Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, October 19, 1993 TAG: 9310160100
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Ian Spelling
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Deep Space Nine" had just begun production, and few people, including those employed at the studio, knew much about the new series. Even fewer knew anything about Bajorans.
Yet there was Visitor, walking around in her "DS9" uniform and sporting the crinkly prosthetic nose that marks her character, Major Kira Nerys, as Bajoran.
"I got some very bizarre looks," the 36-year-old actress says during a phone conversation from her Los Angeles home. "Everyone looked once at me and looked away. Then they looked again.
"I got the feeling they judged something was wrong with me because I had wrinkles between my eyes. I suddenly understood, in a way, what people feel when they're judged based only on how they look.
"That gave me real insight into playing Kira, into being Bajoran."
It also helped her turn Kira into one of "DS9's" most popular characters.
Early in the first season Kira was an angry Bajoran who distrusted the Federation and doubted that its presence aboard DS9 would benefit the people of her nearby native world, Bajor. As the season ended, however, she had grown to believe in the Federation.
Season No. 2 opened with a provocative trilogy that left Kira believing more strongly in the Federation - and her part in it.
"Her defenses are down now," Visitor says. "But her hostility and arrogance are ready to pop up again if her defenses go back up.
"Now that we know her back story and what she has been through in the episodes we've done so far, I'd say she has really come to trust Sisko [Avery Brooks] and knows she has a friend in Odo [Rene Auberjonois].
"It's as if someone took an orphan and gave her a home. It'll take a long time for her to trust the security that's being offered to her. She's starting to, but it's a day-to-day thing."
Visitor, who was born and reared in Manhattan, is no stranger to the entertainment world. Her father is a choreographer, her mother a ballet teacher.
After graduating from a New York prep school, Visitor had to make a tough choice about her future: take a job as a chorus girl in a summer-stock musical or enter Princeton University.
"`Princeton . . . chorus girl,"' Visitor says, recalling how she weighed her options. "`I'll be a chorus girl."'
By 1984, Visitor was starring in the Los Angeles version of "42nd Street." Other plays followed, as did extended roles on the soaps "Ryan's Hope" and "One Life to Live."
She later guest starred on "L.A. Law" and "Matlock" before co-starring in the short-lived 1990 series "Working Girl."
When that series ended, Visitor hit a bit of a dry spell.
In fact, she and her husband Nick Miscusi, a dancer/actor, were making plans to return to Manhattan with their baby son Buster when she was asked to audition for "DS9."
Michelle Forbes had decided not to beam her recurring "Next Generation" character Ensign Ro over to "DS9," so the show's creators came up with the Kira character.
The rest is history.
"Kira is a fallible person with strengths and weaknesses and places to grow," Visitor says. "I can't say I was ready to play any other character I've played for five or six years. Kira is different.
"I'm ready to play her for as long as I'm given the opportunity."
CON CALENDAR Oct. 29-31
Vulkon at the Hilton and Towers in St. Petersburg, Fla., featuring Siddig El Fadil. (Call 305-434-6060.)
Creation at the Coast Terrace Inn in Edmonton, Canada, featuring Jonathan Frakes. (Oct. 30-31 only; 818-409-0960.)
Dreamworks at the Irem Temple in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., featuring Armin Shimerman. (Oct. 30-31; 407-488-2822.)
Creation at the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani in Honolulu, Hawaii, featuring Nana Visitor. (Oct. 30-31; 818-409-0960.)
If you have Trek news or trivia to share - or if you have questions relating to "Star Trek" - write to Ian Spelling, in care of the Features Department, Roanoke Times & World-News, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491. Be sure to enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you would like a reply.
by CNB