Jeffrey Combs

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Jeffrey Combs
Birth name:	Jeffrey Alan Combs
Gender:	Male
Medium(s):	Film; Television
Roles:	Actor; Voice actor
Born:	September 9th, 1954
Birthplace:	Oxnard, California
Notable works:	The 4400 Babylon 5 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Star Trek: Voyager Star Trek: Enterprise The Twilight Zone Femme Fatales

Jeffrey Combs is an American film and television actor born in Oxnard, California on September 9th, 1954. With more than 100 film and television credits to his resumé, Combs remains one of the most prolific, yet relatively unknown talents in his field. He is most widely known for his work in the horror and science fiction genres, specifically, the Re-Animator film series and various appearances on TV shows such as The 4400, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise and Femme Fatales.

Career

Combs' best known horror role was as Doctor Herbert West, the main character in the movie Re-Animator, which he has reprised in the film's two sequels, Bride of Re-Animator and Beyond Re-Animator. He also portrayed the part of author H. P. Lovecraft (creator of the Herbert West character) in the 1993 film Necronomicon: Book of the Dead. Combs has starred in eight H.P. Lovecraft adaptations. Other film credits include FeardotCom, House on Haunted Hill, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, Dark House, and The Frighteners.

Combs as Kevin Burkhoff on The 4400.

On television, Combs enjoyed critical and popular success playing alien characters on the various modern Star Trek incarnations, beginning in 1994 with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, in 2000 with Star Trek: Voyager, and in 2001 with Star Trek: Enterprise. Even Trek fans unfamiliar with Combs' human face immediately recognized him due to his distinctive voice. Ironically, this distinctive voice Combs uses in all his screen roles is not his natural speaking voice but rather an affected one, as evidenced by interviews and commentaries on various DVDs of his film and television appearances. Combs originally auditioned for the role of Commander William T. Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but lost out to Jonathan Frakes, though producers kept him in mind for casting in the later series.

His largest science-fiction role to date has been his multi-episode, multi-season appearances on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the Vorta clone Weyoun. On the same series, he had a recurring role as the Ferengi Brunt. During the DS9 episode "The Dogs of War", Combs appeared as both Weyoun and Brunt, making Trek history as the first guest actor to play two unrelated recurring roles on screen in the same episode.

Combs as Harry Radditch on The Twilight Zone.

On Star Trek: Enterprise, Combs had a very popular recurring role as Shran, an Andorian military officer. Shran represents a dramatic shift in character type for Combs, as his three previous Star Trek incarnations, Weyoun, Brunt and Penk, had all been somewhat passive officials, whereas Shran is a more heatedly aggressive leader. Enterprise producer Manny Coto once mentioned in an interview that he hoped to make Combs a regular on the show, had the series been renewed for a fifth season. In addition, Combs made some non-recurring appearances, including Officer Kevin Mulkahey and Tiron on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Penk on Star Trek: Voyager, and the Ferengi Krem in Star Trek: Enterprise. He also had a cameo as a patron in Vic's Lounge in the final episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, along with many other actors, writers, and creators of the show. Combs has played nine onscreen roles in the Star Trek universe, as well as voicing Romulan Commander Suldok for the video game, "Star Trek: Elite Force II."

Beyond the Star Trek franchise, Combs has had roles in many other science fiction series. He starred as the telepath Harriman Gray, in "Eyes", a first season episode of Babylon 5. In August, 2005, he appeared for the first time on the science fiction series The 4400 as Doctor Kevin Burkhoff; by 2006, this became a recurring role. In early 2007, he played a highly-fictionalized Edgar Allan Poe in "The Black Cat", an episode of Masters of Horror. With his feet in both the horror and science-fiction worlds, as well as outside the two popular genres, Combs enjoys a diverse and varied fanbase.

Combs has done extensive voice work; among others, Combs voiced The Scarecrow in the 1997 "revamp" of Batman: The Animated Series. Combs continued his work in the DCAU several years later, with a recurring role as The Question in Justice League Unlimited. His version of the Question was well regarded by both fans and the JLU writing staff and is credited for reviving interest in the character. Combs voiced the characters of Ratchet on the animated series Transformers: Prime which began airing on The Hub, a new channel owned by Hasbro, Inc., and the Interrogator in an episode of the TV series Femme Fatales which aired on Cinemax from 2011 to 2012.

In July, 2009, Combs returned to his stage roots and reprised his role as Edgar Allan Poe in a one-man theatrical show entitled Nevermore... an Evening with Edgar Allan Poe at The Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood, California. Although only supposed to run for a month, the show enjoyed much success and sold-out crowds, and was extended four times. Nevermore as it is now simply known, closed its run in Los Angeles on December 19th, 2009. The show had its East Coast debut on January 23rd and 24th, 2010 at Westminster Hall in Baltimore, Maryland, Poe's final resting place.

Body of work

Film

Film	Year	Role
Re-Animator	1985	Herbert West
Bride of Re-Animator	1989	Herbert West
Beyond Re-Animator	2003	Herbert West

Television

Series	Episode	Role
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine	32 episodes	Brunt / Weyoun
Star Trek: Enterprise	11 episodes	Shran
Femme Fatales	"Killer Instinct"	The Voice of the Interrogator

External Links

• Jeffrey Combs at IMDB
• Jeffrey Combs at Wikipedia
• Jeffrey Combs on Facebook
• Jeffrey Combs Official Website
• Jeffrey Combs at Memory Alpha
• Jeffrey Combs at the Transformers Wiki
• Jeffrey Combs at the Star Trek Database

References

Femme Fatales Actor or Crew member This article relates to actors or production crew members pertaining to the Femme Fatales television series. This template will categorize articles that include it into the Femme Fatales crew members category.

4400 Actor or Crew member This article relates to actors or production crew members pertaining to the 4400 franchise. This template will categorize articles that include it into the 4400 crew members category.

Babylon 5 Actor or Crew member This article relates to actors or production crew members pertaining to the Babylon 5 franchise. This template will categorize articles that include it into the Babylon 5 crew members category.

Star Trek Actor or Crew member This article relates to actors or production crew members pertaining to the Star Trek television series. This template will categorize articles that include it into the Star Trek crew members category.

Transformers Actor or Crew member This article relates to actors or production crew members pertaining to the Transformers franchise. This template will categorize articles that include it into the Transformers crew members category.