- Armin Shimerman
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Armin Shimerman 
Shimerman in 2008Born November 5, 1949
Lakewood, New Jersey, United StatesOccupation Actor Years active 1979–present Spouse Kitty Swink Armin Shimerman (born November 5, 1949) is an American actor. Shimerman is best known for playing the Ferengi bartender Quark in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Principal Snyder in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Kramer's caddy Stan on Seinfeld, voicing Dr. Nefarious in the Ratchet & Clank series, and Andrew Ryan, the antagonist of BioShock. He also played Dr. Potter in the 2011 movie adaptation of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged.
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Early life
Shimerman was born in Lakewood, New Jersey, the son of Susan, an accountant, and Herbert Shimerman, a house painter.[1] When Shimerman was 15, his family moved to Los Angeles, where his mother enrolled him in a drama group in an effort to expand his social circle. He later graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, then was selected to apprentice at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego. He pursued a dramatic career in theater, eventually moving to New York. He later returned to Los Angeles where he received roles in two CBS series, launching a career in television acting.
Career
Television
Shimerman is best known for his role as 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". As the character Quark, Shimerman became one of Star Trek's most widely-known characters, and he appeared several times on the cover of TV Guide, either with other actors or alone as part of a collector's series. He says that his favorite episode of Deep Space Nine was "Little Green Men" as it was the only episode where he is shown captaining a ship.
Shimerman (left) and Max Grodénchik (right) played the characters of two Ferengi brothers, Quark and Rom, on Deep Space 9
Along with Marina Sirtis, John de Lancie, Michael Ansara, and Richard Poe, he is one of only a few actors to play the same character on three different Star Trek series. He played Quark in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager.
In addition to Star Trek, Shimerman has had roles as Pascal on Beauty and the Beast and as Principal Snyder in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. He also has starred 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 as judge Brian Hooper in the third season of Boston Legal, joining fellow Star Trek actors William Shatner, Rene Auberjonois, and Ethan Phillips; Shatner played Captain Kirk on Star Trek, Auberjonois played Odo on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Phillips played Neelix on Star Trek: Voyager. 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.
Shimerman made an appearance as "The Terror" in The Tick live action series.
He appeared in the series Numb3rs episode 'Provenance' as an art expert. He also appeared in the episode "Posse Comitatus" of The West Wing as Richard III, and had a cameo role in both What the Bleep movies.
He also appeared in the episode "Buck the Stud" of Married... with Children.
Shimerman also appeared in the episode "Where and When" of the TV series Warehouse 13. He played the character Charlie Martin, that episodes version of Artie Nielsen.
Voice work
He has voiced several video game villains, including Toad in X-Men Legends, Dr. Nefarious in Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time, and Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, Andrew Ryan in BioShock, a role he received much praise for, and Razputin's father in Psychonauts. He voiced General Skarr from Evil Con Carne and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. He lent his voice talent to Bioware for their games Jade Empire and Mass Effect. He also voices Emil Narud and Mohandar in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty.
In 2008, he voiced the character of Wilmer in an audio dramatization of The Maltese Falcon that also featured Michael Madsen, Sandra Oh, and Edward Herrmann. In addition, he also voiced the character of Mr. Phillips in Focus on the Family Radio Theatre's production of Anne of Green Gables. He also voiced Raanu in the straight-to-DVD feature animation Bionicle: The Legend Reborn. He also voices Green Goblin in the video game Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2.
Writing
He has written a series of books in which he provides a science fictional basis for the life of Dr. John Dee.
Personal life
Shimerman is married to actress Kitty Swink.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes 1980 Stardust Memories Eulogy Audience 1986 The Hitcher Interrogation Sergeant Stoogemania Larry II 1987 Blind Date French Waiter The Verne Miller Story Mortician Like Father Like Son Trigger's Father 1988 Dangerous Curves Boggs 1989 Arena Weezil Big Man on Campus Dr. Oberlander 1990 Death Warrant Dr. Gottesman 1991 And You Thought Your Parents Were Weird Contest Judge 1994 Slaughter of the Innocents Dr. Mort Seger 1996 Eye for an Eye Judge Arthur Younger 1997 Snide and Prejudice Eckart 1998 Looking for Lola Maitre'd 1999 The Auteur Theory Detective Blank 2000 Breathing Hard Conrad 2002 Who Slew Simon Thaddeus Mulberry Pew The Whizzit 2003 Living in Walter's World Mr. Krause 2004 What the Bleep Do We Know!? Older Man in subway The Works Gerald Eviction The Landlord 2005 Geppetto's Secret Leonardo the paintbrush (Voice) 2006 What the Bleep!?: Down the Rabbit Hole Older Man 2008 The Um Fiester Delgo Nohrin Merchant (Voice) 2009 For Christ's Sake The Pope In post-production 2009 BIONICLE: The Legend Reborn Raanu, Villagers/Village leaders 2009 - 2010 Batman: The Brave and the Bold Calculator, Psycho-Pirate, Prof. Mark Haley, Second Guardian Episodes: "Night of the Huntress!"
"Inside the Outsiders!"
"Revenge of the Reach!"
2011 Atlas Shrugged Dr. Potter 2011 Dropping Evil The Boss Man Bibliography
- The 34th Rule (1998), a novel centering on his character Quark (with David R. George III)
Merchant Prince series
- The Merchant Prince (2000) (with Michael Scott)
- Outrageous Fortune (2002) (with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro)
- Capital Offense (2003)
References
External links
Categories:- 1949 births
- Actors from California
- Actors from New Jersey
- American film actors
- American television actors
- American voice actors
- Audio book narrators
- Living people
- People from Los Angeles, California
- People from Lakewood Township, New Jersey
- University of California, Los Angeles alumni
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