10 Behind The Scenes Reasons For Star Trek Characters' Quirks
8. Garak Is Claustrophic
By Inferno's Light and Afterimage both show Garak's extreme claustrophobia on-screen. His role in the first episode was based on Charles Bronson's character in The Great Escape, though actor Andrew Robinson brought a lot of himself to the scene.
While Garak was written as claustrophic regardless, Robinson also suffers from the condition, which led to a hyper-real portrayal. He was also suffering from the flu on the day of filming, which heightened the depiction of discomfort while he was trapped in the wall.
Robinson, quoted in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion book, described the episode by saying that he "didn't have to act" because it was incredibly real to him.
In Afterimage, this is used as one of Garak's major weaknesses, thanks to the increasing pressure of his responsibilities during the Dominion War. In the story he works through his claustrophobia with Ezri Dax but, in real life, Robinson stated that "having to go to that place is always tough".
Despite this, both By Inferno's Light and Afterimage are excellent examples of an actor's real life struggles improving the on-screen performance.