Siddig El Fadil, our Doctor Julian Bashir, always knew that he wanted to be in the theater from an early age--but originally his great desire was to be a director, not an actor. He found, however, that one just couldn't walk into such a job-- training was required. Unsure of himself, he stalled for several years, supporting himself by working at a men's clothing store, until his ambition got the better of him and he decided to take the plunge. Quitting his sales job, he signed up for acting school in the belief that learning to act would give him the insight into acting that he could eventually require as a director. Interesting enough, once he started acting, he couldn't quit, and was soon on the road to his role on DEEP SPACE NINE.
Sid was born Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig El Abderahman El Mohammed Ahmed El Abdel Karim El Mahdi on November 21, 1965, in the Sudan. Had he remained there, he would have been known simply as Siddig ("El" means "the son of"). Western culture requires a surname, so Sid first used "Siddig El Fadil", then changed to "Alexander Siddig" in 1995, but most of his friends refer to him as "Sid".
Born in Sudan, Africa of an English mother and a Sudanese father, Siddig and his family relocated to England when he was only one year old. Once there, he attended public school and, eventually, the London University College for a year, where he majored in geography and anthropology. He chose this degree program because "if I didn't make it as an actor, I might go to the Sudan and help out. And if I were a geographer and anthropologist, I would be pretty much equipped to go and do some stuff there. It's all about land management. It's about soil types and such. So I started learning that, and I found geography to be way too hard and anthropology way too easy!" He left after a year and made a brief foray into clothing sales, then devoted his energies to studying at the London Academy of Musicand Dramatic Arts. Acting is not foreign to Sid's family, his maternal uncle is actor Malcolm McDowell who the crazed Soran in Star Trek: Generations. Here his classes led him to roles in productions of plays like Arthus as well as Shakespeare'sHamlet. After three years he graduated from the Academy and was accepted into the company of the Manchester Library Theater in London. While there he had minor roles in their productions of Sinbad the Sailor andBrother Eichemann. But acting had never been his first calling, and tiring of being cast in minor roles, Siddig quit the theater company, believing that acting was just a dead end for him. He wanted to direct.
The Arts Threshold Theatre finally gave him the chance he had been working towards. There he directed such plays as Julius Caesar and Lotus and the Rats. While he was directing at the Arts Threshold Theatre, he was offered an acting rold in a six part television mini-series called BIG BATTALIONS. In 1991 El Fadil made his dramatic television debut in the role of a Palestinian. He was so well received in this role that he was cast as Jordanian King Faisal in another television production, entitled A Dangerous Man--Lawrence After Arabia.
Fadil of Arabia
The role of King Faisal was a relatively minor one in A Dangerous Man, but when the program was aired on the Los Angeles PBS station Rick Berman and Michael Piller, the co-executive producers of Dssp Space Nine, were so impressed by Siddig's performance that they considered him for the role of Commander Benjamin Sisko, a character originally not written to be any specific race or ethnicity but considered to be forty-something. El Fadi had played Faisal in age makeup that concealed his relative youth, but of course it was his acting that actually pulled this effect off. Berman and Piller were surprise to discover the truth, but were so impressed by his acting skill that they eventually decided to give him another role in Deep Space Nine.
At first, Siddig did not realize what Berman and Piller had in mind. "I actually thought I was trying out for a guest spot on an episode because I had asked my agent to get me a spot on Star Trek about a year ago. It was really after I auditioned for the Paramount executives that I realized it probably was not a guest spot. It was very exciting to find out that I was auditioning was for a regular on a series." A fewshort days after his audition, Siddig El Fadil found himself in Hollywood.
Berman and Piller had been so impressed with Siddig that they wanted to test him for one of the other unfilled slots in the cast. They had him read for the rold of Julian Bashir, the young, inexperienced medical officer who had joined Starfleet in search of adventure and opportunity. Although Berman and Piller had not originally envisioned a medical officer with a British accent, they were won over by Siddig's ability and charm and decided that he would be perfect in the role. When Paramount flew Siddig over they told him it would just be for the weekend; soon after his arrival he was told that they wanted him to relocate permanently. Siddig had to fly back to London, move out of his apartment and fly back to Hollywood immediately.
When Siddig was single, he explored America during the time between the seasons of the series. He has little time for sight-seeing during the production week which often consists of ten to sixteen hour days, particularly when an episode prominently features his character suchas "Our Man Bashir" did. He has a place in West Hollywood and is making a life for himself away from the studio in a place very different from his native England.
Working on Deep Space Nine has been an interesting experience for the young actor, particularly since some fans have found the brash Dr. Bashir to be a bit on the abrasive side. Siddig is enormously popular at Star Trek conventions, but some fans have transferred their annoyance with Julian to the actor himself. While he has been somewhat taken back by these fans Siddig does agree with their appraisal of the character. However, in the second season of the series Dr. Bashir has become a far more dimensional character and one who is less brash and more self-aware.
The Present
Discussing his experience working on this American TV series, Siddig explained that Star Trek is not exactly a minor show in Great Britain, either. "It's quite popular back home in England. Everyone knows Star Trek, TOS, and everyone has heard of TNG. Fewer people have seen it, but it's getting more popular every day." American TV shows do not premiere in Europe immediately; sometimes taking six months to a year to air. In England, TV stars are not treated quite the same way as they are in the United States."In England when you're known, you don't become hounded or get sent letters by people you don't even know."
His character sometimes still retains that cavalier brashness from season one but now he has a direction and a purpose, and he has encountered his match in the title character in the episode "Melora," who was even more arrogant than he. Dr. Bashir seemed much younger in the first season of the series than he does now.The character is more self-assured and is no longer mooning around after the unapproachable Dax. Bashir and O'Brien have been paired off in at least three episodes so far, beginning with "The Storyteller," and have become something of an odd couple. Bashir is the fussy, proper sort while O'Brien is more gritty but lacking in patience as well.
Sid's likes include nonfiction essays, German opera and some various pop artists, horseback riding and chess when he gets a chance, and wine collecting, a new hobby. Offstage Siddig had been engaged in a romantic relationship with actress Daphne Ashbrook, who played Melora, Julian's love interest, in the DS9 episode "Melora." But as we all know, Siddig would finally fall in love with Nana Visitor. In late October of 1995, Sid and Nana started dating (they had been coworkers on the show for about 3 years at that point). Two weeks later he moved in with her, and within a couple of weeks she was pregnant with Django El Tahir El Siddig, born September 16, 1996. Sid & Nana were married June 14, 1997 in Sussex, England in the company of mostly family. That's Hollywood for you!
