Terry Farrell

Actress Terry Farrell is best known as Lieutenant Jadzia Dax on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. But this isn’t all she was known for. She has been in several feature films, TV movies, and even a hit TV series. But then she simply disappeared from Hollywood. Why did Terry Farrell stop acting and where is she now? Plus, how she is still involved with Star Trek.

TERRY FARRELL IS GOING ON STAR TREK THE CRUISE IN 2023

Terry Farrell is still not done with her Star Trek ties, though it may not be what you think. After the successful fifth version, Farrell looks to return to the high seas on Star Trek: The Cruise VI. Yes, this is an actual Star Tek cruise that takes place on Royal Caribbean’s Navigator of the Seas. If that isn’t enough to excite you and make you want to join in, the list of Star Trek veterans will definitely push you in that direction.

If you are a Trekkie, we hope you are sitting down when you see this partial list of attendees. They include Terry Farrell (obviously), Kate Mulgrew, Brent Spiner, Marina Sirtis, Denise Crosby, Nana Visitor, Armin Shimerman, Robert Picardo, Garrett Wang, John De Lancie, and Jonathan Frakes. You can see the entire Star Trek Crew here. Farrell even took to her Twitter account to announce that she was boldly going back to the sea.

This amazing Trekkie cruise departs Los Angeles on February 24, 2023, and “trek” down to Mexico for stops in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán, and Puerto Vallarta, before turning back to Los Angeles and two fun nights on the sea. The cruise offers unbelievable Star Trek-themed entertainment as well as interactive events, and theme nights. If you are all about Star Trek, this is definitely the experience you do not want to miss. You can take a look at the Star Trek: The Cruise V highlights below, which do include Terry Farrell, to see what’s in store.

So, there are ways to catch up with Terry Farrell these days, though it might not always be on the small screen like we’ve been used to in the past.

TERRY FARRELL WAS IN PAPER DOLLS AND BACK TO SCHOOL

Terry Farrell began her acting career at the age of 20. She had a brief part in the movie Portfolio playing a model but then went on to the TV series Paper Dolls starring as, you guessed it, a model.

For the next couple of years of her career, Farrell was seen in a few TV movies and series until her first big feature film. This would be the Rodney Dangerfield-led comedy Back To School. In it, Terry Farrell portrayed the girlfriend of Dangerfield’s son, Keith Gordon (Dressed To Kill). The movie didn’t exactly launch her career, but it did give her continued work in Hollywood.

TERRY FARRELL PLAYED LT. JADZIA DAX ON STAR TREK

Terry Farrell continued to appear in TV series such as Quantum Leap and Grapevine but her big break finally came in 1993 when she was cast as Lt. Jadzia Dax on the hit TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9).

Terry’s Dax character was a Trill, an alien species that is host to a 300-year old symbiont. Jadzia Dax had memories of being both male and female, which led to one of the more controversial episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. That we’ll delve into shortly.

Deep Space Nine ran for seven seasons, six of which had Terry Farrell playing Dax. She was to be and wanted to be a part of the series’ seventh and final season, but her character was killed off at the end of season six, which became another controversy for DS9.

ON DEEP SPACE NINE SHE SHARED A KISS WITH SUSANA THOMPSON

In today’s world it doesn’t seem like a big deal but back in 1995, it was. We are talking about one of television’s first lesbian kissing scenes. This happened in the 78^th episode, during season four of DS9.

In it, Terry Farrell’s Dax is introduced to another Trill, portrayed by actress Susana Thompson. Upon this meeting, the two are immediately familiar with each other. Thompson’s character is the former wife of Dax (when Dax was a male). And it is obvious there are still feelings. The tension between them eventually leads up to the “kiss”. It was 15-seconds of controversy that, at the time, received negative press and fan uproar. In fact, one TV station deemed the scene so offensive, they removed it completely from the episode.

SHE HAD HER ROLE REDUCED ON DEEP SPACE NINE

There was more controversy on surrounding Terry Farrell in DS9’s sixth season. While Farrell wanted to continue being part of DS9, she also wanted to step out and do other projects. She was also burnt out on the filming demands of the show and wanted to ease up a bit and reduce her time on the show. Unfortunately, series creator Rick Berman wasn’t having it.

Not only did Berman have Terry Farrell’s role reduced, but he wasn’t allowing her to venture into other shows. Terry Farrell was seen on the cover of TV Guide by a casting producer who was setting up a TV show with comedian Jerry Seinfeld.

They reached out to Farrell in hopes to get her to audition. “It’s a week. It’s five days,” Farrell said per 1701 News. “How many people are on DS9? There’s a lot. The truth is, there’s many episodes where all of us had very little to do because other people were starring in them, including recurring guest stars.” Berman turned her request down.

Needless to say, that didn’t sit well with Farrell. According to her, Berman’s offer was a take it or leave it offer. Smartly (or not), Terry Farrell chose to leave it Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. She told Trektoday, “I did suggest in the wake of that I could be recurring…not be in every episode,” she explained.

“Rick wouldn’t have any of that. It was basically, ‘Here’s the offer. If you want it, sign it. If you don’t, it’s really been nice working with you.’ I went with ‘It’s really been nice working with you’ – I added that because it really sounds nicer. I don’t think Rick was thinking that at all. That was unfortunate.”

TERRY FARRELL RETIRED AFTER BECKER

Terry Farrell kicked around Hollywood for another five or so years. She was featured on the TV series Becker, with Ted Danson, and remained on that show for four years.

Shortly after leaving Becker, Terry Farrell retired from the acting business to concentrate on her family. She married and settled in Hershey, Pennsylvania to raise her son.

Terry Farrell’s marriage lasted for a dozen years when she divorced and then began dating Adam Nimoy. If that last name looks familiar, it should. He is the son of the late Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek’s original Spock. The pair married on March 26, 2018, which happens to be the birthday of Leonard Nimoy.

TERRY FARRELL IS ON TWITTER

Terry Farrell left the entertainment business in 2003 without having any intention of returning. Things change, as they often do. Her son grew and the acting bug started bugging. Farrell jumped back in 2017 with a project called Star Trek: Renegades. This was a fan film she became part of and it was presented on YouTube. Plans were for the movie to be turned into a series, but that was scrapped because of legal issues.

Now that Terry Farrell is back, she continues to work, though currently she’s social distancing…

Terry is set to appear in the upcoming TV Movie Storyville, co-starring opposite Star Trek alums Marina Sirtis and Nana Visitor. While she may not find a role as enticing as her DS9 Dax character, it’s nice to see her on the screen again.

TERRY FARRELL RETURNED FOR STAR TREK RENEGADES AND STORYVILLE

Although Terry Farrell retired from acting nearly 20 years ago, she never truly left her Star Trek family. She was enticed out of retirement with the Star Trek: Renegades project in 2017 which unfortunately didn’t make much noise. In 2019, Farrell teamed up with Star Trek alums Nana Visitor (Deep Space Nine’s Kira Nerys), Marina Sirtis (Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Deanna Troi), and Kitty Swink (Rozahn/Lauran) to start a campaign to raise $72,000 in order to fund a pilot for Storyville.

The pilot was set in 1917 New Orleans and was to tell the true story of four New Orleans madams fighting against those who were trying to control them and their business. The project has yet to officially kick-off and there is no word on if it will be moving forward.