star trek carolyn seymour

Carolyn Seymour

Series: TNG, Voyager

Character(s): Sub-Commander Taris, Mirasta Yale, Commander Toreth, Mrs. Templeton

Carolyn Seymour is a British actress who appeared in five Star Trek television episodes across two spin-off series.

Carolyn Seymour made a big impact in her four Star Trek roles, playing two different Romulan commanders on TNG: Taris in “Contagion” and Toreth on “Face of the Enemy,” as the disguised Troi’s irritated target. She was also the visionary Malcorian Mirasta Yale in “First Contact,” and later was Mrs. Templeton twice in Janeway’s Gothic holo-novels on Voyager (“Cathexis” and “Persistence of Vision”).

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Carolyn Seymour is a highly accomplished actress of stage and screen, with a long and impressive list of credits on both sides of the Atlantic.

Born in Buckinghamshire to an Estonian father with Russian descent and an Irish mother, Carolyn trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, before rising to fame with starring roles in Peter Barnes’ much acclaimed THE RULING CLASS starring Peter O’Toole and directed by Peter Medak, Terry Nation’s cult sci-fi television series SURVIVORS and the BBC’s TAKE THREE GIRLS.

Multiple film credits include GUMSHOE opposite Albert Finney for director Stephen Frears, STEPTOE & SON, MR. MUM with Michael Keaton, and CONGO for director Frank Marshall.

Carolyn’s extensive theatre work includes THE GREAT EXHIBITION written by Sir David Hare, for which Carolyn starred opposite David Warner and Penelope Wilton at The Hampstead Theatre. The production was directed by Sir Richard Eyre.

Carolyn received critical praise for a role as Ophelia in HAMLET at The Gielgud (formerly The Globe Theatre), directed by Peter Coe and produced by Sam Wanamaker. ON APPROVAL saw Carolyn starring opposite Kenneth More and Moray Watson at The Vaudeville Theatre. In THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER Carolyn co-starred with Wilfred Hyde–White for the production at the Theatre Royal Brighton followed by a national tour, both directed by Roger Redfarn. HAY FEVER marked Carolyn’s debut on Broadway playing Myra Arundel for director Brian Murray. SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL directed by Brian Bedford would follow at The Taper in Los Angeles.

Carolyn made the effortless transition to American television during the 1980s, with celebrated performances in a multitude of hit, award-winning series including FAMILY TIES, HART TO HART, CAGNEY & LACEY, MAGNUM P.I., MURDER SHE WROTE, QUANTUM LEAP, L.A LAW and ER. Recurring guest appearances on the Emmy award-winning STAR TREK: The Next Generation and STAR TREK Voyager, like that of her work on SURVIVORS, have also drawn a strong and devoted fan-base.

Carolyn is also a regular voice artist, recording audio adaptations of stage plays by Sir Alan Ayckbourn (TABLE MANNERS and LIVING TOGETHER), as well as TOP GIRLS by celebrated playwright Caryl Churchill. For Big Finish Productions, and by the demand of her loyal fans, Carolyn returned to her iconic role of Abby Grant in SURVIVORS, as well as guest-starring alongside the surviving DOCTOR WHO’s.

Over 5 decades in the industry, Carolyn has continued to adapt to the demands of the business including successfully transitioning into the world of video games, with multiple projects for the STAR WARS franchise amongst many others.

Having resided in the United States and France for many years, Carolyn returns to her native England in Summer 2021 with plans to return to her roots - British stage and screen.

Carolyn divides her personal time between her family, her love of art, and her passion for charitable work including animal activism and supporting the homeless.

Carolyn is represented by BOWINGTON MANAGEMENT

All PR inquiries please contact Nick Pourgourides

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Downey & Seymour Remember Days Past

Deborah Downey and Carolyn Seymour are two names and faces that may or may not be known to you. Downey appeared in the classic Original Series episode 'The Way to Eden', while Seymour has appeared in both the Next Generation and Voyager, in addition to roles on 'Babylon Five' and another sci-fi classic, 'Quantum Leap'. "I was a singer, I wasn't an actress, I was trying to make it in music, and I did some acting on the sidelines," Downey told Hartriono B. Sastrowardoyo at a recent Philadelphia convention. It was actually that musical talent, rather than her acting ability, which won her the role of Mavig on the show's fifth last episode 'The Way to Eden'. In it, the script required her character to have a musical jam session with Leonard Nimoy's Spock. "It was so much fun" she recalled, "I was eighteen at that time. Can you imagine?" That jam session is now immortalized as the video jacket cover for the episode and as the picture on its trading card. While working with Nimony, she found him to be a "very pleasant, very nice man. Just exactly as you would expect him to be. Funny and warm and charming, he made you feel at ease because he knew you were scared." She had her makeup done right next to the legendary actor, and even had the opportunity to take a couple of pairs of 'Spock Ears' home as a keepsake. Unfortunately, at 19 Downey developed temporomandibular joint disease, an arthritic condition involving the jaw which made singing more or less impossible. She stuck to the arts, however, and is now a successful portrait painter who will be doing paintings of some of the Star Trek characters. Carolyn Seymour , on the other hand, is still acting today and has appeared in several episodes of both Star Trek: The Next Generation and Voyager. Like Downey though, she also found her time spent on the Trek sets to be an enjoyable experience - despite a major down-side. "Oh, I do loved doing them! I remembered they were such a great company to work with, and just great people. I always had such a good time working on Star Trek, even if it meant putting in long long long hours. Punishing hours." Seymour has played three roles in 'The Next Generation' and ranks the first of them along side 'Quantum Leap' character Zoey as one of her favourite characters to play. "I think Sub-Commander Taris was a fabulous character. I loved playing Zoey in Quantum Leap. But I played so many evil characters it's quite difficult. You sit there and have to think of something new with every one. They can't all be the same. [pause] But I think Sub-Commander Taris was my favorite." Seymour has also played Science Minister Mirasta Yale in season four episode 'First Contact' and Commander Toreth in season six's 'Face of the Enemy'. As the holonovel character 'Mrs. Templeton', Seymour appeared in three Voyager episodes, 'Eye of the Needle', 'Cathexis' and 'Persistence of Vision' - and got to have fight with the Captain. "I don't think they knew what was going to happen with Mrs. Templeton," she told her interviewers. "They got carried away, and I wound up having that fight with Capt. Janeway." She says she thinks that "Janeway was to supposed to have wound up killing [Templeton], but she couldn't do that, because she's never killed anyone." This plot line was apparently "going to go further but they decided to do less on the holodeck. They were doing too much on the holodeck, so they took her off." The Great Link has both interviews in their Conventions and People section. The complete interview with Deborah Downey can be found by following this link , while Carolyn Seymour's full interview with Hartriono B. Sastrowardoyo and Bob Vosseller can be found here .

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She was the commanding officer of the Romulan warbird Haakona in the 2360s . In 2365 , her ship discovered the Federation ship USS Yamato inside the Neutral Zone when it was trying to identify the planet Iconia . She eventually found it when it made a rendezvous with the USS Enterprise -D and watched it explode after downloading some of the contents of its computer while cloaked . Unfortunately, the computer contents contained an Iconian program that re-writes alien programming, affecting the Haakona the same way as the Yamato .

Despite this, Taris ordered the Enterprise -D to leave the Neutral Zone and attempted to claim the planet. However, the Haakona was as unresponsive as the Enterprise was, in fact, the self-destruct procedure had been activated. Captain Jean-Luc Picard , on the planet, discovered an Iconian gateway and destroyed it so that it would not fall into Romulan hands. He stepped through the gateway which was pointed at the Haakona 's bridge . However, by this time the Enterprise -D systems had been restored and Picard was beamed back. Geordi La Forge instructed her crew how to remove the probe 's effects thus saving her and her crew from an intergalactic incident. ( TNG : " Contagion ")

• 1.1 Background information
• 1.2 Apocrypha
• 1.3 External links

Appendices [ ]

Background information [ ].

This was the first of four Star Trek roles for actress Carolyn Seymour , who later played another Romulan named Toreth in the episode " Face Of The Enemy ", with the production staff creating a new character in the belief that Taris had been killed. ( Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion  (1st ed., p. 234))

Apocrypha [ ]

In the backstory of Star Trek Online , Taris rose to the rank of admiral and was among those responsible for the Supernova of 2387 , which resulted in the destruction of Romulus and Remus . In the aftermath, she became praetor following victories against the Klingons , but was eventually ousted in favor of Sela by a military coup led by General Velal . It is revealed that both Taris and her science officer , Hakeev, became willing servants of the Iconians as a result of their mission to Iconia, and seek to bring about their return. Taris is first confronted in 2409 by Romulan Republic players at a secret base in the remnants of the Hobus system, which she escapes via a gateway leading to Iconia, where she is captured by Starfleet . Sent to a secret prison facility, Taris is taken from her cell during an uprising, with only an Iconian energy signature as a clue to her fate. The next year, she is found in an Iconian-built Dyson sphere in the Andromeda Galaxy , where she is kicked off an observation platform by Sela, presumably falling to her death.

External links [ ]

• Taris at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Taris at the Star Trek Online Wiki
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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Carolyn Seymour

Highest Rated: 88% Gumshoe (1972)

Lowest Rated: 40% Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971)

Birthday: Nov 6, 1947

Birthplace: Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Carolyn Seymour is best known for her leading role as Abby Grant in the British post-apocalyptic TV series "Survivors." As Abby, Seymour played a successful company woman who, in the wake of a deadly contagion that kills off most of humanity, must adapt to an uncivilized existence in order to rescue her son and start anew alongside the remnants of mankind. The show was a success, lasting four seasons, but Seymour's character had to be written out after the first season because of creative differences between her and producer Terence Dudley. The end of "Survivors" hardly spelled the end of Seymour's career, however. She proceeded to appear in scene-stealing guest spots on a wide variety of TV shows, including the time-traveling "Quantum Leap" and the space-exploring "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Seymour has also made a substantive career out of providing voices for popular video games such as "Gears of War" and "Mass Effect" (and their respective sequels), along with an assortment of "Star Wars"-related games.

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