Character Actor Crossovers - Ever notice??

Hey All,

So I've seen all the episodes of DS9 many times, but last night I was watching one when I realized that the actor who played Weyoun in DS9 also played Commander Shran on Enterprise!





Couldn't believe that I didn't notice that before!!

So I was wondering what other shows you may have noticed where an actor either played more than one character or played multiple characters over different iterations of a show.

Stargate Atlantis. Christopher Heyerdahl, the same actor played Todd the Wraith and Halling, the native leader of the people Teyla was from.

He also plays Druitt, the Jack the Ripper guy, and the Bigfoot in "Sanctuary".

One other guy who I think has had quite a few roles specifically in the Star Trek universe is John Shuck who originally played the Klingon Ambassador in Star Trek IV. The last role that I saw him in was in Enterprise as Antaak:






But he also played a Cardi in DS9:

Monster Dave said:

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One other guy who I think has had quite a few roles specifically in the Star Trek universe is John Shuck who originally played the Klingon Ambassador in Star Trek IV. The last role that I saw him in was in Enterprise as Antaak:

But he also played a Cardi in DS9:

John Schuck! Love that guy he's been around forever. I loved him as that robot in Holmes and Yo-Yo back in '76-'77.

Trek has plenty of Actors who have done that, some have been in the different Series as well, TNG, DS-9, Voyager.

James Sloyan is one of my favorites

The king of the crossovers is Mark Sheppard. His IMDb: Mark Sheppard - IMDb

If you look at the Stargate franchise, there's a lot of this.

In SG-1, you'll see familiar faces from BSG, including Aaron Douglas who plays a Jaffa, and Tamoh Penikett who plays one of the humanoid Replicators. Then, of course, all the Delouis' show up at various points during the show's run.

kellie waymire was one i liked before her sudden passing

neosporing said:

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kellie waymire was one i liked before her sudden passing

HOLY CRAP!! I didn't know that she died...wow...sad, only 36...

Also, didn't know that she played in anything other than Enterprise.

In wondering why actors are charged with playing differing roles in the same show (ones that aren't obvious at least, unlike Data and Lore), I realize that for the most part, it's not always so obvious to the viewer. In fact, until I really started paying attention, I didn't notice this much at all. Even less with voice actors. I wouldn't have picked up on Combs last night if I hadn't recognized a certain inflection in his voice at the end of certain words.

neosporing said:

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kellie waymire was one i liked before her sudden passing

She was adorable, and I really wanted to see where the relationship with Phlox was going on that. It's truly a shame what happened to her.

Star Trek TOS has a few I can think of off the top of my head. The later Star Treks have loads of repeat actors.

Diana Muldaur played three different doctors, two in Star Trek TOS and Pulasky in season two of TNG.

Stewart Moss played two characters in TOS, in Naked Time and By Any Other Name.

Barbara Babcock did several different characters and voices.

Mark Lenard

Majel Barrett

Malachi Throne

Phil Morris was on TOS as a boy, and later did STIII, DS9, and Voyager.

William Shatner did two Twilight Zones.

Jack Klugman did four Twilight Zone episodes.

And just how many times did Burgess Meredith appear in Twilight Zone? Four, but also narrated the movie. He also appeared as four characters in Rawhide.

Monster Dave said:

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Hey All,

So I've seen all the episodes of DS9 many times, but last night I was watching one when I realized that the actor who played Weyoun in DS9 also played Commander Shran on Enterprise!





Couldn't believe that I didn't notice that before!!

So I was wondering what other shows you may have noticed where an actor either played more than one character or played multiple characters over different iterations of a show.

Jeffery Combs did multiple roles on DS9. Weyun, Brunt (Ferengi Tax Man) and I think one other that I don't recall.

That is the thing about Star Trek, one actor: Multiple aliens. It makes sense that if you have the life-cast of an actor, just make multiple aliens out of it without needing new actors.

Pretty simple actually, the producers like the Actor and know he can pull it off.

Monster Dave said:

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In wondering why actors are charged with playing differing roles in the same show (ones that aren't obvious at least, unlike Data and Lore)

The Klingon commander from Trouble with Tribbles was in more than one episode including Next Gen. Let's not forget Mark Leonard, he was Spock's dad and a Romulan.

Wes R said:

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The Klingon commander from Trouble with Tribbles was in more than one episode including Next Gen.

I think you meant ds9, not next gen.


Lets not forget the AWESOME Morgan Woodward as captain Ron Tracy and Dr Van Gelder in TOS

and Ian Wolfe as Mr. Atoz and Septimus

Armin Shimmerman who was probably best known for playing for playing on Quark also originated the role of the Ferengi by playing one of the Ferengi encountered by the Enterprise in the TNG pilot, "Encounter at Farpoint".

I don't think there were any Ferengi at Farpoint. I think you're thinking of the episode with the Takon (sp?) stargate/spacegate or something like that.

Found it, "The Last Outpost."

You guys ever watch Dragnet? I swear they only used a dozen actors for the entire series. lol


Doug

Kerr Avon said:

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I don't think there were any Ferengi at Farpoint. I think you're thinking of the episode with the Takon (sp?) stargate/spacegate or something like that.

Found it, "The Last Outpost."

You may be right, it was whatever episode they first introduced the Ferengi; for some reason I thought it was Farpoint but it didn't quite ring true to me either. Maybe the episode I was thinking of was the first regular episode of the show after Farpoint, regardless, point is still that Armin played one of the first Ferengi and ended up playing the best known Ferengi.

No one mentioned David Warner who played the Earth ambassador in Trek V, Klingon Chancellor Gorkon in Trek VI, and the Cardi that tortures Picard in TNG.

Or William Morgan Sheppard who played Data's grandfather, Ira Graves in TNG, Klingon prison guard in Trek VI and the Vulcan Science Minister in the last Trek movie.

Vaughn Armstrong (Admiral Forest on Enterprise) is one of apparently only five actors who has played at least seven different characters. He's played a Klingon, Romulan, Vidiian, Borg, Hirogen and two Cardassians (not Kim or her sister) among others. I think part of the reason why the producers liked him is his distinctive booming voice that commanded fear and respect at the same time (the guy could play Ceasar if he wanted).

Back in the 1960s and 70s, things were a bit different as actors were under contract to different studios. So you often had the same actors popping up in different television shows (just watch any of the Universal studios shows, especially the Jack Webb produced ones like Dragnet, Adam-12 and Emergency! and you'll see MANY familiar faces pop up from season to season playing different characters). Granted I don't know if Desilu and Paramount had the same situation, but their talent pool was a little limited with some actors being gobbled up by the other studios. Still, they had plenty of veterans from the Twilight Zone and Outer Limits days to draw upon (and live TV from the 1950s) as needed. Things loosened up a bit I believe after some SAG negotiations.

Today, another factor in the casting is producers also tend to like going for somebody who they know can handle the hassle of wearing uncomfortable makeup and prosthetics for days on end. Believe me that can be trickier than it sounds as I heard in Babylon 5, the original actress they casted as an assistant for G'Kar had to bow out since the makeup drove her crazy after only one episode (so they wrote the character out and created the character N'toth with a different actor).

Don't forget about the Trek Animated series as in there, having a good voice could be enough as animators would create the visual character. James Doohan's penchant for accents had him lending his voice talents to several characters (he did the same in live Trek as well) and so did Nichelle Nichols on a couple occassions. Guys like Combs and Armstrong are still active today doing animated voice over work. Combs has lent his voice to "Question" from the Justice League and "Rachet" from the new Transformers show. I'm not sure what Armstrong has done recently, but I am sure he is out there as well. Listen to that lilty quality of Combs voice and it hits you subconsciously in several unusual ways.

Ed Wasser who played Morden in Babylon 5 was also one of the Command and Control crew in the pilot episode.
Albert Popwell was in 4 of the Dirty Harry films as different characters !!!

What about Rene Auberjonois, he played Col. West in ST VI and then went on to play Odo on DS9.

Jeremy Sisto played a defense attorney on Law & Order. A few season later he joined the cast full time as a detective.