10 Star Trek Actors Whose First Appearances You've Totally Forgotten

In the Star Trek universe, doppelgangers aren't just confined to the Mirror Universe. Many actors have appeared in the series as different characters throughout the years. Jeffrey Combs for example, who so memorably played the Weyouns in Deep Space Nine has played seven other characters across the Star Trek franchise including as Quark's nemesis Brunt and the xenophobic Andorian Thy'lek Shran in Enterprise. The heavy prosthetics that Combs is usually hidden under allows him to assume multiple different roles, but his name on the guest star credits is always a signifier of quality.

Other actors make such an impression in a guest role that they have more substantial characters created for them. Armin Shimmerman's portrayal of one of the original Ferengi was surely behind his casting as Quark on DS9. More often, Star Trek's strange new worlds and constant need for guest actors is a boon for jobbing actors.

It's many of these jobbing actors who pop up in episodes before they become bigger names and more viable options for casting in the various feature films and series in the Star Trek franchise. This list collects just a small fraction of the recurring Star Trek actors whose first appearances have been lost in the Delta Quadrant of your mind.

David Warner has played two iconic Star Trek characters, the ill-fated Chancellor Gorkon in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and Gul Madred in the classic TNG two-parter Chain of Command. All together now: There are four lights!

What you might have forgotten is that Warner also appeared in Star Trek V: The Final Frontier as the disillusioned Federation representative St. John Talbot. Assigned to the barren Nimbus III with similarly dejected Klingons and Romulans, he falls under the influence of Spock's villainous half-brother Sybok.

In a ruse not a million miles away from The Wrath of Khan, Sybok uses the representatives to lure the Enterprise to the planet for use in his own nefarious plan. Whilst Talbot appears to have a happy ending and a renewed zest for life by the film's end, Warner claims that it was originally a much bigger part. According to the actor, some of his scenes ended up on the cutting room floor, but the novelisation does flesh out the character further.

Accordingly, Talbot made a disastrous mistake during a diplomatic mission and turned to the drink. It's a tragi-comic, minor role for Warner, who would get much juicier Star Trek material in the ensuing years.