DS9 Role With A One-Word Audition

Sometimes an actor is absolutely perfect for a part, and formal auditions don’t feel all that necessary. Such was the case for Alexander Siddig, the actor whom audiences first really got to know as Dr. Julian Bashir on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” a role he won by saying just one word.

In an oral history of the series for SyFy, Siddig explained that while he thought he was simply auditioning for a bit part on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” it turned out that his one episode on that series (season 6’s “Birthright, Part I”) would be part of a lead-in to the newest spin-off at the time, “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” 

“It was a shot in the dark,” Siddig explained. “They were going to fly me to America, and I’d never been to Los Angeles. I was totally amazed and astonished by Paramount Studios and how romantic it all was. I went into the audition and said one word, and I believe that was ‘no.’ They all clapped, and as I walked out, one of the ladies who had escorted me in, a casting person, said to everybody waiting outside, ‘Thanks, guys. We won’t be needing you today,’ and I think at that moment, I realized I got the job.”

Alexander Siddig suggested casting directors knew he was the man for the job when they first saw his tapes, leading to the world’s shortest possible in-person audition. 

“I was predestined to get the job, and I didn’t know that,” he said in the SyFy oral history. “They’d already given me the job before I’d even auditioned, on the strength of the film I’d done a year before, so it was a really amazing way to get a job. It changed my life.” The movie in question was “A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia” with Ralph Fiennes, which is an unofficial “Lawrence of Arabia” sequel that also caught the eye of Steven Spielberg, who cast Fiennes in “Schindler’s List” after seeing it. 

Over seven seasons, Dr. Bashir grew from an eager young upstart doctor to a war-hardened but kind master of medicine. Though he was initially not a fan favorite, he grew into one by series’ end — in large part due to his close personal relationship with the space station’s resident Cardassian tinker/tailor/soldier/spy, Garak (Andrew Robinson).