Armin
Shimerman plays Quark, the Ferengi bartender who runs all the entertainment
concessions on Star Trek:
Deep
Space Nine including bar, restaurant, gambling house and holosuites upstairs.
A delightful blend of charm,
wiliness,
and entrepreneurial greed, Quark holds the distinction of being the only
character to have appeared on
all
three of the latter Star Trek series -- Star Trek: The Next Generation,
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star
Trek:
Voyager. "Quark's passions are gold and 'hew-man' (Ferengi word for human)
women...not always in that
order,"
says Armin.
During
the show's third season hiatus, Armin worked with Sally field and Ed Harris
on the Paramount feature film
"An
Eye for an Eye," directed by John Schlesinger. He also co-starred with
Andrew McCarthy, Patsy Kensit and
Star
Trek: The Next Generation alumna Denise Crosby in the Republic Pictures
feature film "Dream Man," in which
he
portrays District Attorney Van Horne.
Born
of immigrant parents and raised in a small farming town in New Jersey,
Armin's family moved to Los Angeles
when
he was 16 years old. In an effort to help her son meet new people in L.A.,
Armin's mother enrolled him in a
drama
group and, as they say, the rest is history. Upon graduation from the University
of California at Los Angeles,
he
was chosen as one of only eight apprentices out of a field of 900 at the
prestigious Old Globe Theater in San
Diego.
Armin appeared prominently in many regional theater productions for the
Tyrone Guthrie Theatre, the Mark
Taper
Forum, the American Shakespeare Festival, the New York Shakespeare Festival,
and the Indiana Repertory
Theater.
Following a move to New York, Armin landed roles in the Broadway production
of Richard Rodger's last
musical,
"I Remember Mama," "Broadway" with Chris Sarandon and Teri Garr, "St. Joan"
with Lynn Redgrave and
Joe
Papp's production of "Three Penny Opera" with Raul Julia.
Shimerman
then returned to his adopted hometown of Los Angeles and his success continued
as he appeared in
recurring
roles in two CBS series. He portrayed Pascal in Beauty & The Beast,
and Cousin Bernard in Brooklyn
Bridge.
His other television credits include more than 65 guest starring roles
on such television series as L.A.
Law,
Married: With Children, Civil Wars and Seinfeld. This season he can be
seen in the recurring roles of Judge
Moskin
on ABC-TV's The Practice, and the pernicious principal Snyder on the WB
Network's Buffy the Vampire
Slayer.
Perhaps
the most memorable of Shimerman's guest appearances was in Star Trek: The
Next Generation when he
made
his debut as the uncredited Wedding Box in the first season episode entitled
"Haven." Later that season,
Armin
returned to the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation where he portrayed
Letek, the first Ferengi ever seen
in
a Star Trek series, in the episode entitled "The Last Outpost."
When
Armin is not appearing as Quark on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he can be
found teaching his unique
Shakespearean
acting approach to students throughout Los Angeles. A highly sought teacher,
Armin has taught
at
the High School of the Performing Arts, the Theatricum Botanicum, the Tyrone
Guthrie Theatre, the College
of
Idaho, several workshop companies, as well as his alma mater, UCLA. He
is currently writing two sci-fi novels:
one,
"The Merchant Prince," the other a Star Trek novel, "Wheels within Wheels."
Armin is active as a National
Board
Member of the Screen Actors Guild.