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Odo
Found adrift and alone in
the Denorious Belt in his natural gelatinous state with no clue to
his origin, this unique shapeshifter was returned to Cardassian-occupied
Bajor in 2356 and given to Dr. Mora Pol at the Bajoran Institute for
Science to research under much pressure. However, after a lifetime
of wondering, it was not until early 2371 that Odo discovered he was
one of 100 changeling Founders sent out at an unspecified earlier
time as an exploratory contact mission from the Dominion, implanted
genetically with the need to return home someday.
Initially it was only the formative Odo's duplication of his
container, a Krokian Petri beaker, that alerted Mora to his
sentience. Even after gaining intelligence, communication skills and
a refined morphing ability he'd had trouble with "social
integration," Mora noted. His name stems from the Cardassian words
for "nothing" — the literal translation of "Odo'ital," which Dr.
Mora's Cardassian overseer took as the meaning of his intended
specimen label "Unknown Sample" that was affixed to his container.
After he was known to be sentient, the native scientists as a joke "Bajorized"
it into "Odo Ital," and later just "Odo." The irony of the name
"Nothing" was not lost on the homeless, friendless alien then, who
turned the self-image around after the coming of Kira and the
Starfleet crew. Constable Odo has an unexpressed and unrequited love
for Kira — after years of proclaiming humanoid love as among the
qualities he can't fathom, and feigned shock at Bolian Lysia Arlin's
onetime crush on him, and even Lwaxana Troi's ongoing infatuation
which they ended with an affectionate understanding. Kira often
turns to him for counsel, is a staunch defender and affectionate
friend, but she has never guessed his true feelings toward her. He
eventually returned to the great link and saved his people after the
Dominion war.
Rene Auberjonois
While some of the cast of STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE are relatively
newcomers, Rene Auberjonois has had a long an widely varied career
on stage, in film and on television. Longtime TV viewers may very
well recognize him -- if they squint a lot -- as Clayton Endicott
III, the Emmy Award winning role he played for six years on BENSON.
As Robert Guillame's long-time adversary, he was a character
audiences loved to hate; as DS9's Odo he once again plays a
character that is in many ways unsympathetic. But he also reveals to
us, in every nuance of that character, that Odo has his own
humanity, buried behind the pain of his incredible isolation as the
only known member of his mysterious species.
Rene Auberjonois was born in 1940 in New York City, the offspring of
an artistic family: his father was a writer and his grandfather was
a well known Swiss painter. His father was a news correspondent so
the Auberjonois family travelled quite a bit, living not only in New
York City and Rockland County but in Paris and London as well.
Because of Auberjonois' background, he was naturally interested in
pursuing a career in the arts, and began his career on the stage at
an early age. He began his stage work at the age of sixteen under
the tutelage of his family friend and mentor, actor/director John
Houseman. "My parents wanted to see if I was really serious about
becoming an actor, so I became an apprentice at a theatre in
Stratford, Connecticut. They asked John to see if I had any talent,
feeling that I was at an age to be easily influenced--away from the
business--if I had no talent. But John told them, 'Your son is an
actor.' "He would later teach mask work at the Juilliard Drama
School, again under the guidance of John Houseman. Other family
friends included Burgess Meredith and Alan Jay Lerner. |
