DS9 Actress You Forgot Played Jerry’s Girlfriend On Seinfeld

The fictional Jerry Seinfeld (played by his namesake, the real Jerry Seinfeld) has never been particularly lucky in love. Sure, he dated plenty of women throughout the show’s nine seasons, but he didn’t really have lasting, meaningful relationships with any of them. His closest female relationship is with his ex-girlfriend and ever-present friend Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), which is pretty open-minded and refreshing for a guy like Jerry, but that means there was no just not many long term relationships. girlfriend guest roles on “Seinfeld.” In fact, Seinfeld’s longest on-screen romance lasted just four episodes, and that was with Rachel (Melanie Smith), who kissed him at a screening of “Schindler’s List” and absolutely horrified Seinfeld’s close nemesis, Newman (Wayne Knight). Even though she’s not the most memorable of Seinfeld’s girlfriends because she’s at least somewhat normal, Smith gives a good performance and manages to hold her own alongside some of television’s funniest comedians of the years 90.

Perhaps it was her moment to play a character confronted with the insane narcissism of the “Seinfeld” gang that helped her into her next big role, as she would play the daughter of a would-be megalomaniac dictator from the depths of the world. ‘space. Just three years after Rachel said goodbye to Jerry on “Seinfeld,” Smith was back on our screens in a very different role: as Tora Ziyal, the half-Bajoran daughter of Cardassian warlord Gul Dukat ( Marc Alaimo) in “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” “

“Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” was a bit more willing to tackle complicated and morally tricky topics than its franchise brethren, and Ziyal was a prime example of a difficult character for whom existence had no easy answers. Ziyal was half Cardassian and half Bajoran, the result of an affair between the married Cardassian Gul Dukat and a Bajoran woman who fell in love with her colonizer, Tora Naprem. Dukat sent them to live far from the Cardassians or Bajorans, unable to kill them but knowing that their existence was a liability. Eventually, father and daughter are reunited and Ziyal becomes close friends with Bajoran freedom fighter Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor), although it wasn’t an easy relationship for everyone involved. Ziyal would also befriend Cardassian tailor/spy Garak, played by Andrew Robinson, the only other Cardassian regularly aboard Deep Space Nine.

The Cardassian occupation of Bajor has many real-world corollaries and serves as the backdrop for some of the series’ darkest episodes, including one inspired by an Agatha Christie novel that examines the corruption of morals it necessary to survive in war. pits Kira against a Cardassian assassin. Ziyal is one of the only good things to come from the occupation, but she is unfortunately killed when she helps her friends escape during a Cardassian takeover of the space station, ultimately leading to the collapse total mentality of his father. He’s a truly tragic figure in every way, but thankfully Smith injects a lot of humanity into the half Cardassian, half Bajoran with a heart of gold during his tenure as the character. (Younger versions of Ziyal were played by Cyia Batten and Tracy Middendorf.)

Smith’s Rachel’s claim to fame came when she infamously caught George in great shape in a scene that introduced many of us to the word “shrinkage,” a far cry from Ziyal’s role as the catalyst for her father ends up starting a doomsday cult, but she’s not. the only “Seinfeld” guest actor to also have a spot on “Deep Space Nine.” Phil Morris, who played Jackie Chiles, the lawyer for Jerry’s neighbor Kramer (Michael Richardson), played several roles in “Deep Space Nine,” including roles as a Klingon and Jem’Hadar, which is really fun . Brian George, who played cafe owner Babu Bhatt in “Seinfeld,” also played Dr. Julian Bashir’s (Alexander Siddig) father in “Deep Space Nine.” There are actually dozens of crossovers, which is quite surprising given that one of the most important cast members on “Deep Space Nine” absolutely hated his time on the sitcom “show about Nothing.”

In Florida SuperCon in 2017Shimerman was asked about his guest role as Kramer’s cadet in a Season 7 episode of “Seinfeld,” to which he responded that he “hated them” because “they were uncommunicative, ugly , non-responsive, what’s the problem?” word ? Insular.” It’s not hard to imagine some actors becoming a little more like their self-centered characters and becoming a little insular after seven seasons together, but it’s still disappointing to hear that Shimerman had such a difficult time Fortunately, he had a much better time in “Deep Space Nine”, because Quark is one of the best characters in the entire “Star Trek” franchise.