| Odo was discovered floating in the Deanorious Belt near Bajor and taken back to a research institute in occupied Bajor. After many years as a subject of study, he became the head of security on Deep Space Nine when the Cardassians needed an impartial being to investigate a spate of murders. He remained on the station when it came under Federation control, and used the position to allow him to continue to explore his origins. It became apparent that his people came from the Gamma quadrant and through several clues he eventually found his way home, only to discover that his people did not share his belief in justice and freedom for all. Rene Auberjonois While some of the cast of STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE are relatively newcomers, Rene Auberjonois has had a long an widely varied career on stage, in film and on television. Longtime TV viewers may very well recognize him -- if they squint a lot -- as Clayton Endicott III, the Emmy Award winning role he played for six years on BENSON. As Robert Guillame's long-time adversary, he was a character audiences loved to hate; as DS9's Odo he once again plays a character that is in many ways unsympathetic. But he also reveals to us, in every nuance of that character, that Odo has his own humanity, buried behind the pain of his incredible isolation as the only known member of his mysterious species. Rene Auberjonois was born in 1940 in New York City, the offspring of an artistic family: his father was a writer and his grandfather was a well known Swiss painter. His father was a news correspondent so the Auberjonois family travelled quite a bit, living not only in New York City and Rockland County but in Paris and London as well. Because of Auberjonois' background, he was naturally interested in pursuing a career in the arts, and began his career on the stage at an early age. He began his stage work at the age of sixteen under the tutelage of his family friend and mentor, actor/director John Houseman. "My parents wanted to see if I was really serious about becoming an actor, so I became an apprentice at a theater in Stratford, Connecticut. They asked John to see if I had any talent, feeling that I was at an age to be easily influenced--away from the business--if I had no talent. But John told them, 'Your son is an actor.' "He would later teach mask work at the Juilliard Drama School, again under the guidance of John Houseman. Other family friends included Burgess Meredith and Alan Jay Lerner. KING LEAR Auberjonois completed high school in London, returning to America to attend college at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pennsylvania. Graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama, he moved to Washington, D.C. and began acting professionally on the Arena Stage. Later, in San Francisco, he co-founded the American Conservatory Theater. In New York he helped found the Brooklyn Academy of Music Repertory Company and in Los Angeles he was instrumental in the formation of the Mark Taper Forum. And in fact, Rene Auberjonois' stage career has been fairly illustrious, marked by triumphs and many prestigious awards. He made his Broadway debut in the musical Coco with Katharine Hepburn. For this role he won a Tony Award; he also received a Tony for his performances in the Broadway stagings of Big River and The Good Doctor. But one of the best known Broadway roles for which he won a Tony was as the character Buddie Fidler, the movie mogul, in the recent musical City of Angels. Other stage work included appearing with James Earl Jones in the late 1970s Joseph Papp production of King Lear. He also has had roles in Richard III and Metamorphosis. Rene Auberjonois made his film debut in 1970 for director Robert Altman in the hugely popular movie M*A*S*H. He appeared in Altman's next film, BREWSTER MCCLOUD. This was quickly followed by MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER, IMAGES, PETE 'N TILLIE, and the 1976 TV movie Panache. Other films he has appeared in include THE HINDENBERG (with George C. Scott(, the 1976 version of KING KONG, THE EYES OF LAURA MARS, and POLICE ACADEMY 5. His latest film role was as a crusty old Western trader in THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JO. RADIO AND TV Auberjonois has also done his share of voice acting. He was the voice of the cleaver-wielding chef in the modern Disney classic THE LITTLE MERMAID, and even provided the speaking voice of Peter Parker/Spider-Man on a Spider-Man phonograph record released in the middle 1970s. Auberjonois has also produced and directed plays for National Public Radio. In Europe he appeared in and narrated the mini-series ASHENDON for BBC television. Rene has won the Emmy Award twice: for the ABC presentation of THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW and for Best Supporting Actor in a Commedy for his role of Clayton Endicott III in BENSON, on which he co-starred for six seasons. He has made guest-appearances on such TV shows as MATLOCK, L.A. LAW and CIVIL WARS. On Showtimes' FAERIE TALE THEATER, he appeared in "The Frog Prince" and "Sleeping Beauty." He also appeared in MORE WILD WILD WEST and WILD WILD WEST REVISITED, two 1970s reunion movies based on the old TV series. Prior to being cast on DEEP SPACE NINE, Rene appeared in STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY as Colonel West, one of the Romulan co-conspirators. He did only one day's worth of work on the film as a favor for his old friend Nicholas Meyer; at the time was never even told the name of his character. Much of his part was cut from the theatrical release but later restored when the film released on video. Rene did not realize that his scenes had been restored until he was informed by some fans at a Star Trek convention. His appearance in this film brought him to the attention of the producers of DEEP SPACE NINE and led to his testing and eventually casting in the pivotal role of Odo, the shape-shifting security chief. WORLDS AWAY "When I read the pilot script of DEEP SPACE NINE I saw this wonderful character; I was very excited. I see a lot of scripts and this was something special. I met with the STAR TREK people and it was no easy task. They put me through a lot of hoops to get the part. I went back four or five times to convince them I was the actor--they were looking for actors for all the parts in London, New York, and everywhere! They were really on quite a search. It was huge. I have a lot of friends who went up for the rold of Odo and other parts. It was a real coup to get the role and I'm just loving it!" Nana Visitor told Superstar Facts magazine, "Rene is one of the most fun people I've ever met. He's got the best stories; he's a very vibrant, happy soul and we've gone out to dinner, the whole families. We've gone to his house for dinner--he's an incredible cook, as his wife. In the back of Bon Appetit they always ask celebrities, 'If you could choose three people to have a dinner party with, who would they be?' Rene Auberjonois would be one of mine because he's that much fun." Like many actors, Auberjonois does not care to watch his own work if he can avoid it. However, during DEEP SPACE NINE he has consistently studied his performance. "I've always been a little uncomfortable watching myself. It's hearing your own voice on a tape recorder: it makes you uncomfortable. When you work on stage, you give the performance and it goes out into the void. There's a finite number of people who see it and then it's gone forever. I just accept that as part of what I do." He believes that his background in theater is perfect for his role on DEEP SPACE NINE. "It was a natural for me. If you're going to do pop culture, STAR TREK is the closest thing to classical theater. There's nothing else like it." But what he didn't expect after all his years in show business is the sudden increase in notoriety he's experienced. "I've been doing this for 30 years. I am not an overnight discovery. I also didn't take this job thinking that I was about to become part of pop culture; it is such a phenomenon. I am just beginning to get an inkling of what this is all about. I didn't consider this when I took the job. It just came along at a really good time. I have two kids in college and I wanted to do steady work. I didn't think about becoming a pop culture icon." Be that as it may, Rene Auberjonois is now a part of the STAR TREK universe through his role as Odo, a fascinating and multi-layered addition to the cosmos first envisioned by Gene Roddenberry, and brought to vivid life by this talented and distinguished actor. |