Alexander Siddig

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Alexander Siddig (born 21 November 1965; age 58) is an actor best known for his portrayal of Julian Bashir on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He also appeared as Dr. Bashir on Star Trek: The Next Generation in the episode "Birthright, Part I". He goes by the nickname of "Sid".

Biography

He was born Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abderahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi in Sudan, in Northern Africa, but spent most of his life in Britain where he attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts (LAMDA). His uncle on his mother's side is actor Malcolm McDowell; another uncle, on his father's side, was once the prime minister of Sudan.

When he began acting, he adopted a shortened version of his name, Siddig El Fadil. He then changed his acting credit to Alexander Siddig at the start of the fourth season of Deep Space Nine, reportedly because people had difficulty pronouncing his birth name. According to Siddig, the name "Alexander" was chosen "out of a hat". (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion) His directorial credit remained as El Fadil for one DS9 episode he directed: "Business as Usual".

A union between Siddig and his Deep Space Nine co-star Nana Visitor produced a son, Django El Tahir El Siddig. Visitor's pregnancy was covered up on-screen by having the unborn child of the married Keiko O'Brien (played by Rosalind Chao) transplanted to the womb of Visitor's character, the unmarried Kira Nerys. Django was born on 16 September 1996, during production on the DS9 episode "Let He Who Is Without Sin...". Siddig and Visitor were married on 14 June 1997. The two divorced in 2001, two years after Deep Space Nine left the airwaves.

In 2005, Siddig was briefly romantically linked in the press with actress Kim Cattrall, herself a Star Trek alumna, having played Valeris in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. [1]

Career

Television

Siddig first appeared to television audiences as Prince Feisal in the 1990 made-for-TV sequel to Lawrence of Arabia entitled A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia. When auditions came for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 1992, Siddig was originally considered for the role of Benjamin Sisko, but was reportedly deemed too young for the role. Template:Brokenlink In 2009, Siddig gave an interview in which he remarked that he is mainly recognized for his role on Deep Space Nine and that he once had to wait for three hours in an airport for the FBI to arrive, just so they could have his autograph. [2]

Siddig continues to perform for television on both sides of the Atlantic. In 2003 he guest starred in an episode of the popular BBC spy drama series Spooks (screened as MI5 in the United States). In 2005, he lent his voice to the "Patriot Games" episode of Family Guy, an animated series created by Trek fan Seth MacFarlane. Also in 2005, he appeared in a major role in an episode of the British detective series Agatha Christie's Poirot entitled "Cards on the Table". In 2006 he starred in the BBC television movie Hannibal, playing the title character (opposite Ben Cross).

In 2007, Siddig appeared as former terrorist Hamri Al-Assad in the sixth season of the hit FOX TV series 24. Other Trek actors to appear this season include Michael Reilly Burke, James Cromwell, Roger Cross, Gregory Itzin, Glenn Morshower, Natalia Nogulich, Raphael Sbarge and Maury Sterling. He also played a villain in an episode of the BBC series Merlin in 2008, which was broadcast on NBC in 2009.

In September 2009, Siddig appeared in the BBC forensic crime drama Waking the Dead as Dr Mohammed, a psychiatrist at a high security psychiatric hospital who is hiding a dark secret. In April 2010, it was announced that Siddig had joined the cast of the British science fiction series Primeval [3] for series 4 and 5. On this show, he plays Phillip Burton, a charismatic scientist and technology tycoon who is a private contractor put in charge of running the Governments "Anomaly Research Centre" but is secretly using the technology developed for his own purposes.

Films

Siddig has worked extensively in major motion pictures since production on Deep Space Nine came to an end in 1999. In 2000, he appeared as an ill-fated mountain climber in Vertical Limit. Two years later, he had a role in the fantasy action film Reign of Fire, alongside Trek guest star Alice Krige (the two did not share any scenes together).

Siddig co-starred in two major feature films in 2005: Ridley Scott's epic Kingdom of Heaven and Stephen Gaghan's highly-acclaimed Syriana. His performance as reformist Arabian Prince Nasir Al-Subaai in the latter film garnered Siddig much praise and even early talks of a possible Academy Award nomination. [4] [5] [6] [7] Syriana also featured fellow Trek performers Christopher Plummer, Robert Foxworth, and David Clennon.

In 2006, Siddig appeared as the angel Gabriel in the Biblical drama The Nativity Story. He followed this with roles in the 2007 war epic The Last Legion, set during the last days of the Roman Empire, and the 2007 French drama, Un Homme Perdu (A Lost Man). He then played Prime Minister John Hatcher in the 2008 futuristic action thriller Doomsday, co-starring with his uncle, Malcolm McDowell.

Siddig recently starred in a film entitled Cairo Time, which shot on location in Cairo, Egypt. In the film, Siddig plays a retired Egyptian police officer sent to pick up his friend's wife, only to begin an affair with her. [8] Siddig was most recently seen as Hermes in the blockbuster action/fantasy film Clash of the Titans. His next film will be director Julian Schnabel's drama Miral, in which he plays the father of the title character, a young woman who witnesses Hind Husseini's efforts to establish an orphanage in 1948 Jerusalem.

Other works

On stage, Siddig appeared with Kim Cattrall in a production of the play Whose Life Is It Anyway in 2005. It was as a result of this pairing that Siddig and Cattrall, both alumni of the LAMDA, began dating soon afterwards. In 2008, Siddig lent his voice to two Doctor Who audio dramas, making him one of few people to be involved in both Star Trek and Doctor Who productions. In the 2011 series of Primeval, Siddig portrays Phillip.

Appearances

DS9:
- All episodes except "Paradise", "Blood Oath", "The Collaborator", and "For the Uniform"
TNG: "Birthright, Part I"

Additional roles

Directorial Credits

DS9:
- "Business as Usual" (as Siddig El Fadil) (Season 5)
- "Profit and Lace" (Season 6)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine regular cast

René Auberjonois • Avery Brooks • Nicole de Boer • Michael Dorn • Terry Farrell • Cirroc Lofton • Colm Meaney • Armin Shimerman • Alexander Siddig • Nana Visitor

Star Trek interviews

DS9 Season 1 DVD special feature "Section 31-Hidden File 07" (interview from 18 September 1992)
DS9 Season 1 DVD special feature "Deep Space Nine Scrapbook Year One" (interview from 18 September 1992)