Martha Hackett

Martha Hackett is an actress from Needham, Massachusetts, best known for her role of Seska on thirteen episodes of . She also appeared in two episodes of as a Romulan, portrayed a character in a deleted scene of the finale, and provided her voice in five s.
She won a Dramalogue Award for her acting in the theatrical production Barbarians and has appeared in King Lear, The Revenger's Tragedy, Tom Walker (2001), and Happy End (2005).
== Early career ==
Hackett started her career as an actress in the late '80s with guest roles in episodes of Hill Street Blues (1986, with James B. Sikking, Megan Gallagher, Carlos Palomino, and Lawrence Tierney) and Hard Time on Planet Earth (1989, with Stan Ivar and Gregory Wagrowski). She then appeared in episodes of The Marshall Chronicles (1990, with Steven Anderson), (1991, with Matthew Faison, Barry Kivel, and Wallace Shawn), Sirens (1993), and (1994, with Deborah Landis).
Among her early film work are (1991, with K Callan), (1993, with Raphael Sbarge, Clint Howard, and Frank Novak), (1994, with Clint Howard and Mark Kiely), the drama In the Heat of Passion II: Unfaithful (1994, with Matt McCoy), and the drama One Night Stand (1995, with Gina Hecht and Diane Salinger).
== Star Trek ==
Her entry into the Star Trek universe came when she auditioned for the role of Jadzia Dax on Deep Space Nine. Although she didn't end up getting the part, which went to Terry Farrell, the producers did like something about her and she was called back to play the pilot Androna in the Next Generation seventh season episode Unfortunately, her storyline was cut from the final production. An image of her was printed in the and her costume from this appearance was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. 
A few months later she was called in to play Sub-Commander T'Rul, a Romulan on Deep Space Nine, in the episodes and . It was then a director called her, saying they wanted her for a role coming up later that season, on the new Trek series Voyager.
When brought aboard to play Seska, she was promised a recurring role though there was no guarantee of the number of episodes, and the writer had not fully figured out her character yet. All she was told about the character was that "she was a member of the Maquis, and she's not so happy with Janeway." It wasn't until her fourth appearance in that she knew Seska was "more than a little unhinged," and she was perfectly fine with the fact her character was a villain. Said Hackett, "I had a lot of sympathy for her. As an actor, you have to look at it from your character's point of view, even if your character is a murderer." 
In 1995, Hackett found out that she was pregnant. Unsure about how this would affect her future on the show, she went to tell them and was told, "Wow! We're writing it in anyway." So she was very pleased at the interesting coincidence. Pleased after receiving the initial script for in which Maje Culluh and her baby die, while she escapes in a pod 'to live to fight Voyager another day,' she was later disappointed at the rewrites (and eventually final) script where she died, and both of the others lived. But overall she was pleased with how Seska eventually turned out.
After Seska was killed off, she was pleasantly surprised to be called back later for the episode , and surprised again later in 2001 for the episode . Hackett's favorite episode is .
She was interviewed in (), (), and (). Several costumes and costume components worn by Hackett during her time on Star Trek were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay including a pair of boots, a shirt, and a Starfleet uniform. 
Beside her work in canon Star Trek, Hackett played a Romulan again in an advertisement for Hallmark's Star Trek Christmas ornaments. She additionally portrayed Pok's mother in the Star Trek: Klingon and voiced Commander Saffi Larsen in the video game Star Trek: Bridge Commander as well as Dr. Stevenson in the game Star Trek: Elite Force II. Hackett also provided additional voices for the games Star Trek: Klingon Academy () and Star Trek: Armada II ().
== Post-Trek career ==
During her time on Voyager Hackett also worked on other productions. She appeared on (1997, with Christopher Pettiet) and had featured parts in the independent film Inconceivable (1998, with Valerie Wildman), (1998, with David Carpenter, Don Pugsley, and Mel Green), (1999, with Chris Sarandon, Jonathan Banks, and Tony Plana), (1999, with Elizabeth Dennehy, Nancy Hower, Tamlyn Tomita, Azalea Davila and Cliff DeYoung, written by Kenneth Biller and directed by Les Landau), (1999, with Cress Williams, David Doty, and Jennifer S. Parsons), and (2000, starring Paul Guilfoyle, with Randy Oglesby and Kenneth Tigar).
Following the birth of her second child in late 2000 Hackett had guest roles in episodes of Whoopi Goldberg’s (2001, starring Jenifer Lewis, with Jack Donner, Jill Jacobson, and Joanna Miles), (2002, with Raphael Sbarge and Earl Billings), and The Division (2003, with Eugene Roche). Film credits include (2003, with Jeffrey Nordling and Sam Hennings) and (2005, with Corbin Bernsen, Christopher Gilman, Brian Simpson, Cole McKay, Ben Bray, and Azalea Davila). In 2004 Hackett was divorced from her husband Tim Disney, a director, producer, and writer.
After an acting break of two years, Hackett returned on screen in 2007 when she had a guest role in alongside fellow Trek performers Todd Stashwick, Gregg Henry, and Bruce French. The same year she appeared in . For this appearance, Hackett received no credit but performed along Trek actors Don McManus and Keith Carradine.
In 2009, she portrayed inmate Celia Roberts in the episode "Caged" which also featured Stephanie Niznik and stuntman Panuvat Anthony Nanakornpanom. She then portrayed the author Siona McCabre in (2009-10). Hackett portrayed her character in six episodes. 
== Star Trek appearances ==
File:Androna.jpg|Androna(deleted scene)
File:T'Rul.jpg|T'Rul
File:Seska-Bajoran.jpg|SeskaRecurring character
File:Seska Insurrection Alpha.jpg| (hologram)
File:Pok's mother.jpg|K'TarStar Trek: Klingon
=== Recurring appearance as Seska ===
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** (Season 1)
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** (Season 2)
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** (Season 3)
** (as a hologram only)
** (Season 7)
== External links ==
* – official site
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