What Star Trek's Commander Shran Looks Like In Real Life
Thy'lek Shran is such an impressive character that the Andorian manages to show up on Looper's list of the best Star Trek villains despite the fact that his attitude is usually far more hostile than his actions. In fact, he often ends up allying with Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) on "Star Trek: Enterprise." But who's the actor behind the extensive blue makeup?
The man playing Thy'lek Shran is none other than Jeffrey Combs, a true Star Trek veteran. While it's impressive that Suzie Plakson played four different Star Trek characters and no one noticed, Combs' franchise résumé as a Star Trek actor who played multiple characters is even more magnificent. He's portrayed a total of nine different roles in the franchise — or even more, if you count the various cloned Weyouns as separate characters.
On "Star Trek: Enterprise," apart from Shran, Combs appears as disgruntled Ferengi pirate Krem on the Season 1 episode "Acquisition," as well as an unnamed holosuite guest on the Season 7 episode "What You Leave Behind." On "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," he plays the aforementioned sleazy Dominion diplomat Weyoun, fellow recurring character Brunt, the rich alien Tiron, and — as a departure from his usual makeup-heavy alien roles — a 1950s NYPD officer called Kevin Mulkahey. His other Star Trek roles include the illegal fight organizer Penk on "Star Trek: Voyager" and the sentient computer AGIMUS on the animated "Star Trek: Lower Decks."
Jeffrey Combs is a horror icon as well as a Star Trek veteran
Jeffrey Combs started acting in movies and on TV shows in 1981. By 1983, he moved into horror films — something he would be associated with throughout his career. His breakthrough role came in 1985, when he first portrayed Dr. Herbert West in "Re-Animator," one of the most unique and best zombie movies of all time. A career of sequels and other horror works followed, pockmarked with plenty of sci-fi work on the side. Combs is also a prominent voice actor who's portrayed Ratchet on various Transformers shows and multiple DC characters in assorted works. His movies include the Steve Martin comedy "The Man with Two Brains" and Peter Jackson's "The Frighteners." He's also played the regenerating Kevin Burkhoff on "The 4400," among many other roles.
Interestingly, the Star Trek role that offers the best overview on Combs' career isn't Thy'lek Shran, but AGIMUS. Apart from being both a voice role and a Star Trek character, the computer's voice has similarities to none other than Dr. West. "I did feel like maybe the computer spoke well, and Herbert speaks well," Combs told TrekMovie. "You can't get past who you are to a great deal. I can't give the computer an accent of any kind, so that's just my speaking voice. I tried to not be as dark as Herbert could be. I tried to keep AGIMUS more upbeat, positive. A little more happy, so people would fall for his nonsense."