Terry Farrell

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Theresa Lee "Terry" Farrell (born November 19, 1963) is an American actress and former fashion model. She is perhaps best known for her performances in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Becker.

Life and career

Early life

Farrell is the daughter of Kay Carol Christine Bendickson and Edwin Francis Farrell, Jr. Later, her mother married David W. Grussendorf, who adopted Terry and her sister, Christine. Before becoming a model, she played a Christmas elf at a mall in Cedar Rapids. In 1978, she left her hometown for a summer in Mexico City as a foreign exchange student. She has since been fond of big cities, so in her junior year of high school, the nearly six feet tall Farrell submitted her image to the Elite modeling agency in New York City. Shortly after, at the age of 16, she was summoned to New York City and, within two days of arriving, had an exclusive contract with Mademoiselle.

Career

After 18 months of modeling, she studied acting with Kate McGregor Stewart while still modeling on the side. Her first major roles were in the short-lived 1983 television series Paper Dolls playing a model and in the feature film Back to School with Rodney Dangerfield. In the spring of 1989, she began studying acting with Stella Adler and appeared in a number of guest-starring roles in series like Quantum Leap and The Cosby Show. In 1992, she played Cat in a second pilot 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 titular space station's Starfleet science officer; a character from an alien species known as the Trill, who is host to a 300-year-old symbiont and can draw upon the memories and knowledge of the symbiont's six previous hosts. The series debuted in January 1993. She left the show at the end of the sixth season; as a result, Paramount Pictures decided to kill off Farrell's character.^[1]

Farrell then co-starred on Paramount's television comedy series Becker. She played Regina "Reggie" Kostas, foil and love interest to Ted Danson's John Becker, for four years and 94 episodes, before she was replaced by Nancy Travis.

Farrell also provided the voice of Six of One in the animated short film Tripping the Rift, which eventually became a Sci-Fi Channel TV series with other actors providing the voice of Six. First released independently on the Internet, 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.

The asteroid 26734 Terryfarrell, discovered in 2001, was named in her honor by its discoverer, William Kwong Yu Yeung.

Personal life

Farrell lives in Hershey, Pennsylvania, with her husband, former Sprint Corporation spokesman Brian Baker (a.k.a. the Sprint Guy) and their son.^[2][3] She enjoys sewing and quilting.^[4] Farrell has appeared with her husband at the Hershey Area Playhouse in Hershey, Pennsylvania in a production of A. R. Gurney's Love Letters.

Television series

• Paper Dolls (1984) Laurie Caswell
• Cosby Show (1984) (guest star)
• Family Ties (1986) (guest star) Liz Obeck
• The New Twilight Zone "After Hours" (1989) (guest star)
• Mimi & Me (1991) (TV) .... Mimi Molloy
• Quantum Leap "A Leap for Lisa" (1992) (guest star) Lisa Sherman
• Red Dwarf (second US pilot) (1992) The Cat
• Grapevine (1992) Laurie
• Danielle Steel's Star (1993) Elizabeth
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999) Jadzia Dax
• Talk Soup (1996) As herself
• Becker (1998 - 2002) Reggie

Television films and movies

• Off the Wall (1982)
• Portfolio (1984) as an Elite Model
• The Deliberate Stranger (1986) as Katie Hargreaves
• Back to School (1986) as Valerie
• Beverly Hills Madam (1986) as Julie Taylor
• Off the Mark (1987) as Jenell Johnson
• Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992) as Joey Summerskill
• Red Sun Rising (1993) as Karen Ryder
• Danielle Steel's Star (1993) as Elizabeth
• Reasons of the Heart (1996)
• Legion (1998) as Major Doyle
• Deep Core 2000 (2000) as Allison Saunders
• One True Love (2000) as Dana Boyer
• Tripping the Rift (2000) (voice) Six of One
• Crossing the Line (2000) as Laura Mosbach
• Gleason: The Jackie Gleason Story (2002) as Marilyn Taylor
• Psychic Murders (2002) as Macy
• Code 11-14 (2003) as Michelle Novack

Video games

• Kids on Site video game for young children (Bertha)(1994)

NOTE: The game and IMDB both report Robin Joss as Bertha.

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Harbinger (1996) (voice) Jadzia Dax
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Fallen (2000) (voice) Jadzia Dax
• Treasure Quest (voice) Player's guide

References

External links

• Terry Farrell at the Internet Movie Database
• Terry Farrell at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Terry Farrell at TV.com