Armin Shimerman
Armin Shimerman | |
|---|---|
 Shimerman at FedCon IV in Bonn, Germany, 1996 | |
| Born | November 5, 1949 |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1979 - Present |
| Spouse | Kitty Swink |
Armin Shimerman (born November 5, 1949) is an American actor. Shimerman is best known for playing the Ferengi bartender Quark in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Principal Snyder in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kramer's caddy Stan on Seinfeld, voicing Dr. Nefarious in the Ratchet and Clank series and Andrew Ryan, the antagonist of BioShock.
Early life
Shimerman was born in Lakewood, New Jersey, the son of Susan, an accountant, and Herbert Shimerman, a house painter.[1] When Shimerman was 15, his family moved to Los Angeles, where his mother enrolled him in a drama group in an effort to expand his social circle. He later graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, then was selected to apprentice at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego. He pursued a dramatic career in theater, eventually moving to New York. He later returned to Los Angeles where he received roles in two CBS series, launching a career in television acting.
Career
Television
Shimerman is best known for his role as the Ferengi bar owner Quark in the long running television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, though his involvement with the Star Trek franchise began with appearances as other Ferengi characters in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "The Last Outpost" and "Peak Performance". As the character Quark, Shimerman became one of Star Trek's most widely-known characters, and he appeared several times on the cover of TV Guide, either with other actors or alone as part of a collector's series. He says that his favorite episode of Deep Space Nine was "Little Green Men" as it was the only episode where he is shown captaining a ship.
Along with Marina Sirtis, John de Lancie, Michael Ansara and Richard Poe, he is one of only a few actors to play the same character on three different Star Trek series. He played Quark in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager.
In addition to Star Trek, Shimerman has had roles as Pascal on Beauty and the Beast and as Principal Snyder in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He also has starred in Stargate SG-1 as one of the Nox, an evil wizard in Charmed, appeared as Stan the caddy in an episode of Seinfeld, and as Dr. Patemkin on Leverage.
Shimerman has appeared as judge Brian Hooper in the third season of Boston Legal, joining fellow Star Trek actors William Shatner, Rene Auberjonois, and Ethan Phillips; Shatner played Captain Kirk on Star Trek, Auberjonois played Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Phillips played Neelix on Star Trek: Voyager. His character even shared a scene with Auberjonois, with the strife between the two characters reminiscent of the conflict between Shimerman's Quark and Auberjonois's Odo.
Armin made an appearance as "The Terror" in The Tick live action series.
He appeared in a season three episode of Numb3rs as an art expert. He also appeared in the episode "Posse Comitatus" of The West Wing as Richard III, and had a cameo role in both What the Bleep movies.
He also appeared in the episode "Buck the Stud" of Married with Children.
Voice work
He has voiced several video game villains, including Toad in X-Men Legends, Dr. Nefarious in Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, and Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, Andrew Ryan in BioShock, a role he received much praise for, and Razputin's father in Psychonauts. He voiced General Skarr from Evil Con Carne and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. He lent his voice talent to Bioware for their games Jade Empire and Mass Effect. He also voices Mohandar and Emil Narud in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.
In 2008, he voiced the character of Wilmer in an audio dramatization of The Maltese Falcon that also featured Michael Madsen, Sandra Oh and Edward Herrmann. In addition, he also voiced the character of Mr. Phillips in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's production of Anne of Green Gables. He also voiced Raanu in the straight-to-DVD feature animation Bionicle: The Legend Reborn. He also voices Green Goblin in the video game Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.
Writing
He has written a series of books in which he provides a science fictional basis for the life of Dr. John Dee.
Personal life
Shimerman is married to actress Kitty Swink.
Filmography
Bibliography
- The 34th Rule (1998), a novel centering on his character Quark (with David R. George III)
Merchant Prince series
- The Merchant Prince (2000) (with Michael Scott)
- Outrageous Fortune (2002) (with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro)
- Capital Offense (2003)