Theresa Lee Farrell (born November 19, 1963) is an American actress and fashion model. She is best known for her roles as

Jadzia Dax Jadzia Dax , played by Terry Farrell (actress), Terry Farrell, is a fictional character from the science-fiction television series ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. Jadzia Dax is a joined Trill (Star Trek), Trill. Though she appears to be a young ...

in the television series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' and as Regina "Reggie" Kostas in the comedy series ''

Becker Becker () is one of the German-language surnames, along with Bäcker and Baecker, that derive from the root, which refers to baking. The surname began as a name for a baker (and thus his family). In northern Germany it can also derive from the ...

''.

Early life

In her junior year of high school, the almost six-foot-tall Farrell submitted her image to the

Elite modeling agency Elite Model Management (MM) refers to two independent chain modeling agencies that originated as one in Paris, France in 1972 with subsequent locations in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, London and Toronto. In 2004, the agencies in New York, Miami, ...

in New York City. Shortly after, at the age of 16, she was invited to New York City and, within two days of arriving, had an exclusive contract with '' Mademoiselle''. She went on to appear on the covers of the Italian and German editions of ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', and was also featured in numerous editorials for American ''Vogue''.

Career

After 18 months of modeling, she studied acting while still modeling on the side. Her first major roles were in the short-lived 1984 television series ''

Paper Dolls ''Paper Dolls'' is an American primetime television soap opera that aired for 14 episodes on ABC from September 23 to December 25, 1984. Set in New York's fashion industry, the show centered on top modeling agency owner Racine (Morgan Fairchild) ...

'', playing a model, and in the feature film ''

Back to School ''Back to School'' is a 1986 American comedy film starring Rodney Dangerfield, Keith Gordon, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, Terry Farrell, William Zabka, Ned Beatty, Sam Kinison, Paxton Whitehead and Robert Downey Jr. It was directed by Alan Met ...

'' (in her film debut) with

Rodney Dangerfield Rodney Dangerfield (born Jacob Rodney Cohen; November 22, 1921 – October 5, 2004) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, screenwriter, and producer. He was known for his self-deprecating one-liner humor, his catchphrase "I don't get no resp ...

, playing love interest to

Keith Gordon Keith Gordon (born February 3, 1961) is an American actor and film director. Early life Gordon was born in New York City, the son of Mark, an actor and stage director, and Barbara Gordon. He grew up in an atheist Jewish family. Gordon was insp ...

’s character. In 1986, Farrell appeared in an episode of ''

The Twilight Zone ''The Twilight Zone'' is an American media franchise based on the anthology television series created by Rod Serling. The episodes are in various genres, including fantasy, science fiction, absurdism, dystopian fiction, suspense, horror, su ...

.'' In 1989, she began studying acting with

Stella Adler Stella Adler (February 10, 1901 – December 21, 1992) was an American actress and acting teacher.
''

Quantum Leap ''Quantum Leap'' is an American science fiction television series, created by Donald P. Bellisario, that premiered on NBC and aired for five seasons, from March 26, 1989, to May 5, 1993. The series stars Scott Bakula as Dr. Sam Beckett, a physi ...

'' and ''

The Cosby Show ''The Cosby Show'' is an American television sitcom co-created by and starring Bill Cosby, which aired Thursday nights for eight seasons on NBC between September 20, 1984, until April 30, 1992. The show focuses on an upper middle-class African- ...

''. In 1992, she played

Cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

in a second

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

for a U.S. version of ''Red Dwarf'', which was not picked up. Soon after the ''Red Dwarf USA'' project folded, she was offered a lead role in ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. Farrell starred as Jadzia Dax, the space station's Starfleet science officer, a character from an alien species known as the

Trill TRILL (Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links) is an Internet Standard implemented by devices called TRILL switches. TRILL combines techniques from bridging and routing, and is the application of link-state routing to the VLAN-aware cus ...

, who is host to a 300-year-old

symbiont Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...

, and can draw upon the memories and knowledge of the symbiont's seven previous hosts. The series debuted in January 1993. When she left the show at the end of the sixth season, Paramount killed off Farrell's "host" character (though continuing the "symbiont" character in a new Dax host, played by

Nicole DeBoer Nicole de Boer is a Canadian actress. She is best known for starring in the cult film ''Cube'' as Joan Leaven, playing Ezri Dax on the final season of ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (1998–1999), and as Sarah Bannerman on the series '' The ...

). Farrell then co-starred on Paramount's television comedy series ''

''. She played Regina "Reggie" Kostas, foil and love interest to

Ted Danson Edward Bridge "Ted" Danson III (born December 29, 1947) is an American actor. He achieved stardom playing the lead character Sam Malone on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'', for which he received two Primetime Emmy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He ...

's John Becker, for four years and 94 episodes, before her character was written out of the show. Farrell told the ''

Tampa Bay Times The ''Tampa Bay Times'', previously named the ''St. Petersburg Times'' until 2011, is an American newspaper published in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. It has won fourteen Pulitzer Prizes since 1964, and in 2009, won two in a single y ...

'' that she was fired from the show just after the season-four cliffhanger finale aired. She told the paper that she was completely surprised by the firing. Farrell also provided the voice of Six of One in the animated short film ''

Tripping the Rift ''Tripping the Rift'' is an adult CGI science fiction comedy television series. It is based on two short animations published on the Internet by Chris Moeller and Chuck Austen. The series was produced by CineGroupe in association with the Syfy n ...

'', which eventually became a

Sci-Fi Channel Syfy (formerly Sci-Fi Channel, later shortened to Sci Fi; stylized as SYFY) is an American basic cable channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. Launc ...

TV series with other actors providing the voice of Six. First released independently on the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, ''Tripping the Rift'' originally featured Patricia Beckmann as the voice of Six and was replaced by Farrell's voice for an episode of the Sci-Fi Channel's short film series ''Exposure'', in which Farrell was guest host. Farrell's version of Six was heard only once on television. Farrell retired in 2002 after marrying actor Brian Baker. They divorced in 2015, and Farrell played a role in the web-released

fan film A fan film is a film or video inspired by a film, television program, comic book, book, or video game created by fans rather than by the source's copyright holders or creators. Fan filmmakers have traditionally been amateurs, but some of the more ...

'' Star Trek: Renegades''. She is expected to appear in the same role in episodes of ''Renegades'', which strips mention of Star Trek for legal purposes.

Personal life

Farrell retired from acting to concentrate on her family. She lived in

Hershey, Pennsylvania Hershey is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Derry Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is home to The Hershey Company, which was founded by candy magnate Milton S. Hershey. The community is lo ...

, with her husband, former

Sprint Corporation Sprint Corporation was an American telecommunications company. Before it Merger of Sprint Corporation and T-Mobile US, merged with T-Mobile US on April 1, 2020, it was the fourth-largest mobile network operator in the United States, serving 54.3 ...

spokesman Brian Baker and their son, Max. She enjoys sewing and yoga. Farrell appeared with Baker at the Hershey Area Playhouse in Hershey, in a production of A. R. Gurney's ''

Love Letters A love letter is an expression of love in written form. However delivered, the letter may be anything from a short and simple message of love to a lengthy explanation and description of feelings. History One of the oldest references to a l ...

''. Farrell and Baker have been divorced since December 2015. In August 2015, she was reportedly in a relationship with

Adam Nimoy Adam B. Nimoy (born August 9, 1956) is an American television director. Nimoy is the son of actor Leonard Nimoy and the actress Sandra Zober. Early life Adam Nimoy was born in Los Angeles, California, to actor Leonard Nimoy and actress Sandra Zo ...

and Farrell confirmed on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that they were engaged. Farrell and Nimoy were married in San Francisco on March 26, 2018,

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy (; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor, famed for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes originating Spock in the original ''Star Trek'' series in 1966, then ...

's 87th birthday. The marriage ended in divorce in 2022. Farrell and her ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' co-star

Nana Visitor Nana Tucker ( ; born July 26, 1957), known professionally as Nana Visitor, is an American actress, best known for playing Kira Nerys in the television series ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' and Jean Ritter in the television series ''Wildfire''. ...

were honored in 2001 when

William Kwong Yu Yeung William Kwong Yu Yeung (born 1960; also known simply as Bill Yeung; ) is a Hong Kong-born, Canadian amateur astronomer with telescopes based in the United States. He is a prolific discoverer of asteroids and also discovered the comet 172P/Yeung ...

named two

small Solar System bodies A small Solar System body (SSSB) is an object in the Solar System that is neither a planet, a dwarf planet, nor a natural satellite. The term was first IAU definition of planet, defined in 2006 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) as fol ...

he had discovered after them – asteroid 26734 Terryfarrell and asteroid 26733 Nanavisitor.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Farrell, Terry 1963 births Actresses from Iowa American adoptees Female models from Iowa American film actresses American television actresses American voice actresses Living people Actors from Cedar Rapids, Iowa People from Hershey, Pennsylvania 20th-century American actresses 21st-century American actresses