Marina Sirtis (born March 29, 1955^[1]) is an English-born American actress of Greek descent, who is most noted for playing the half-Human/half-Betazoid Counselor/Commander Deanna Troi on the television and film series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Background

Sirtis was born in London, England, UK, and is of Greek descent. She is now a naturalized U.S. citizen. She has been married to Michael Lamper since June 21, 1992.^[2] Her younger brother, Steve, plays Football in Greece^[2] and played for Columbia University in the early 1980s. She auditioned for drama school against her parents' wishes, ultimately being accepted to the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.

Career

Sirtis started her career as a member of the repertory company at the Connaught Theatre, Worthing, West Sussex in 1976. Directed by Nic Young, she appeared in Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw and as Ophelia in Hamlet.^[3]

Before her role in Star Trek, Sirtis was featured in provocative, sexually-themed supporting roles in several movies. In the Faye Dunaway film The Wicked Lady, she engaged in a topless whip fight with Dunaway. In the Charles Bronson sequel Death Wish 3, Sirtis's character is nude and brutally raped by street thugs. In the film Blind Date, she appears in several nude scenes as a prostitute who is eventually murdered by a madman.

She did have an established CV of British television work, appearing in Minder, Raffles, and The Return of Sherlock Holmes among other things. She played the stewardess in the famous Cinzano Bianco television commercial staring Leonard Rossiter and Joan Collins, in which Collins was splattered with drink.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Gene Roddenberry was inspired to ask the exotic-looking Sirtis to audition for a role after seeing the film Aliens with Bob Justman, which featured the prominent Latina character Vasquez, played by Jenette Goldstein.^[4] Sirtis and Denise Crosby initially tried out for the other's eventual role on The Next Generation. Sirtis's character was going to be named Lt. Macha Hernandez, the Security Chief. Gene Roddenberry decided to switch them, and Macha Hernandez became Natasha Yar. Sirtis recalls that on the day she received a call offering her the role of Deanna Troi, she was actually packing to return to England, because her six-month visa had ended.

Sirtis appeared in all seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and her character was developed from a more passive therapist to tougher Starfleet officer, much to Sirtis's approval. Initially, Sirtis's character was proposed to be the brains of the ship.

During her time on the show, she became close friends with her co-stars Jonathan Frakes (who played her on-again/off-again lover Commander Riker), Michael Dorn (Lieutenant Worf, also an on-screen love interest) and Brent Spiner. Cast members Spiner and Dorn were groomsmen at her wedding.

Sirtis has also reprised her character of Deanna Troi in Star Trek: Voyager on several occasions, and in all of the Next Generation feature films, and also in the series finale of Star Trek: Enterprise. She is one of only six actors to play the same character on three different Star Trek series.

She usually wore hair-pieces for her role as Deanna Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Sirtis's real hair was slightly shorter, and although curly, was not as bouffant as her character's. However, Sirtis's real hair was used in the pilot episode, and also in the first six episodes of season six, in which Troi sported a more natural looking pony-tailed style. She also created an accent (described as a mixture of Eastern European and Hebrew) for her character, although her natural accent is English.

Other work

After the end of Star Trek: The Next Generation in 1994, Sirtis continued to work regularly. She gained experience as a voice actress from the 1994 Disney animated television series Gargoyles, where she provided her voice for the antagonistic character Demona. She voiced the character again for an episode of the unmade Animated Series Team Atlantis.

At Dragon Con, September 2005.

Notes

References

External links

• Marina Sirtis' official website

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