Martha Hackett (born February 21, 1961) is an American actress. She is known for her portrayal of Seska in thirteen episodes of the television series Star Trek: Voyager. Hackett is an alumna of Harvard University/Radcliffe College, and was married to independent filmmaker Tim Disney.

Martha Hackett
Born (1961-02-21) February 21, 1961 (age 63)
Alma materHarvard University
OccupationActress
Years active1986–present
Spouse(s)Tim Disney
(m. ? ; div. 2004)
Children2
Websitemarthahackettofficial.com

Career

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Hackett's first experience of Star Trek was when she auditioned for the role of Jadzia Dax in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, but lost out to Terry Farrell.[1] She subsequently was cast as a member of the Terellian alien species in the finale of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "All Good Things...". She appeared on Deep Space Nine as the Romulan Sub Commander T'Rul in the two-part episode "The Search" in season three.[1]

She was cast in Star Trek: Voyager in the recurring role of Seska, a Bajoran member of the Maquis crew who joined Voyager after it was stranded in the Delta Quadrant. She first appeared in the episode "Parallax" where she wore the blue uniform of a Starfleet science officer; this was later revealed to be a costuming error and she was subsequently seen in the uniform of the operations department.[1] The original uniform sold for $1,276 ($1,810 today) in the "It's a Wrap!" auction on eBay in 2008.[2]

When she was first cast in the role of Seska, she was not informed that she was a Cardassian spy. She later explained that "when I first started I was Seska the Bajoran Maquis member and they sort of worked everything else up in soap opera fashion."[1] Hackett became pregnant, which was written into Seska's character. Hackett described Seska as being a character with several layers, saying that "Seska’s darker sides came from a certain emotional instability, at least that’s how I played her."[1] Seska was killed off in the second part of "Basics", which came as a surprise to Hackett as she was previously sent a version of the script where Seska survived, but her baby died. She was only told that Seska was to die less than a day before filming. Following her character's death, Hackett as Seska returned to Voyager twice more in the episodes "Worst Case Scenario" and "Shattered".[1] She appeared in a total of thirteen episodes of Voyager.[3]

In 2001, she appeared in the independent film Question of Faith, where she played the monk Anselm. Her character underwent a sex change from male to female as part of a divine miracle. The film was directed by her husband.[4]

In 2018, she appeared on the game show To Tell the Truth.[citation needed]

Personal life

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Hackett was married to Tim Disney, and they have two sons together.[5] Hackett has an A.B. cum laude from Harvard University/Radcliffe College.[6][7]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1991 Flight of Black Angel Nurse
1993 Carnosaur Miss Kroghe
1994 Leprechaun 2 Detective
1994 In the Heat of Passion II: Unfaithful Muriel Walters
1995 One Night Stand Nora Walsh
1998 Music from Another Room Paula
1998 Inconceivable Jill, WOMB member Credited as Martha Hacket
1999 The Last Man on Planet Earth Mother May the Madame
1999 Never Been Kissed Mrs. Knox
1999 Let the Devil Wear Black Cop #2
2001 Question of Faith Anselm Credited as M.E. Hackett
2003 The Lone Ranger Margaret
2005 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Pistol Woman
2014 Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day Mrs. Gibson

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1986 Hill Street Blues Carole Green 2 episodes
1989 Hard Time on Planet Earth Episode: "Jesse's Fifteen Minutes"
1990 The Marshall Chronicles Episode: "Friday Night Fever"
1992 Civil Wars Helen Cashman Episode: "A Bus Named Desire"
1993 Sirens Camilla Episode: "Guy Perfect"
1994 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine T'Rul 2 episodes
1995–2001 Star Trek: Voyager Seska 13 episodes
2002 The Guardian Cynthia Popper Episode: "Mothers of the Disappeared"
2009–2010 I Heart Vampires Siona McCabre 6 episodes
2009 NCIS Celia Roberts Episode: "Caged"
2012 Last Resort Forest Episode: "Nuke It Out"
2013 Perception Leah Sullivan Episode: "Toxic"
2014 Masters of Sex Shirley Episode: "Thank You for Coming"
2016–2018 Days of Our Lives Pamela Van Damme 4 episodes

Video games

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Year Title Role
1996 Star Trek: Klingon Pok's Mother
2001 Star Trek: Armada II Additional Voices
2002 Star Trek: Bridge Commander Cmdr. Saffi Larsen
2003 Star Trek: Elite Force II Dr. Stevenson

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Eramo, Steve (June 8, 2011). "Sci-Fi Blast From The Past - Martha Hackett (Star Trek: Voyager)". SciFiandTVTalk. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  2. ^ "Star Trek: Voy "Seska Starfleet Uniform Jumpsuit"". Star Trek Prop Collector. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  3. ^ Stape, Will (October 21, 2008). "They So Hated They're Loved Characters of Star Trek". Yahoo! Voices. Archived from the original on April 12, 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  4. ^ Elder, Robert K. (May 4, 2001). "Moving 'Question of Faith'". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  5. ^ "Martha Hackett Gives Birth to Second Child". TrekNation. July 20, 2000. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
  6. ^ "Martha Hackett". linkedin.com. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  7. ^ "A Beggar's Banquet". The Harvard Crimson. October 27, 1981. Retrieved March 4, 2013.
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