While some actors are constantly typecast in the same roles or genres, others have received both critical and public nods for having played very diverse characters in the entertainment industry. Names like Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, or Emma Thompson come to mind. Afranchise as popular as Star Trek, with its twelve shows and thirteen movies, is widely known for recasting such prolific actors in various human and alien roles, sometimes even in the same episode.
One recurring, fan-favorite Trek performer is Jeffrey Combs, whose portfolio includes horror classicsFrightmare,Re-Animator, andThe Frighteners, the voice of Scarecrow inThe New Batman Adventures, and the voice of Question inJustice League Unlimited.
Combs played nine different characters across fourStar Trekshows:Deep Space 9,Enterprise,Voyager, and most recently, the adultanimated series created by Mike McMahan,Lower Decks.
Related:Jeffrey Combs' Best Performances, Ranked
Combs may have auditioned for the role of William Riker, which he lost to Jonathan Frakes, but his first Trek character was Tiron, in theDS9season 3 episode “Meridian,” in 1994. Tiron was a pale humanoid alien with a green coloration on his forehead. He is very wealthy, entitled, and a little on the creepy side, as he became so obsessed with Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) that he commissioned a holosuite featuring a hologram in her likeness.
Weyoun 4 to 8—DS9
Weyoun is Combs’ personal favorite role in the franchise, probably because he got to play 5 versions of him, starting with the Season 4 episodeTo the Death, and ending with the series’ heartbreaking finale,What You Leave Behind. Weyoun was a Vorta, a genetically engineered race that was created solely to serve the diplomatic interests of the Founders/Changelings.
Whenever one Weyoun died, he was immediately replaced by his clone. Combs’ Weyoun 4 was killed by his own Jem’Hadar soldiers after questioning their allegiance. Weyoun 5 was obliterated in a transporter malfunction, though it was probably not an accident. As for Weyoun 6, he was considered a defective model, because he was the only clone to ever question the devastating Dominion War that was instigated by his masters. And so, he ended up killing himself by triggering his brain implant. Weyoun 7, on the other hand, simply had hisneck snapped by an irritated Worf(but don’t Klingons always feel irritated?). And last, Weyoun 8 was shot by the space station’s mysterious Cardassian tailor, Garak.
“I played him as if he prided himself on how eloquent and elegant he could be, and on his ability to manipulate and cajole. He considered himself really adept at the political game.”(Jeffrey Combs in Star Trek Monthly issue 17, pp. 17-18)
Related:Star Trek: Supporting Characters That Deserve Their Own Movie
Combs donned the prosthetic head (gigantic ears included) of a very annoying Ferengi onDS9: the overzealous Commerce Authority auditor, Brunt. His first appearance was in the Season 3 episodeFamily Business, in which he investigated the bar manager, Quark, and his mother, Ishka. After being a thorn in Quark’s side on several occasions, Brunt attempted to have Quark’s brother, Rom, removed from his new office as Grand Nagus, but ended up losing his license instead.
When Combs played both Weyoun and Brunt in theDS9episodeDogs of War, he was branded as the first Trek actor to portray two different recurring characters in the same episode.
Shran—Enterprise
The dynamic of the blue-skinned Andorian commander Thy’lek Shran and the Enterprise captain Jonathan Archer is one of the most iconic on television. What started as a hostile interaction (kidnapping and torture included) would soon transform into mutual respect. Through the seasons, the duo would do each other life-saving favors against Vulcans spies, hostile Andorians, and the evil Xindi race.
Unlike most of Combs’ Trek roles, Shran was passionate, compassionate, and honorable. Combs would also go on to voice Starfleet captain Thy’kir Shran, the commander’s great-grandson aboard the U.S.S. Sebrova, in theStar Trek Onlineroleplaying game.
Suldok—Elite Force II
Combs may not have portrayed a Romulan on TV (yet), but he did voice the main Romulan villain in the 2003 PC gameStar Trek: Elite Force II. Suldok was an anti-Federation commander who developed a military coup against the Romulan Empire via genetically engineered bugs.
Kevin Mulkahey—DS9
In theStar Trek: Deep Space 9episodeFar Beyond the Stars, set in an alternate 1953 Harlem, Combs assumed the role of Kevin Mulkahey, a racist and violent police detective who beat up criminals, writers, and even other police officers. Unlike most of his charismatic alien villains, Combs’ human character was detestable from the get-go.
Penk—Voyager
Combs’ only appearance onStar Trek: Voyagerwas as the ringmaster Penk, in the Season 6 episodeTsunkatse. Penk was a humanoid in the Delta Quadrant who was in the business of kidnapping unsuspecting candidates of various races to supply them for the Norcadians’ popular, bloody, galactically broadcasted “gladiator” game, Tsunkatse. This episode featured Dwayne Johnson as the Pendari Champion who was pitted against Seven of Nine (Jerri Ryan).
Krem—Enterprise
InStar Trek: Entreprise’s season-1 episode, “Acquisition,” Combs portrayed the Ferengi Krem, who boarded the Enterprise NX-01 with his companions in an attempt to sabotage it and snatch it away. Krem was a rather laidback and complacent character who, with the help of Captain Archer, became aware that Ulis, his cousin in the raiding crew, had been exploiting him and paying him less than what he was due. He would eventually betray Ulis and help Archer take back his ship.
AGIMUS—Lower Decks
Jeffrey Combs devotees have most likely recognized his voice in the animated seriesStar Trek: Lower Decksas AGIMUS, a controlling, megalomaniac sentient computer with a flaring red button. When the Yosemite shuttle transporting him to the Daystrom Institute of Advanced Robotics crashed, he became stranded on an unfriendly planet with two main characters, Mariner and Boimler, whom he then attempted to manipulate and pit against one another. After they were rescued, AGIMUS expressed his desire to forsake his evil ways and join Starfleet, but was taken to the Self-Aware Megalomaniacal Computer Storage.
Holosuite Guest—DS9
In the finale ofDeep Space Nine, Jeffrey Combs made a fleeting appearance as an elegantly dressed human in a 1960’s holosuite program. It was unclear whether that man was supposed to be a background hologram character or an actual station officer. Perhaps that intriguing, silent character was the producers’ way of expressing their final appreciation for the actor’s talent on the show.
Veterans other than Jeffrey Combs who have taken on multiple roles in the Star Trek franchise include Majel Barrett Roddenberry (Nurse Chapel, Lwaxana Troi, Starship computer voice) and Vaughn Armstrong (as a human, Klingon, Cardassian, Romulan, Vidiian, Borg, Kreetassan, and an Alpha Hirogan).
