Ultimate TV interview with Nicole deBoer
by Shelly Lyons , News Reporter, UltimateTV

Nicole deBoer is something of a pinch hitter. On this, the last year of
the syndicated series, "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," the native Canadian
fills the 'Dax Gap,' which became available when Terry Farrell left for
the primetime network universe in the midseason Ted Danson vehicle,
"Becker."

But the term pinch-hitter doesn't do justice to the brunette beauty, whom
you might remember if you were a fan of "Mission Genesis,"  the sci-fi
channel's answer to "90210" in space.

DeBoer is the new Dax. Ezri Dax to be exact. In the seventh-season
premiere episode, entitled "Image in the Sand," deBoer is introduced as
the new Starfleet Ensign host of a three hundred year-old symbiont
previously in the body of Jadzia Dax (Farrell).

"The problem is she (Ezri Dax) ended up getting this worm put inside her
and now she has eight people in her head," deBoer explains to UltimateTV.
"She's never been trained to be joined ... it makes her a little bit
confused."

Confused indeed. In the scene UltimateTV read, which was used for her
audition, deBoer's character has a scene with Quark. The scene reflects
her insecurity about whether she'll be accepted on the ship, and whether
she can truly handle the eight other beings. A quirky sense of humor and
naivete mark the character.

It was deBoer's work on "TekWar" and "Beyond Reality," two Canadian
series, that likely got her the job. Hans Beimler, writer and supervising
producer of "DS9," co-created and co-executive produced "Beyond Reality,"
a half-hour drama series, and executive produced William Shatner's
"TekWar."

"I hadn't talked to him for a couple of years," says deBoer.  Until her
manager called to tell her that he wanted an audition tape.  
So deBoer set up a video camera in her room.

"I memorized the scene, said the line, then left a blank space."  Although
she says she heard Quark in her head, the audition piece was really like
"a monologue in a way. I thought 'I can't believe I'm going to send off
this poor quality videotape to Paramount Studios."  I didn't think
anything would come of it ... but I heard back in a couple days that they
were going to fly me down to test.

So is the actress prepared for the frenzy that accompanies anyone who
works within the "Star Trek" franchise?

"I feel lucky that I got a small intro to it in 'Mission Genesis,' I know
how loyal sci-fi fans are," says DeBoer, who relates that she "was
surprised the first day on the set when someone came to me and said 'you
have fan mail.'" This was before deBoer had even filmed her first scene.
"I got a bunch of cards welcoming me to the show from fans, telling me not
to worry about being accepted ...  I thought 'that is so sweet, weird but
sweet.'"

She may have gotten some experience in sci-fi fandom on "Mission Genesis,"
which was called "Deepwater Black" in Canada, but this only lasted one
year. "It had a lot of possibilities" deBoer says of "Genesis." "It was
one of those shows that needed a longer run, but it got cut off." The
problem was the show's placement on both the Sci-fi Channel in the U.S.
and Y-TV in Canada, the Youth TV network. "Sci-fi would call and say 'can
we make this show more mature, sexier?' Then we'd do a rewrite, and Y-TV
would call us and ask us to make it younger."

DeBoer is a sci-fi vet. Besides "Mission Genesis," she's appeared on "The
Outer Limits," "PSI-Factor" and "Tekwar." She also appeared in the
Canadian series about would-be rock-n-rollers "Cat Walk," which also
starred "party of Five's" Neve Campbell, and says she's most recognized
from her work with the Kids in the hall-The Movie."

This gorgeous sci-fi veteran also has a sci-fi psychological thriller
coming out this October called "Cube," about six people who wake up in a
maze-like cube. "They don't know why they're there or their purpose,"
explains deBoer, who adds that she plays a student who's "a bit spoiled."

The biggest thing from the sci-fi universe to hit the public-at-large
recently seems to be Jeri Ryan. Jeri Ryan and her skin-tight space suits
to be exact. deBoer laughs when asked if she'll be the Jeri Ryan of "Deep
Space Nine." "I don't have a body like Jeri Ryan's so I don't think I'll
be 'the babe of the show.' We have very different characters and a
different thing going on. My character's very endearing, quirky and odd."

Fans may be mourning the loss of the show after this season, but deBoer,
who knew she was signing for just one year, looks at the situation
philosophically. "Some people want security; but at my age you're sort of
happy when you don't want to sign a long term deal;  for me it's ideal
actually."

Will all this work in a specific genre pigeonhole deBoer, who's been
acting since she was nine? "I think about that," she admits.  "But I'm
pretty confident ... even the type of characters I do in sci-fi don't
limit me - they could be in any genre," she says.  "Plus, sci-fi's been
really good to me, I'm not going to trash it."

DeBoer's big challenge in her new "Star Trek" role, aside from the awful
task of traveling to England and Australia for conventions, is getting a
handle on a character who's "struggling with having eight people" inside
her. "It's like being schizophrenic jokes deBoer, who vows that she won't
play the character "twitching and totally crazy."

So is deBoer a 'hot' number? Does she produce heat, passion, intense
feeling? Does she carry a high voltage currant? You'll have to watch the
last year of "Deep Space Nine" to form your own opinion, but UltimateTV
says yes to all of the above.

to the Star Trek page.