Nicole DeBoer Joins `DS9' As Ezri Dax
by IAN SPELLING

Nicole deBoer's credits include guest shots on television's ``Poltergeist:
The Legacy,'' ``The Outer Limits,'' ``Psi-Factor,'' ``Tekwar'' and ``Forever
Knight,'' not to mention a full-time role as Yuna, the Deepwater Black's
pilot, on the short-lived Sci-Fi Channel series ``Mission Genesis.'' Then
there's the upcoming sci-fi film, ``Cube.'' 

DeBoer now gets to add ``Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' to that collection
of genre credits. She will fill Terry Farrell's Trill spots as Dax when ``DS9''
returns to the airwaves the week of Sept. 28 for its seventh and final season. 

It should be noted that deBoer, a 26-year-old Canadian, won't be
portraying Jadzia Dax, but Ezri Dax, the Dax symbiont's latest host body. 

``Ezri is a young female Trill whose heart is in the right place, but whom
people might at first dismiss as flaky,'' the energetic deBoer says by phone
from Toronto. ``She's actually not flaky at all, though. 

``She's an intelligent, capable person. It's just that she has to deal with
having all these other people _ it's either seven or eight _ in her head at
once. 

``That becomes a little distracting and confusing to her, and I can
understand that,'' deBoer says. ``Ezri at least has the excuse that she has a
worm in her. 

``I don't have that excuse.'' 

Ezri pops up briefly in the season opener, ``Image in the Sand,'' shares an
adventure with Capt. Sisko (Avery Brooks) in ``Shadows and Symbols,''
then begins building relationships with Jadzia's old friends aboard the space
station in ``Afterimage.'' 

By the time Ezri settles in, she'll serve the DS9 crew as its
counselor-in-training. And, with eight lifetimes under her belt, she'll have
a lot more going for her than the average counselor trainee. 

On the relationship front, expect Dr. Bashir (Alexander Siddig) and Quark
 (Armin Shimerman) to waste no time before making romantic advances.
Worf (Michael Dorn), who was left a widower by Dax's untimely death,
will initially avoid Ezri at all costs. 

``I think you'll see a lot of teasing,'' says deBoer, who's single and splits
her time between Toronto and Los Angeles. ``You'll think, `Oh, Ezri and
Julian are going to get together,' then you'll think, `OK, maybe not.' 

``There'll probably be a little of that going on for a while. I don't know if
the writers are doing that on purpose, or if they just don't know yet what
it is they want to do with Ezri. 

``My guess is that they're testing to waters to see how Ezri interacts with
the other characters,'' deBoer adds, ``to see how I interact with the other
actors, to see where the best chemistry is.'' 

The actress reports that her co-stars have been welcoming and helpful,
that Ezri's Trill spots take only about a half-hour to apply and that
``DS9's'' producers have tried to prepare her for ``Trek's'' special brand of
fame. 

To better understand the Trill, de Boer asked plenty of questions, screened
episodes featuring Jadzia and Curzon Dax and studied a Trill fact sheet
provided to her by the show's writers. 

Not long before beaming onto ``DS9,'' de Boer completed the low-budget
Canadian sci-fi/horror feature ``Cube,'' which independent distributor
Trimark picked up and plans to release in the United States later this year.
She plays Leavan, one of six people who suddenly and inexplicably find
themselves trapped on a cube that's actually a series of booby-trapped
cubes within a cube. 

Coincidentally, CORE Digital Pictures, a company part-owned by William
Shatner, provided the special effects for the film. 

``I don't know what it is with me and science-fiction,'' de Boer says,
laughing. ``I don't know what producers and casting directors are seeing in
me that makes them say, `Let's get that girl for our sci-fi show or movie.' 

``Sci-fi has been very good to me, though, and if it keeps wanting me, I'll
keep doing it.'' 

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