Marina Sirtis

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Wikipedia

**Marina Sirtis** is a British-American actress who played a schoolteacher in Season 2 of *The Orville*.

## Background

Sirtis has worked in franchises similar to *The Orville* including many feature length films in the *Star Trek* saga. Including *Star Trek: First Contact*, *Star Trek: Generations*, *Star Trek: Insurrection*, and *Star Trek: Nemesis*. She has also taken on numerous roles in Star Trek television series such as *Star Trek: The Next Generation*, *Star Trek: Voyager*, and *Star Trek: Enterprise*. She has also acted in *Stargate SG-1*.

## The Orville

On July 26, 2018, rumors that Sirtis would appear on the show exploded when the actress published a photo to her Instagram of herself with creator Seth MacFarlane and Jonathan Frakes. Frakes, who co-starred alongside Sirtis on *Star Trek: The Next Generation*, had directed first season episode *Pria* and was confirmed to be directing an episode in the second. The next day, the online publication *TrekMovie* independently confirmed that Sirtis would be guest starring on the show. Sirtis confirmed by late October that her episode would be directed by Frakes.

### Auditioning

Frakes and MacFarlane had auditioned many actresses for a schoolteacher, all unsatisfactorily. According to Frakes, both he and MacFarlane were considering a particular, unnamed woman who auditioned until conversation MacFarlane suggested drawing former actresses from The Next Generation. Frakes proposed Sirtis.

> *I said, “[O]bviously Marina could do this part." [MacFarlane] said he was thinking he should hold off until he found another part for her but asked what I thought, and I said Marina would LOVE to do this part. So we're in video village – we were already shooting – and both texted her at the same time. She was thrilled and we called her, found a date, made a deal for her.*
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Sirtis also recounted the story in a separate interview:

> *Johnny and Seth were sitting together, and Seth said, "Well isn’t there, you know, one of our group?" And Jonathan said, "Well what about Marina?" And Seth said, "Well I was kind of saving her for something better." And Jonathan said, "Oh don’t be ridiculous, just give her this part!" [laughs] And the next day I was on The Orville!*
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Frakes and MacFarlane unwittingly texted Sirtis with an offer at the same time.

Sirtis showed up for costume fitting and make-up the next day, and performed her role by the afternoon, an amazing turnaround of 24-to-36 hours from job offer to filming.

### *Sanctuary*

Marina Sirtis played a teacher aboard the USS *Orville* who grows concerned with the aggressive and callous behavior of Topa, son of Klyden and Second Officer Bortus, towards his female classmates. Sirtis described acting under Frakes' direction: "He’s lovely. He knew what I wanted – a lot of light! Just being on the Orville, everything looks like [The Next Generation] – the corridors and everything – it was almost like stepping back in time with Jonathan directing. It felt like a comfy pair of old slippers."

## Trivia

* Due to a schedule change, Sirtis showed up for costume fitting and make-up the day after being hired and performed her role by the afternoon, a turnaround of 24-to-36 hours from job offer to filming.

## References

1. ↑ Pascale, Anthony. "Marina Sirtis To Guest Star In ‘The Orville’ In Episode Directed By Star Trek: TNG’s Jonathan Frakes". TrekMovie. July 27, 2018.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Elliott, Dave. "Interview: ‘Star Trek: TNG’s Marina Sirtis Talks Next Generation, The Orville & DC’s Titans!". *GeekTown*. Oct. 24, 2018.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Pascale, Anthony. "Interview: Jonathan Frakes On Casting Marina Sirtis And What ‘The Orville’ And ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Share". *TrekMovie*. April 10, 2019.
4. ↑ "Star Trek: Interview: Marina Sirtis: Dark Sublime". *Sci Fi Bulletin*. Last accessed Jan. 26, 2019.