Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Deanna Troi
6. Her Changing Accent Has An Origin Story
The original casting call description for Troi, not without a few uncomfortable 'of-the-time' aftertastes and clichés in all its pan-European vagueness, states that "Deanna is probably foreign (anywhere from Italian, Greek, Hungarian, Russian, Icelandic, etc.) with looks and accent to match".
Marina Sirtis, who was born in London (East and then moved North) to Greek parents, and is fluent in Greek, is skilled at accents and was tasked to create a Betazoid one for Troi. She opted for a mixture of Eastern European and what she drew from the accent of an Israeli friend.
The problem with this was that when we met Troi’s Betazoid mother – Lwaxana – she sounded, and for want of a more precise description, 'American'. Sirtis was then told that Deanna got her accent from her father, but, when we meet him, he also sounds 'generic American' (the actor hails from Texas, by the by) so that didn’t fit either.
Understandably a bit frustrated, Sirtis eventually just switched to something more mid-Atlantic as the series and films progressed, at times closer to her native North London, and at others more American. The actress stated that if she could change one thing about her time on TNG, "I wouldn’t give Deanna a foreign accent – even though her mother is a Betazoid".