Tania Lemani

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Tania Lemani
Birth name:	Tatiana Soleimani-Zadeh
Date of birth:	17 March 1939
Place of birth:	Sari, Iran
Roles:	Actress
Character(s):	Kara

Tania Lemani (born 17 March 1939; age 85), born Tatiana Soleimani-Zadeh, is a former actress and dancer who played Kara in the Star Trek: The Original Series second season episode "Wolf in the Fold". She filmed her scenes on Monday 3 July 1967 at Desilu Stage 10.

Tania was born in Iran to Russian parents. When she was 13 years old, her family came to America where Lemani began her career with a classical ballet dance troupe, but when she traveled to Las Vegas in search of more work, she was offered a job as a belly dancer, not a ballet dancer. She ultimately got her own show in Vegas, as well as offers to dance on television and film. She also began receiving more serious acting roles after a member of her show's audience offered her a role in the pilot for Alexander the Great, starring William Shatner in the title role (although the pilot failed to be picked up as a series). Regardless, Lemani retired from acting in 1969.

One of her earliest film appearances came in the 1964 comedy A Global Affair, which also featured Nehemiah Persoff and fellow Original Series guest actress Barbara Bouchet. She went on to appear in such films as Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (in which she, Sabrina Scharf, Victor Tayback, and George D. Wallace appear unbilled, along with billed actors Michael Strong and Phillip Pine) and Gambit (with Roger C. Carmel, Arnold Moss, John Abbott and Vic Tayback) in 1966. She also had a supporting role in Joseph Sargent's 1968 drama To Hell with Heroes, along with William Marshall and Sid Haig, written by Harold Livingston. In total, she had roles in nearly twenty films.

On television, she has appeared on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (with Arlene Martel), I Dream of Jeannie, Get Smart (with Karen Steele), McHale's Navy (including an episode with David Opatoshu), It Takes a Thief (with Nancy Kovack and her "Wolf in the Fold" co-star Charles Dierkop), and The Flying Nun (with Michael Pataki and Sandra Smith), among others. In addition, she has performed in dozens of stage productions.

Tania Lemani speaks English, Russian and Persian fluently. She also knows some Spanish, Armenian, Ukrainian and Italian. She has also produced her own belly dancing video, "Bellysize with Tanya."

External links

• Tanya Lemani George – official site
• Tania Lemani at the Internet Movie Database