His chef abilities are both the most appreciated and unappreciated of his skills. Since the energy for the food replicators is limited, the crew turns to his kitchen for their meals. He aims to please them, and even accepts requests, but his cooking flare is not up to par for their tastes. His attempts to make traditional Alpha Quadrant fare, such as coffee, are often disappointing. As chef he is also called on to be a horticulturist and identify edible plants.

Neelix's cheerfulness naturally lends itself to helping morale, but he also has started a news show called "A Briefing with Neelix" in a sincere effort to boast morale. He often helps people out just by listening. Neelix is adept at investigating and tracking, and is extremely resourceful. He even helped flush out a spy on Voyager. Before Voyager, Neelix was an engineer's assistant on a Trabelian freighter for two years. He also has talent as a pilot.

He is a Talaxian and in his early adulthood, he was called on to join the Talaxian Defense Force to fight against the Haakonians in their decade long war. He protested the war, and did not participate. The war resulted in the Haakonians releasing a lethal weapon which wiped out his homeworld, Rinax, killing over 300,000 including his parents and little brothers.
 
Neelix's dilemmas have included having a bird attack his eye and being the victim of a transporter accident that converted him and Tuvok into a single merged person named Tuvix. In one horrible incident he almost died when his lungs were removed by a Vidiian. The situation was dire until Kes volunteered to have one of her lungs removed and changed into a lung donated to Neelix. Neelix, with the help of the crew, rescued Kes from her imprisonment by the Kazon Ogla. But now he and Kes have broken up and are beginning to see others.