Armin Shimerman

Armin Shimerman - Quick Facts

Profile Overview of Armin Shimerman

Armin Shimerman (born November 5, 1949) is an American actor who played Quark the Ferengi in the Star Trek franchise, appearing as the character in all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999). He also had a recurring role as Principal Snyder in the first three seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–1999), and voiced General Skarr and other characters in the animated series Evil Con Carne (2001–2004) and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (2001–2007), Doctor Nefarious in the Ratchet & Clank video-game series, and Andrew Ryan in the BioShock video-game series.

This profile of Armin Shimerman covers Early Life and Family Background, Acting, Writing and Teaching.

Early Life and Family Background of Armin Shimerman

Shimerman was born into a Jewish family in Lakewood, New Jersey, on November 5, 1949, the son of accountant Susan and house painter Herbert Shimerman. When he was 15, he moved with his family to Los Angeles, where his mother enrolled him in a drama group in an effort to expand his social circle. He attended Santa Monica High School and was active in drama. As a senior, he played leading roles in school productions of Hamlet, The Crucible, and The Skin of Our Teeth before graduating in 1967. After graduating from UCLA, he was selected to apprentice at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego. He began pursuing a career in theater and eventually moved to New York City, where he was a member of the Impossible Ragtime Theater. Returning to Los Angeles, he took roles in two CBS series to launch his television acting career.

Acting of Armin Shimerman

Shimerman played the Ferengi bar owner Quark in the long-running television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, though his involvement with the Star Trek franchise began with appearances as other Ferengi characters in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "The Last Outpost" and "Peak Performance". Shimerman appeared several times on the cover of TV Guide, either with other actors or alone.

Along with Patrick Stewart, Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Frakes, and John de Lancie, Shimerman is one of only a few actors to play the same character on four or more different Star Trek series. He played Quark in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Lower Decks. He reprised the role of Quark in the 1998 film Star Trek: Insurrection, but only in deleted scenes.

In addition to Star Trek, Shimerman has had roles as Pascal on Beauty and the Beast and as Principal Snyder in 19 episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He has also starred as Anteaus in Stargate SG-1 as one of the Nox, an evil wizard in Charmed, appeared as Stan the caddy in an episode of Seinfeld, and as Dr. Patemkin on Leverage.

Shimerman has appeared in the first seven episodes as Judge Brian Hooper in the third season of Boston Legal, joining fellow Star Trek actors William Shatner, René Auberjonois, and Ethan Phillips. His character even shared a scene with Auberjonois, with the strife between the two characters reminiscent of the conflict between Shimerman's Quark and Auberjonois's Odo.

He made an appearance as "The Terror" in the first Tick live-action series.

He appeared in the series Numb3rs episode "Provenance" as Patrick Holden. He had a small cameo in the episode "Posse Comitatus" of The West Wing as Richard the III and another in the film as an Old Man in the subway in What the Bleep Do We Know!?.

He has made appearances in various television series such as Babes as Mr. Ian Anderson, Married... With Children as Mr. Lovejoy, Warehouse 13 as Charlie Martin, Tremors as Cecil Carr, The Young and the Restless as Judge Graham Roberts, Castle as Benjamin Donnelly, Bad Samaritans as the Judge, and Red Bird as Max.

He has voiced several video-game villains, including Toad and Zealot in X-Men Legends and X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse respectively, Andrew Ryan in the BioShock series, Razputin's father in Psychonauts, and General Skarr from Evil Con Carne and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. He then lent his voice talent to BioWare for their games Jade Empire (as Emperor Sun Hai, Abbot Song, and the Innkeeper) and Mass Effect (as the original Salarian Councilor and Fai Dan). He also voiced Dr. Emil Narud, Mohandar, and Dr. Emil Narud in its human form in the 2010 RTS video game StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and the 2013 expansion StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, respectively.

He also voiced the role of Quark in various Deep Space Nine video games, such as Harbinger and the Fallen and reprised the role in the 2018 expansion Star Trek Online: Victory is Life.

He also voiced Ben Robbins and the Shopkeeper in the first two episodes of Rocket Power from 1999 to 2000.

In 2008, he voiced the character of Wilmer in an audio dramatization of The Maltese Falcon, which also featured actors Michael Madsen, Sandra Oh, and Edward Herrmann. Also, he voiced the character of Mr. Phillips in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's production of Anne of Green Gables. He also voiced Raanu along with the villager and a village leader in the straight-to-DVD animated film Bionicle: The Legend Reborn. He also voices Green Goblin in the action role-playing video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2.

In 2011, he provided additional voices for the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic.

In 2012, he also voiced Che Garcia Hansson and Old Joseph Cajiais for the MMORPG The Secret World.

His best known voice work is that of Doctor Nefarious in the Ratchet & Clank franchise, a role for which he received much praise.

He reprised his roles as Dr. Nefarious and Andrew Ryan and also voiced a Vox Populi enemy in the crossover fighting game PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale.

Writing

Shimerman co-authored a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine novel, The 34th Rule, with David R. George III, published January 1, 1999. It focuses on his character Quark, who loses his bar and is imprisoned during a diplomatic crisis between the Bajoran and Ferengi governments. The novel is an allegory for the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Source: adapted from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armin_Shimerman), text available under CC BY-SA 4.0.