American actor, born in 1987, who as a child played Artim, the Ba'ku boy who befriends Data, in Star Trek: Insurrection.
Michael Welch is an American actor who began working as a child and later played Mike Newton in the Twilight films and Luke Girardi in the television series Joan of Arcadia.
In Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) he played Artim, the twelve-year-old son of Sojef. Raised to distrust machines, Artim is at first frightened of Data, but the two grow close during the flight into the hills, where the boy tries to teach the android how to play and Data in turn reassures him.
Artim's pet, a small creature he carries with him, features in the evacuation scenes. At the film's end Data takes his advice and joins the village children in a haystack.