Nana Visitor

Nana Visitor
Visitor at STICCon XVIII, 2004
Born	Nana Tucker July 26, 1957 New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1976–present
Spouse(s)	Nick Miscusi (m. 1989–94)[1] Alexander Siddig (m. 1997–2001) Matthew Rimmer (m. 2003)[2]
Children	2

Nana Visitor (born Nana Tucker; July 26, 1957) is an American actress, known for playing Kira Nerys in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Jean Ritter in the television series Wildfire.

Early life

Nana Tucker was born July 26, 1957 in New York City,^[3] the daughter of Nenette Charisse, a ballet teacher, and Robert Tucker, a choreographer; she is a niece of actress/dancer Cyd Charisse.^[4]

Career

Visitor began her acting career in the 1970s on the Broadway stage in such productions as My One and Only. Her film debut (billed by her birth name Nana Tucker) came in the 1977 horror film The Sentinel. On television, Visitor co-starred in the short-lived 1976 sitcom Ivan the Terrible, and from 1978 to 1982 had short-lived regular roles on three soap operas: Ryan's Hope, The Doctors and One Life to Live. She adopted the stage name "Nana Visitor" in the early 1980s.^[5]

In 1984, she appeared in Season 2, Episode 3 of Hunter. In 1985, Visitor made an appearance in the television series MacGyver, in the season one episode "Hellfire" as Laura Farren, and in the season two episode "DOA: MacGyver" as Carol Varnay. Visitor also made an appearance in the 1985 season 4, episode 3 Remington Steele episode titled "Steele Blushing." In 1986, she appeared in "Hills of Fire", a fourth season episode of Knight Rider.

In 1987, Visitor appeared as Ellen Dolan in a failed television pilot for Will Eisner's pulp comic creation The Spirit starring Sam J. Jones as the title character and Garry Walberg as her father, Commissioner Dolan.

Visitor with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine co-star René Auberjonois at a 2011 Star Trek convention in Las Vegas

In 1988, she made a guest appearance on the sitcom Night Court as a mental patient who is obsessed with the movies. That same year, she made a guest appearance on the television series In the Heat of the Night as the owner of the Sparta newspaper. She also made a guest appearance that year in an episode of Matlock. In 1989, Visitor appeared as a guest on the fifth episode of the television series Doogie Howser, M.D. as Charmagne, a rock star who has a throat nodule removed at Doogie's hospital, and as Miles Drentell's glamorous girlfriend, in "Success", a 1989 episode of Thirtysomething's second season.

In 1990, Visitor co-starred with Sandra Bullock in the short-lived sitcom Working Girl, which was based on the feature film of the same name.

From 1993–1999, Visitor appeared on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Major (and then Colonel) Kira Nerys, a former freedom fighter/terrorist for the planet Bajor, who worked to drive off the alien occupiers, the Cardassians, from her homeworld, now forced to work with the Starfleet contingent brought in by her government to administer the eponymous space station built in orbit around her planet during the occupation.

After DS9 ended, Visitor had a recurring role as villain Dr. Elizabeth Renfro on the television series Dark Angel and starred as Roxie Hart in the touring and Broadway companies of the musical Chicago. Visitor was then cast as Jean Ritter on the ABC Family series Wildfire, which premiered on June 20, 2005.

In 2008, she appeared as Emily Kowalski, a dying cancer patient in "Faith", an episode of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica's fourth season. Visitor had a small role as Pamela Voorhees in the 2009 version of Friday the 13th. She has also lent her voice in a few guest appearances on the sitcom Family Guy, such as Rita in the episode "Brian's Got a Brand New Bag" and as the voice of the Enterprise in "Extra Large Medium". In 2011, she had a small part in the Hammer Horror film The Resident playing the realtor. She appeared in Torchwood: Miracle Day episodes 7 ("Immortal Sins") and 8 ("End of the Road").^[6] In 2012, she appeared as Dr. Patty Barker, a canine psychotherapist, in "An Embarrassment of Bitches", a season four episode of ABC's Castle.^[7]

Personal life

Visitor was married to Nick Miscusi from 1989 to 1994, they have one child together. Visitor began dating her Star Trek: Deep Space Nine co-star Alexander Siddig, and married him in June 1997. They divorced in April 2001.^[2] Her pregnancy was incorporated into her character and the series storyline, beginning in the 1996 fourth season episode "Body Parts".^[8][9] She gave birth to her son, during production of the episode "The Assignment", though her character would remain pregnant until the fifth season episode "The Begotten".^[10]

The asteroid 26733 Nanavisitor, discovered in 2001, was named in her honor by its discoverer, William Kwong Yu Yeung.^[11] In early 2002, Visitor became engaged to Matthew Rimmer, company manager for the musical Chicago, and they wed in April 2003.^[2]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	The Sentinel	Girl
2008	Swing Vote	Galena Greenleaf
2009	Friday the 13th	Pamela Voorhees
2011	The Resident	Realtor
2015	Ted 2	Adoption agent

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1978–79	Ryan's Hope	Nancy Feldman
1985	MacGyver	Laura Farren
1986	Knight Rider	Sandra Rusk
1987	MacGyver	Carol Varnay	Episode: "D.O.A.: MacGyver"
1987	Matlock	Vanessa Douglas	Episode: "The Best Friend"
1989	Matlock	Erin Whitley / Shannon Blackwell	Episode: "The Other Woman"
1990	Working Girl	Bryn Newhouse
1990	Murder, She Wrote	Marcia McPhee	Episode: "See You In Court, Baby"
1993	Matlock	Dr. Clara Farmington	Episode: "The Divorce"
1993–99	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	Kira Nerys	OFTA Television Award for Best Actress in a Syndicated Series
1998	The Outer Limits	Cecilia Fairman	Episode: "In Our Own Image"
2001	Dark Angel	Elizabeth Renfro	Six episodes
2003	Frasier	Sharon	Episode: "Daphne Does Dinner"
2005–08	Wildfire	Jean Ritter
2008	Battlestar Galactica	Emily Kowalski	Episode: "Faith"
2009	Family Guy	Brenda Quagmire	Episode: Jerome Is the New Black
2011	Torchwood: Miracle Day	Olivia Colosanto	Episodes: "Immortal Sins", "End of the Road"
2011	Grimm	Melissa Wincroft	Episodes: "Beeware"

Video games

Year	Title	Role
1996	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Harbinger	Kira Nerys
2000	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - The Fallen	Kira Nerys

References

1. Lipton, Michael A. (August 16, 1993). "Winner by a Nose". People.
2. "Nana's Bio". Nanavision. Retrieved 2013-08-12.
3. Nana Visitor. TV Guide. accessed September 7, 2011.
4. "Nana Visitor Biography (1957-)". Film Reference. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
5. "Nana’s Bio". Retrieved 18 December 2014.
6. "Horror Flicks". Doctor Who Magazine (435). June 2011.
7. "Ep 13 – An Embarrassment of Bitches". Castle TV on ABC & TNT. December 1, 2011.
8. Erdmann, Terry J. and Block, Paula M. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion. Pocket Books. 2000. pp. 351–352.
9. "Body Parts". startrek.com. Retrieved August 12, 2013.
10. Erdmann and Block; Page 407
11. "JPL Small-Body Database Browser". nasa.gov.

External links

• Nana Visitor at the Internet Movie Database
• Nana Visitor at AllMovie
• Nana Visitor at Twitter