Rene Echevarria's journey in the entertainment industry began after graduating from Duke University with a degree in History in 1984. He relocated to New York City to pursue a career in theater, joining the Circle Repertory Lab Company in 1985.
During his time with the company, Echevarria assistant-directed a production of Victor Muniz' play "Darts" and acted in a production of Gorky's "Lower Depths". In 1986, he took on the role of actor in Kristin McCloy's play "Isosceles" at the Chelsea Theater, and in 1987, he was featured in the La Mama Theater adaptation of Aeschylus' "Oresteia".
Echevarria's collaboration with Kristin McCloy resulted in the full-length play "Prepared", which premiered at the World's End Theater in London in 1988 and went on to be performed at the Edinburgh Festival later that year. In 1989, he wrote a spec script for 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' titled "The Offspring".
This led to Echevarria becoming a Story Editor for the show's sixth season and Executive Story Editor during its seventh and final season, earning the show an Emmy Nomination for Best Dramatic Series. He then took on the role of Co-Supervising Producer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 1993, contributing to 30-plus episodes of the show.
Throughout his tenure on Star Trek, Echevarria received numerous accolades, including a Humanitas nomination, a Peabody nomination, two Hugo nominations, and a NASA Vision award for best depiction of humanity's future in space. In 1994, he received a Special Achievement award from the Latino Media Organization HAMAS.
In the late 1990s, Echevarria worked on the development of the scenario for Star Trek: The Experience, a theme park attraction built by Paramount Parks at the Las Vegas Hilton. He also served as supervising producer on Paramount's short-lived but critically acclaimed series Now and Again, which aired on CBS from 1999 to 2000.
In July 2000, Echevarria signed on as co-executive producer of Dark Angel, a science fiction series created by James Cameron for the Fox network. This marked the beginning of a multiyear deal with 20th Century Fox Television to develop new projects for the studio.
