Paul Schmidt

Lieutenant commander Paul Schmidt is a Starfleet officer who served as the operations officer of the USS Valentine, replacing Roberta Jackson who decided to resign from Starfleet to live a normal life on Earth with her son, Jackson.

Schmidt was born in Germany and was abandoned by his parents because they thought he would be a weak sad sack. He was adopted by his grandparents.

He liked telling his tale of being abandoned to other officers because it makes them feel sorry for him. However that changed when he came aboard the Valentine.

Background information
Lieutenant Schmidt was played by celebrity actor Russell Crowe.

The story behind Schmidt was based on what happened to William D. Alexander, he got abandoned because his parents thought he was weak, in fact, Alexander was almost about to get aborted when his dad told his mother to reconsider and let the baby have a chance at life.

The original actor, Peter David Turner couldn't make it to the first day of filming the episode so they had to add Crowe in.