British actress Marina Sirtis recently scored a first when she had a steamy love affair on "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
Sirtis plays Deanna Troi, the half-human, half-betazoid counselor, on the popular syndicated series. The back story is that Troi and Cmdr. William Riker, played by Jonathan Frakes, are former lovers."We play a lot of stuff between us that ends up on the cutting room floor," Sirtis says. "The producers don't like the relationship too much, although the fans love it. The producers want us to be free to have dalliances with aliens."
In a recent episode, Troi had a love scene.
"We got a lot of letters saying you shouldn't have sex on `Star Trek,"' she says. "We touch on everything else. It's as though there's no sex in the 24th century."
Despite her striking beauty, jet-black hair and dark eyes, Sirtis says people seldom recognize her on the street.
"I'm only recognized if I want to be recognized, which is good and bad," she says. "I look different because I wear a wig and big, black contact lenses with a little hole for me to see through.
"I get invited to functions because of the show, and when I turn up people don't know who I am. That's embarrassing. Especially if you're trying to impress someone you're with."
In person, Sirtis does look different. Her wig hair is pulled back severely on "Star Trek." Away from the show, her long, dark hair is full and wavy. She's more animated, has a keen sense of humor and laughs more than the rather serious Troi. Her English accent emerges when she's not acting.
Sirtis had been in this country less than five months when she auditioned for the new "Star Trek." She originally auditioned for the role of Lt. Tasha Yar, the security chief, which went to Denise Crosby.
In England, she'd done "Wicked Lady" with Faye Dunaway and appeared opposite Charles Bronson in "Death Wish III." She got a part in "Hunter" two weeks after she arrived here and was also on the TV series "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes."
"I grew up in London. My parents arrived from Greece three months before I was born," she says. "I blame my bad temper on being conceived in Greece. My parents' attitudes were pretty Victorian, so they saw being an actress as having about the same respectability as being a lady of the night. I was very bright in school and my parents had lofty ideas of me becoming a lawyer. I think my father was quietly supportive before he passed away. I think with `Star Trek' my mother has finally accepted it.
"I came here because my looks went against me in England. They do a lot of `kitchen sink' dramas about working class problems. I was working class, I had a terrible cockney accent, but I couldn't get cast in those things. They said I was too pretty, too glamorous. I was never the lead. I was always `the other woman."'
Sirtis says she had just ended a long relationship and decided it was time to exercise her ambitions elsewhere.
"I'd fought too hard to become an actress, because of my parents' opposition and the environment I grew up in. I felt I owed it to myself to do as well as I could," she says.
"Star Trek: The Next Generation," now in its third season, is the most successful hour-long drama in syndication. A sequel to the 1960s 22nd century "Star Trek," it is set in the 24th century and features an all-new cast and a much-improved Starship Enterprise. Like the original, it was also created by Gene Roddenberry.
(The series airs locally on KSTU, Ch. 13, Saturdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 5 p.m.)
In the beginning, Deanna Troi was a lieutenant commander in the Star Fleet. She is now a civilian counselor aboard the Enterprise who uses her unusual senses and ESP to further the crew's mission.
In the beginning of the series, there were too many stories about superior beings taking over the Enterprise and challenging the crew to some sort of test. Now the show emphasizes the relationships between the crew members and their encounters with strange worlds and unusual beings. That's what made the original "Star Trek" a phenomenal hit.
"The relationships are more important than plot," Sirtis says. "The audience wants to see the people interact. Gene doesn't allow conflicts between the crew members, although I can't imagine any close relationship over a long period of time that doesn't have some conflict. Conflict is what an actor sinks his teeth into. We sneak it in sometimes, and he'll put his foot down."