A British-American actress, Marina Sirtis is best known for her role as Counselor Deanna Troi on the TV series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. She is also popular for her appearance in a spin-off of the series and other appearances in the Star Trek franchise.
Early life
Marina Sirtis was born in Hackney, London, on March 29, 1955. She was born to a working-class Greek father, John Sirtis and a tailor’s assistant mother, Despina. She was raised in Harringay, North London. She was inclined towards acting since her early days. While in secondary school, she secretly auditioned for drama school, against her parent’s will. Eventually, she was accepted to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Start of her acting career
She graduated in 1976 and started her career by joining the Connaught Theatre, Worthing, West Sussex. She appeared in the play, What the Butler Saw and also in Hamlet as Ophelia. Later, making her way to the show business, she made several guest appearances in television series, including Raffles, Who Pays the Ferryman, Haze, Minder, Up the Elephant and Round the Castle, and The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
In 1979, she appeared in a TV commercial of Cinzano Bianco. In 1983, she starred in Faye Dunaway film, The Wicked Lady. Further, she also appeared in Death Wish 3, where she portrayed a role of a rape victim, and in a movie, Blind Date, she played the role of a prostitute murdered by a madman.
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It was 1986 when she moved to the United States to focus on her career. After several years of her stay, she earned the citizenship of US. When Gene Roddenberry, who already was impressed by seeing the movie, Aliens asked her to audition for Star Trek: The Next Generation and later, she gave it a try.
She got the main role of Deanna Troi, who is the half betazoid and half human in the show. She has a static badge on her costume, which she uses to communicate. She first appeared on the show in 1987, and her role was supposed to be written off after the first season. But her immense popularity and being a fan favorite character allowed her to stay in the entire project till 1994, appearing in 176 episodes.
After Star Trek: The Next Generation
After Star Trek: The Next Generation ended, she voiced for a demon character in Disney’s Gargoyles. With garnering critical acclaims from critics and audience, she voiced for the role from 1994-1996. She then headed back to big screen appearing as a detective Inspector walker in Sci-Fi movie, Gadgetman. The blatant story line and poor screenplay made the movie super flop.
In 1977, she lent her voice in the fourth season of the animated adult sitcom, Duckman for the character Aurora Abromowitz. In 1999, she involved herself in the final season of the human race from enemies on earth. Later that year, she was also featured in The Outer Limits‘ fifth season as Olivia Liv Kohler, the wife of high secretary Paul.
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Not only this, but she also reprised her role in The Star Trek Voyager in 1999. She continued her role as a Counselor for Star Trek Voyager in the episode The Insider. Maria has made a place for herself in millions of heart with her robust physical appearance and scintillating performance. In 2001, she starred in the UK medical drama, Casualty, where she appeared as Jane Taylor.
She made numerous appearances in TV series, including Threat Matrix (2003), The Closer (2005), Without a Trace (2006), Girlfriends (2006), Grendel (2007), Annihilation earth (2009), The Cleveland (2009), Make it or Break it (2010), and Grey’s Anatomy (2010-2012).
Besides she also appeared in the final episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. She also lent her voice for a fan-created web series; Star Trek continues in 2013. She later appeared in a police procedural series, NCIS as Orli Elbaz from 2013-2016. More recently in 2017, she was seen in the political thriller TV series, Scandal as General Fletcher.
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She then returned to her role in the video game XCOM 2: Wars of the chosen as Elena Dragunov. As of 2018, she is all set to be back as Queen Bee in the animated series, Young Justice. Throughout her successful career, she has banked hefty cash, which is expected to be around $6 million, as of 2018.
Married life!
Marina is married to rock Guitarist, Michael Lamper. The couple tied the knot in traditional Greek ceremony on June 21, 1992. As per her reply on Twitter, she does not share any children with her husband. As of now, the couple is leading a blissful married life.
References
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