This past September was a great month for fans in western Canada, with two enormous conventions being hosted in Saskatoon and Edmonton. The Saskatoon Comic and Entertainment Expo was graced by one of the most iconic performers of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Nana Visitor. Visitor made a name for herself playing a firebrand freedom fighter in the black sheep of the Star Trek franchise, and earned herself a devoted following in the process. In advance of her visit, we had a chance to talk with a very forthcoming and thoughtful Visitor about her role on DS9, her poorly concealed admiration for her colleagues, and the broader Trek community.

GayCalgary: Let’s start at the very beginning: how big was Star Trek on your radar when you were first reading the part of Kira? Did you have some idea of what you would be getting into?

Nana Visitor: I had seen the original series, like every other person, every day at six before I went to the theatre; it was my little habit. I was out of town with a show in Boston, and the hotel that they were putting us up at had a convention. It was remarkable – all these creatures! It was like a flock of amazing parrots went by. And they were trekkers! And that was really it for my experience. Then this script came along and, at the time, I was reading and auditioning for lots of them – two, three a day – you couldn’t get too caught up in any one. You just kept going, and then on to the next. This one kind of stopped me dead in my tracks. It was so different, and I really didn’t take into consideration – I don’t think I understood frankly – that it was a regular character. I was doing a lot of guest-stars, and I thought it was another one. All I knew was I wanted to do this role.

GC: And it is a very iconic role. She’s thrown into this world of grey and she, at the same time, has these really strong moral absolutes as an individual, or a very strong moral clarity, and I was curious how you threaded that needle as an actor.

NV: Well, first of all, they had a bible for the show – for every character they had background – and it was very detailed, so you didn’t have to make up anything. You knew where you came from. The fact that she had a strong moral compass in what she came up against, it all kind of evolved very naturally. I have to say, when you play a character like that, it makes you think a lot. When you’re playing a character like that, 16 hours a day, five days a week, it’s very easy to go underneath the wave of it all. And then it is easy – it’s so easy – it’s like approaching the ocean. If you stand right where the waves are breaking, you are going to get hit, knocked down, over and over again, but if you dive in, you are part of it. That was really my experience – I became part of it.

GC: Would you mind discussing your experience with your colleagues a bit – what your favourite moments filming with Renee Aubergenois might be, or Armin Shimerman?

NV: You are talking about two old pros, and anytime I knew I was doing a scene with either one of those guys, it was like, all right, the day is going to go well and I’m going to have to have my game really up there, because I’m playing tennis with [guys who can] hit back anything I can throw at them, which is so fun for an actor. That is the most fun there is. It was always this deep comfort with both of them; working and just hanging around, waiting for the lights to come on. Deep comfort is what I’d say comes to mind.

GC: Is there any one singular experience with either of them that leaps to mind right away?

NV: Well, Renee has spoken about this too, but our first kiss was difficult and weird. We were friends on screen and off and suddenly, for it to become romantic, was a bit nervous-making, like you have to kiss your brother all of a sudden. And then you have to take into consideration the fact that so much rubber was involved! Luckily we could loop things afterward, so you didn’t hear the sick glop of the rubber peeling off our faces after the kiss.

GC: Changing gears, you have mentioned in other interviews that DS9 really stands up over time. There is some really incisive commentary about things like race, social stratification, social justice, politics and power. What aspects of the show – in terms of its real-world implications – do you figure have the most relevance today?

NV: Well, I mean, that question stops me cold, because the elephant in the room is the fact that I was a terrorist. And that, right there, is probably enough said on the subject. I don’t know what I take away from that fact, other than I embodied someone that, what they do today makes me cry. It is odd, to say the least.

GC: Especially since your character was presented as so sympathetic and so justified.

NV: Yes, and so spiritual.

GC: About Star Trek in general – it’s so unique in how it treats its actors, and how the community builds up after the fact. Is there anything that you have been able to do because of that platform that wouldn’t have come to pass otherwise?

NV: I’m a bit of a rockstar with people who fix computers. I can get my computer fixed really, really easily [laughs].  I have to say, the whole experience has been – I couldn’t have asked for a better one in terms of career, because I would have hated to have been a celebrity, and I don’t feel like I am at all. I feel like I am someone whose work is appreciated, and that is why. They don’t want to see me because of how I dress; they want to see me because of who I was, and what I did on an incredible piece of work, and that is just ideal as far as I’m concerned.

GC: If the stars were ever to align and you were asked to play another role in Star Trek – as Kira or somebody else – would you jump at it?

NV: Yes! Absolutely. Especially if our writers were involved.

GC: Oh yes, you had some phenomenal writers on Deep Space Nine.

NV: Oh god, yes. Oh my god, yeah. I definitely would.