John Fleck (actor)

{{Infobox person

| name = John Fleck

| image = John Fleck WikiPortrait at SXSW 2024 taken March 9, 2024.jpg

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1951|5|7}}

| birth_place = Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.{{cite web |date=February 18, 2022 |last=Looseleaf |first=Victoria |title=John Fleck |url=https://artnowla.com/2022/02/18/john-fleck-2/ |website=Art Now LA }}

| death_date =

| death_place =

| caption = Fleck at SXSW 2024

| othername =

| occupation = Actor, performance artist

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| website =

}}

John Fleck (born May 7, 1951) is an American actor and performance artist.David A. Schlossman Actors and Activists: Politics, Performance, and Exchange Among ... 2002 0815332688 "In this chapter, I analyze the political and performance work of four postmodern performance artists — Karen Finley, John Fleck, Holly Hughes, and Tim Miller — who work in an "avant-garde" art world characterized by challenges to the ..." He has performed in numerous TV shows, including Babylon 5, Carnivàle, Murder One, and the Star Trek franchise.{{cite AV media |date=May 16, 2021 |title=John Fleck, Silik on “Star Trek: Enterprise” & Other Aliens on TNG, DS9 and VOY - TREK UNTOLD #54 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeaMb5J66qU |website=TrekUntold }} {{cite web |date=June 4, 2021 |title=Trek Untold - John Fleck On Playing Silik & His Roles In TNG, DS9 & MORE! |url=https://treksphere.com/sponsored-content/trek-untold-john-fleck-on-playing-silik-his-roles-in-tng-ds9-more/ |website=TrekSphere.com }} He also appeared in Howard The Duck, Waterworld and the music video for the ZZ Top song "Legs". He made a minor appearance in the Seinfeld episode "The Heart Attack". He played a minor character during the sixth season of Weeds. He wrote and performed "Mad Women" at La MaMa E.T.C.{{cite web |url=http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/reviews/12-2011/mad-women_46008.html |title=Mad Women - Review - Dec 6, 2011 |date=December 6, 2011 |access-date=February 23, 2013}}

He is also one of the NEA Four.{{cite news |date=December 26, 1990 |author=CHUCK PHILIPS |title=A War on Many Fronts : Censorship: 1990 was the year that 'free expression' ran head-on into 'moral concern.' But the conflict may only be beginning. |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-12-26-ca-6655-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |quote=Denials of grants to gay artists Holly Hughes, John Fleck and Tim Miller and feminist artist Karen Finley}} In 1990 he and three of his fellow artists became embroiled in a lawsuit against the government's National Endowment for the Arts program.{{Cite book |last=Noriega |first=Jimmy A. and Jordan Schildcrout |title=50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre |publisher=Routledge |year=2022 |pages=179–183 |chapter=The NEA Four}} John Frohnmayer, one of the chairman of the NEA, vetoed funding his project, a performance comedy with a toilet prop,{{Cite web

| url = http://gaycitynews.com/gcn_240/vaginadentata.html

| title = Vagina Dentata Monologue

| date = October 2, 2003

| last = Tallmer

| first = Jerry

| location = New York, NY, US

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20051110074844/http://gaycitynews.com/gcn_240/vaginadentata.html

| archive-date = November 10, 2005

| url-status = dead

| access-date = February 23, 2013

| quote = 'I guess you could blame us for that,' Fleck admitted. 'But if it wasn't us, it would have been someone else.'

}} on the basis of content and was accused of implementing a partisan political agenda. The artists won their case in court in 1993 and were awarded amounts equal to the grant money in question, though the case would make its way to the United States Supreme Court in National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley, which ruled in favour of the NEA's decision making process.National Endowment for the Arts v. Finley, 524 U.S. 569, (1998)