Childhood & Early Life
Marina Sirtis was born on 29 March 1955 in Hackney, London, England, to Greek parents, John and Despina. She has a younger brother whose name is Steve.
While in secondary school, she secretly auditioned for Guildhall School of Music and Drama against her parents' wishes. Following her graduation, she joined Connaught Theatre.
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Career
Marina Sirtis initially appeared in plays including ‘What the Butler Saw’ and ‘Hamlet’ in the 1970s. She then had guest roles in a number of TV dramas including ‘Raffles’, ‘Who Pays the Ferryman?’, ‘Hazell’ and ‘Minder’.
She made her big screen debut in 1983, appearing in ‘The Wicked Lady’. A year later, she played the role of a prostitute in ‘Blind Date’. This was followed by a role in ‘Death Wish 3,’ in which she featured as a rape victim.
In 1994, the actress began voicing Demona, a character in the animated TV series ‘Gargoyles’. Two years later, she played a villainous police detective in the made-for-television film ‘Gadgetman’.
She starred as a villainess once again when she was featured as a race-track owner under investigation in the series ‘Diagnosis: Murder’ in 1998. The following year, Sirtis was cast as Sister Margarette in ‘Earth: Final Conflict’, an American-Canadian sci-fi television series.
She played a Russian scientist in an episode of ‘Stargate SG-1.’ In the year 2001, she made a highly publicised appearance on the British hospital drama series ‘Casualty’. Her performance as a politician who had controversial views on the National Health Service was much appreciated by the audience.
The actress then starred as Laura Lee in ‘Spectres’ (2004), a supernatural drama film which earned her the best actress award at the ShockerFest International Film Festival.
In 2006, she had a three-episode recurring role in ‘Girlfriends,’ appearing as a love match-maker named Gina Richards. The following year, Sirtis lent her voice to the character of Matriarch Benezia in the video game ‘Mass Effect’ on PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360.
She acted in ‘InAlienable’, a sci- fi flick with horror and comic elements in 2008. Then in 2009, she featured in the disaster film ‘Annihilation Earth’ and also appeared as Layla Rahimi in the first episode of the short-lived medical drama ‘Three Rivers.’
In 2010, Sirtis made a guest appearance as a Swiss doctor in ABC Family's ‘Make It or Break It’. During this period, she also started voicing villainess Queen Bee in the animated series ‘Young Justice’.
In March 2011, she guest-starred in an episode of the series ‘Grey's Anatomy,’ playing an Iranian mother who appears in a medical trial for Alzheimer's disease. A year later, her vampire flick ‘Speed Demon’ was released to pay-per-view services.
She joined the cast of ‘NCIS’ as Orli Elbaz. Her character was introduced in the episode "Berlin" of season 10 in April 2013. She subsequently featured in the season 11’s second episode which aired in October 2013 and finally in the season 13’s concluding episode "Family First".
In the mid-2010s, the actress did a number of movies including the horror film ‘Finders Keepers’, the thriller ‘A Dark Reflection’ and the Hallmark channel film ‘My Summer Prince’. ‘A Dark Reflection’ is a story of an air traffic controller who gets suspended after an in-flight incident.
Sirtis agreed to voice the character of Cosma in the action comedy animated series ‘OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes’ in 2017. In 2018, she had a voice role in the made-for-television disaster film ‘The Last Sharknado: It's About Time’.
Major Works
From 1987 to 1994, Sirtis appeared as Counselor Deanna Troi in the TV series ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’. Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of a starship named the USS Enterprise-D. Sirtis later reprised the role in the feature films, namely, ‘Star Trek Generations’, ‘Star Trek First Contact’, ‘Star Trek Insurrection’ and ‘Star Trek Nemesis,’ as well as in the series finale of ‘Star Trek: Enterprise’.
