when that time comes. The idea that aging gracefully means avoiding treatments is absurd; aging gracefully is doing whatever feels good to you as an individual.

The cost breakdown

Because my first breast surgery was a reduction, I paid $6,000 out of pocket, and my insurance covered the rest. I had a full-body makeover in the Dominican Republic, which included a tummy tuck, skin tightening, and two further breast surgeries after major weight loss, costing around $12,000. I've also had liposuction, scar revision, an upper blepharoplasty, Sculptra and filler, a Morpheus8 treatment on my legs, tattoo removal, lip blushing, microblading and shading, Invisalign, and teeth whitening. These procedures have cost about $50,000 in total.

The maintenance I keep up with regularly includes manicures and pedicures, which I have gotten every two weeks for the past 10 years; lash extensions, which I have gotten every three weeks for about 15 years; Botox; more filler; peels and lasers; tanning; and haircuts. The recurring maintenance has cost about $105,000 over time.

What struck me is that the one-time procedures come to about $50,000, but the quiet, recurring maintenance is over $100,000. The costs nobody tracks are the ones that add up the most. That is exactly why I built Get Clear Beauty.

Each procedure served a purpose

My whole philosophy has been doing high-maintenance things to stay low-maintenance. The lashes, manicures and pedicures, lip blushing, and microblading are all upkeep that let me feel put-together with minimal effort, and because of them, I barely wear makeup, so some of that cost is a trade-off.

The bigger procedures came from real changes in my body. My weight has gone up and down for years, and that has driven a lot of it. The Morpheus8 on my legs was for skin laxity, because I'm not ready for a leg lift and probably don't need one. I've had three breast surgeries total.

I'd never do CoolSculpting, and I'd never have a nose job. I don't think CoolSculpting is cost-effective, and I've grown to love my nose.

My appearance impacts confidence, and confidence impacts business

When you're on 15 Zooms a week and constantly recording content to win business, looking and feeling your best matters.

Appearance affects business outcomes, but for me, it works through confidence. When I feel good about how I'm showing up, I represent my company more powerfully and carry my knowledge into the room in a way that lands.

I love how I look. 10 years ago, I never thought looking this way was achievable, and it's the result of a GLP-1 medication, surgeries, and really taking my appearance by the horns. I'm in a genuinely happy place with it.

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