Jeffrey Combs
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
| This article is written from the Real World point of view |
 |
| This article is written from the Real World point of view |
|
| Jeffrey Combs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Birth name: | Jeffrey Alan Combs |
| Gender: | Male |
| Date of birth: | 9 September 1954 |
| Place of birth: | Oxnard, California |
| Character(s): | Several (nine) |
Jeffrey Alan Combs (born 9 September 1954; age 53) is an actor who has the distinction of portraying nine different characters on Star Trek, most notably those of Brunt and Weyoun on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the Andorian Shran on Star Trek: Enterprise. He is one of only five actors to play seven or more different characters in the Star Trek franchise, the others being Randy Oglesby, J. G. Hertzler, Vaughn Armstrong and Thomas Kopache. Coincidentally, Combs has appeared in Star Trek with all four actors.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Born in Oxnard, California, Combs was raised in Lompoc along with many older and younger siblings. He graduated from Lompoc High School in 1972, after which he honed his acting talents at the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Santa Maria and the Professional Actor's Training Program at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington. In 1980, after spending four years performing for regional theater, Combs moved to Los Angeles where he landed roles in the films Whose Life Is It Anyway? and Honky Tonk Freeway, both released in 1981. Actress Teri Garr, who appeared on Star Trek: The Original Series, starred in the latter film.
[edit] Career
[edit] Films
Combs is widely recognized as an actor of science fiction and horror movies. His first experience with both genres came in 1983. In this year, he appeared in the sci-fi comedy The Man with Two Brains, a film which also featured fellow Trek guest stars James Cromwell and David Warner. A few months later, he was seen in the horror film Frightmare, co-starring Star Trek: The Next Generation guest actor Scott Thomson.
Combs went on to become the star of many movies in the horror and sci-fi genres, specifically those based on the works of writer H. P. Lovecraft. His most well-known Lovecraftian role (and, indeed, his most famous film role in general) is that of Dr. Herbert West in the 1985 cult classic Re-Animator. He would reprise this role in two more films, Bride of Re-Animator in 1990 and Beyond Re-Animator in 2003, and is currently slated to play the West again in House of Re-Animator. Other Lovecraftian films in which he starred include 1986's From Beyond (with DS9 guest star Ted Sorel) and 1994's Lurking Fear (with TNG guest star Vincent Schiavelli). Comb's association with Lovecraft was such that he actually played Lovecraft in the 1994 horror anthology Necronomicon, which also featured fellow Trek alumni Dennis Christopher, Gary Graham, Richard Lynch, and David Warner.
Combs is also notable for his for playing the title role of Doctor Mordrid in 1992 (during which he co-starred with Brian Thompson) and for his role as crazed FBI agent Milton Dammers in the 1996 horror film, The Frighteners (which co-starred fellow DS9 guest performer Julianna McCarthy). Combs has also appeared in the 1998 horror sequel I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (also starring fellow Enterprise guest actor Bill Cobbs), the 1999 remake of House on Haunted Hill (starring Next Generation guest actress Famke Janssen), 2001's The Attic Expeditions, and 2002's Feardotcom. A more recent horror movie credit is 2006's Abominable, in which he co-starred with Matt McCoy and Phil Morris. His other sci-fi credits include 1990's Robot Jox (starring Enterprise co-star Gary Graham), 1991's Guyver (with Michael Berryman, Dennis Madalone, Brian Simpson, and Spice Williams) and Trancers II (with Richard Lynch), 1993's Fortress (co-starring Kurtwood Smith and Tom Towles), and 2001's Contagion (with Megan Gallagher).
The actor has ventured in other genres besides horror or sci-fi, of course. These other credits include the 1994 thriller Love and a .45, the 1995 gangster picture Dillinger and Capone (co-starring fellow Trek veterans F. Murray Abraham, Stephen Davies, Catherine Hicks, Clint Howard, Bert Remsen, and Time Winters), the 1996 thriller Felony (co-starring Charles Napier and David Warner), the 1998 crime drama Caught Up (with Tony Todd), and the 2005 thriller Edmond. Additionally, in 1997, Combs and his DS9 co-stars Rene Auberjonois and Armin Shimerman appeared together in the drama Snide and Prejudice (along with Mick Fleetwood).
[edit] Television
Outside of Star Trek, Combs has made guest appearances on several other television series. In 1987, Combs made a guest appearance on an episode of Beauty and the Beast, a series which starred Star Trek Nemesis actor Ron Perlman. Also in 1987, he was seen on Houston Knights, on which TOS actress Madlyn Rhue was a regular. Other series on which he has appeared include Freddy's Nightmares, Hunter (in an episode with Kenneth Marshall), Life Goes On (with David Graf and Bill Smitrovich), The Single Guy (starring Olivia d'Abo and Mark Moses), Martial Law (with Neal McDonough), and CSI.
Further expanding his sci-fi credits, he has also appeared on The Flash (with Dick Miller), Babylon 5 (with Mary Kay Adams, David L. Crowley, Andreas Katsulas, and Bill Mumy), Perversions of Science (with Jeff Corey, Ron Perlman, and David Warner), and the 2000's version of The Twilight Zone. He also voices the character of "The Question" on the animated superhero series Justice League. Other Trek performers he worked with on this series include Clancy Brown, Robert Foxworth, Virginia Madsen, and Charles Napier.
In 1996, Combs had a role in the TV movie Norma Jean & Marilyn. Also starring in this movie were Ashley Judd, Steven Culp, David Drew Gallagher, Alex Henteloff, and John Rubinstein.
Combs currently has a recurring role on the hit USA sci-fi series The 4400.
[edit] Association with Trek
Combs auditioned for the role of William T. Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but lost the part to Jonathan Frakes. Frakes, who directed the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Meridian", remembered Combs and cast him as Tiron.
Combs has since earned himself quite a number of appearances on Star Trek, guest starring in thirty-one episodes of Deep Space Nine, one episode of Star Trek: Voyager and eleven episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise. In "The Dogs of War", Combs played both Weyoun and Brunt, becoming one of only two Star Trek actors ever to play two unrelated characters in the same episode (the other being Patrick Stewart in TNG: "The Defector", where he played both Jean-Luc Picard and Michael Williams), and the only one credited for playing both characters in that episode. And he did it a second time while playing Weyoun and an unnamed Holosuite Guest in DS9's "What You Leave Behind". He has also appeared in two Star Trek series finales: DS9's "What You Leave Behind" and ENT's "These Are the Voyages...".
The species he has played on Star Trek include three Ferengi, a Vorta, a Norcadian, and an Andorian. He also played an imaginary human in "Far Beyond the Stars". The name of Tiron's race was never revealed.
Combs has said that out of all the Trek roles he has played, Weyoun is his favorite character.
[edit] Characters
[edit] Recurring guest appearances
[edit] Individual guest appearances
[edit] Voice Acting Credits
- Star Trek: Elite Force II, as Commander Suldok
[edit] Trivia
After the September 11 terrorist attacks, a "Jeffrey Coombs" (note the spelling) was listed as one of the casualties that day. Combs' fan club and family were deluged with letters and sympathy cards from distraught fans who incorrectly assumed that he had died. Combs quickly moved to reassure fans that he was still alive but was very grateful for their concern and sympathized with the friends and family of Coombs.
When interviewed by Star Trek Monthly in 1998 about his two recurring roles on DS9, Combs said that he preferred Weyoun chiefly because he had much more "freedom" to define the character with each appearance, whereas playing Brunt (or any Ferengi character) was simply a matter of following Armin Shimerman's example.
In an interview, Manny Coto claimed that, had Star Trek: Enterprise been given a fifth season, Shran would have joined the crew of the starship Enterprise permanently, making Jeffery Combs a regular Star Trek castmember.
[edit] External links
- Jeffrey Combs Official Jeffrey Combs Fan Site
- Jeffrey Combs at the Internet Movie Database
- Jeffrey Combs at Wikipedia
