Bakula's first experiences as a series regular came on the short-lived "Gung Ho" (a 1986-87 ABC sitcom based on the popular Ron Howard feature) and "Eisenhower and Lutz" (CBS, 1988). He returned to Broadway triumphing in two roles (a Viennese roue and a contemporary married man contemplating an affair) in the unique two-act musical "Romance/Romance" for which he earned a Tony nomination as Lead Actor in a Musical. Still, it would remain for "Quantum Leap" to make him a star and open the door to a limited feature career. His "regular guy" qualities invited audience empathy and made his situations on "Quantum Leap" unusually compelling as he ended every episode in a new body, uttering his almost trademark, "Oh, boy!"

Bakula first made the leap to features with Carl Reiner's "Sibling Rivalry" (1990), starring Kirstie Alley as the creatively stifled wife of his stuffy young doctor. His first leading role came in the predictable sports comedy "Necessary Roughness" (1991), playing a 34-year-old former high school football star belatedly claiming his glory days. After taking supporting roles in the lackluster "Color of Night" (1994), which teamed him with Bruce Willis, and as the token white guy in "My Family/Mi Familia" (1995), starring Jimmy Smits, his role as private-eye Harry D'Amour in Clive Barker's horror opus "Lord of Illusions" (also 1995) returned him to leading man status. Although intended as the first in a possible franchise, audiences seemingly preferred to watch the genial actor on the small screen.

Since the box office disappointment of "Lords of Illusions" stalled his feature career, Bakula accepted the recurring role as Candice Bergen's boyfriend and rival reporter on CBS' popular "Murphy Brown" had subsequently maintained a profile on the small screen. Unfortunately, his attempt to repeat his series success, the spy comedy-drama "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (CBS, 1996) was an early ratings casualty. He also periodically returned to his musical theater roots, playing a benefit concert of "Anyone Can Whistle" at Carnegie Hall in 1995 and giving voice to Danny the Cat in the animated feature "Cats Don't Dance" (1997). Another shot at feature leads, the sequel "Major League: Back to the Minors" (1998), fizzled but it was the brief role as one of Kevin Spacey's gay neighbors in the universally acclaimed "American Beauty" (1999) that brought him his best feature exposure yet. He also starred that year in the ABC miniseries "Tom Clancy's NetForce" and delivered one of his better turns as a cynical, complex detective who rises above bigotry in Showtime's "Mean Streak". The CBS movie "In the Name of the People" (2000), however, cast him in the thankless role of a convicted killer who asks the parents of the child he murders to raise his daughter after his execution.

Bakula continued to appear in both television projects--most notably the holiday-themed telepic "Papa's Angels" (CBS, 2000) as the patriarch of an 1930s-era Appalachian family, and the Showtime miniseries "A Girl Thing" (2001)--and feature films--including "Role of a Lifetime" (2001), starring as a has-been actor staging a comeback by assuming a new identity, and in a supporting role in the well-reviewed drama "Life as a House" (2001). That same year, Bakula returned to series television in another sci-fi genre show--indeed, "Enterprise" (UPN, 2001-2005) was the latest instalment of the granddaddy of sci-fi TV, "Star Trek." As Capt. Jonathan Archer of the very first space-faring vessel to bear the name of the famous "Trek" starship (the series was set decades before the adventures of Kirk, Spock, et. al), Bakula proved a kinder, gentler figurehead than some of the previous skippers--his character even brough his dog aboard. Although the actor routinely delivered throughtful performances, the series failed to click with audiences as well as its predecessors and lasted four seasons, as opposed to the usual seven season run of the latter-day "Trek" series.