Looking like Rom in PA

Written by Sashi Alexandra German on December 13, 1996

Star Trek: Deep Space 9 actor Max Grodenchik appeared for one day (December 7, 1996) at the Valley Forge Creation Convention in Pennsylvania this past weekend. He was on stage Saturday afternoon for about 40 minutes, coming to the stage in a black suit with a maroon shirt and dark shoes. He was somewhat handsome looking with short black hair. This was the first time I had ever seen Max at a convention and I found him humorous and rather entertaining.

Looking like Rom

Max joked that people come up to him and say he really does look like Rom in real life, he's right! His eyes and nose and face are all very much like Rom's... the similarity is astonishing (no, his ears aren't that big!).

Star Trek con in Ireland

When he was in Ireland doing a convention and public appearances just before Thanksgiving, he was preparing to do a local TV show (in Northern Ireland). He was signing contracts and was getting all nervous... but he said he felt much more at home when he went out and saw many in the audience wearing Star Trek uniforms.

Max without the make-up

Max said it was common for some time for cast members not to know what he looked like in 'real life' without all the makeup. He said when he was all made up people would ask him how he really appeared, he'd tell them, "I'm 6-foot-2 and look like Mel Gibson." When people finally saw what he looked like they were shocked -- he looked just like Rom, "and that's not a compliment."

Make-up

How long does it take to get the Ferengi make-up on? Max said the whole routine used to take a full 3 hours, 15 minutes. When it was time to film "Profit Motive" they were able to get it down to 2 1/2 hours. For the "Moogie episode" they got it down to 2 hours but it looks like the whole thing can actually just be done in an hour and a half. He explained that during DS9's 1st season, he was given the wrong time to come to work one morning and he suddenly had to race in to get to the set ready to film on time. It took two make-up people but they got him done in 51 minutes. Max joked that the next day they should have had three make-up people work on him and it would take only 14 minutes... and if they got four make-up people to work on him it would take -5 minutes! When he told the producers this, they weren't quite willing to assigned all these make-up people to him just to reduce the time he had to sit in the chair. They use steam to steam off his make-up. It took him awhile to get used to the teeth... and can only speak like Rom when he's wearing them because they force him to speak from the back of his throat. He demonstrated this to us several time... talking in Rom's voice.. but only able to do so by sticking his fingers in both sides of his mouth. The teeth were created by a mold that was made from his mouth "like when a dentist fits you for a crown."

Rom and Leeta

When asked about Rom's relationship with Leeta the Dabo girl, Max said there is an upcoming episode where Voyager's Robert Picardo appears as the Holographic Doctor's creator, Doctor Zimmerman. Apparently Zimmerman falls for Leeta and Rom, with his large ears, overhears much of their conversation about this. He said he hasn't read the script yet, "but I know I get her in the end." He then took out a script page with Leeta's dialogue on it which he said he keeps with him always, "Rom is cute... and very sexy."

First Star Trek Job

On how he started with Star Trek: in January 1990 he was called about trying out for TNG's "Captain's Holiday." He was to read for the part of the Ferengi, Sovac. At the time he knew two science fiction fans -- his roommate and his brother. He asked his roommate what a Ferengi was... and he gave his imitation of a Ferengi (hunching down and acting wild, are also greedy capitalists, etc.). Max said he just didn't believe his roommate so he called his brother and was told the same thing. He goes for the reading and does his impression for Rick Berman and others.. and he got the part. When he finished the tryout, he told Berman & his people how he got the impression of the Ferengi and one guy replied, "tell your brother and roommate we may have jobs for them!"

While filming "Captain's Holiday" Patrick Stewart came up to him and said if he ever needed anything, to make sure to come to him and he would see that it would be done. Max said Stewart really made him feel very welcome. While filming part of the episode where Picard & Sovac are in a fight, Stewart was trying to figure out his arm length to hitting Max in the face... assuming that he was going to hit Max's RUBBER nose... but in fact there was very little rubber involved at all, and Max was afraid Stewart was going to hit him right in the nose! Later on he filmed (as a Ferengi) the TNG episode "Perfect Mate."

Getting the part of Rom

In getting the part of Rom for Deep Space 9, Max described how he had heard they were starting a new Star Trek series and the producers were calling in all the actors who had played Ferengi in previous TNG episodes. He did a reading and then didn't hear anything for three weeks. He was then called in with only a few actors -- the final group. Afterward he sat outside in the lot and sulked because he knew he had done a horrible reading. Five minutes later Armin Shimerman came out and asked, "What's up?" and they both lamented that they had read terribly for the part. But Armin said the good news was that the part of Quark was now down to just the two of them. "How do you know that?" Max asked him. "Because we were the only two short people there." They sat there and talked for about 40 minutes, relating their experiences in filming various Ferengi episodes and talking about Ferengi in general. They guessed that if Nog was Quark's nephew, that meant there had to be a father for Nog. Shimerman laughed to Max later that HE got Max the part of Nog's father and that he owes him 10% of all his earnings...

Max appeared in the episode "Our Man Alone" where Rom tries to get an education for his son, Nog. It leads to Rom standing up to Quark and he has very much liked the way that relationship has developed over the last few years.

Max and Aaron Eisenberg (Nog)

Max was asked by a child what his relationship was in real life with Aaron Eisenberg who plays his son, Nog. He said Aaron can sometimes be annoying, but they get along well (it should be noted here for those who do not yet know, Eisenberg is a full-fledged adult in his 20's, not a child actor). Max related the story of when they were filming "Little Green Men" last season: He, Aaron and Armin are in a jeep trying to get away from the bad guys. It was "a complicated tracking shot" and they kept having to do it again and again. They soon started getting bored and Aaron came up with this song, "We are three Ferengi in a jeep; Man we are in trouble deep; Man we got to get to Deep Space 9; We got to get back to our own time."

Compliments on the Bajoran uniform

Max said many women have commented to him about his close-fitting Bajoran uniform. He admits that when he watches the episodes he doesn't really notice that... but that he once saw a butt shot of himself and thought he had a nice butt!

Max and Singing

He was asked about Rom's version of "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" that he sang on a Trek Cruise recently. Max proceeded to sing it all for us... but he was singing so fast I was unable to copy down all the lyrics. It WAS very funny! It was mostly about Quark leaving the bar and Rom taking over... wouldn't it be loverly...

Embarassing Moments

When asked about goof-ups on the set, he related when he and Armin work together they're usually pretty serious. When they were filming the "moogie episode" (I forget the title) Max had the line "He's the FCA and you're female." He had to deliver the line and then hit his mark, which he could feel with his foot because of a small sandbag placed on the floor. So he's filming the line... walks forward and trips over the bag while delivering the line, "You're FCA and I'm female!" (lots of laughs).

His favorite cut scene

Has there been a favorite scene of his that has been filmed, but cut before the final broadcast? Yes -- In "The House of Quark" there was a scene where Quark calls Rom at the bar. The vid screen goes on and Rom says, "Hello Brother." And Quark replies, "That's it? 'Hello Brother.' I've been gone three days and that's all you say?" They have more of an exchange, Quark warning Rom not to believe anything the Dabo girls tell him... when the vid connection finishes, the camera watches Rom walk right over to the end of the bar, where he sits down between two Dabo girls and says, "Now, where were we?"

The female ferengi Pel

Will we ever see the female Ferengi, Pel, again? Max replied that there were a lot of different ideas on what to do on the show in general, but that he wasn't really sure what could be done. He did know that the make-up was very rough on the actress. There are thoughts of having Rom's mother appear this season. But in the end, there are only 26 episode "and you can only do so much."

Personality Comparison of Max and Rom

Is Rom like him... or is he like Rom? He answered the question like this: He was away from home one time and he went into a a sandwich shop. He likes to drink a lot of milk... so he had his sandwich... but there was no milk for sale (only soda, coffee and tea). So Max asked the guy at the cash register if he could have some of the milk behind the counter. No, says the man because it's meant for coffee. Max says come on -- why can't you sell it as a cup of milk? The guy replied he couldn't ring it up anyway because they have no charge for milk because they don't sell it. Max said the guy could charge him for the milk as soda or coffee-- but that he wanted the milk. The guy said no, and Max replied, "Where the Profit?? We're perfect profit partners!"

England Convention

Right before Thanksgiving he did back-to-back conventions in Ireland and England. When he was in England, he was asked by a man in the back room, "what is it like to be the super wus of the Universe?" Max laughed that he assumed the man was talking about Rom and not him! When he was in Ireland, he found out just how polarized the people are there. When he was in a cab was trying to get to Londonberry. The driver said if you're Catholic you call it Derry.... if you're Protestant you call it Londonberry. Max replied, "what if you're Jewish?" The driver replied depends who you're married to? Are you Jewish-Catholic or Jewish-Protestant? Max said that since he was dating a Catholic, he guessed he was on his way to Derry (Rumor Central says Max is dating Trek script coordinator Lolita Fatjo).

Personal

Max recently participated on a Cruise Trek trip to Bermuda. He was asked by a fan, "What was it like to be trapped on a ship with a bunch of Trekkies?" Max replied that the Bermuda cruise was an interesting one, but that the Alaskan cruise was nicer because no one knew who he was... but on the Bermuda cruise everyone recognized him. It was the strange experience in Belfast all over again... he was safely anonymous before he did the Kelly Show, and then *everyone* recognized him after that and it got real old after awhile. In Ireland he couldn't remember signing so many little pieces of paper -- even straw wrappers! Over all he likes colder climates anyway, one of the reasons he enjoyed the Alaskan cruise better.

He said he was rather familiar with this area of Pennsylvania -- his brother once lived in Bala Cynwyd and then moved to West Chester. Every Christmas he would take the train from New York to Philadelphia to Ardmore to Paoli to Exton and then be picked up and taken to the Downingtown Mall where everyone would return their gifts!

Worked in regional theater for a time in Baltimore. He almost worked at the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia but lost the part to someone else, receiving a very nice letter from the director on how he was so close to getting the part, and how sorry he was that he didn't have another part to offer him.

Other Information

He was not invited to go to the UPN Star Trek 30th Anniversary celebration. A child asked him about the Defiant? Max said, "The Defiant was destroyed. Oh, no, that's right... it wasn't. But I think it was originally suppose to be." Another child asked him about the sensitivity of his Ferengi ears. "That's for Leeta to know," he joked. He said in this upcoming Zimmerman episode, we find his ears are very sensitive as they pick up a conversation between Leeta and Zimmerman... and it makes Rom very jealous.

(C) Copyright 1996 Sashi Alexandra German, , All Rights Reserved.

Permission to duplicate electronically, for nonprofit posting on an electronic fora or for other reading enjoyment, is especially granted, AS LONG AS THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE IS PRESERVED AND NO CHANGES ARE MADE TO THE MATERIAL. No other reproduction in any form is authorized without prior permission from this copyright holder (and that's not hard to get! All you do is ASK!).

{It has recently come to my attention that many of my reviews are being passed along to others with increasing frequency via science fiction news mailing lists, fan club publications, etc. I have *no* problem with this -- I post these reviews for the enjoyment of others and the more people who read the reviews the better. However, I am becoming increasingly annoyed with the outlets I find who are using my reviews but are not passing along my name & e-mail address credited with the material. I spend the time, money and effort to attend conventions, take notes and pass along the reviews to the Internet and elsewhere. The least various grateful parties could do is keep my name attached as a credit. Thank you.}

*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,.
SASHI ALEXANDRA GERMAN
Fleet Captain, USS Thagard, Philadelphia, PA (USA) Star Trek Club
Starfleet Region-7 Deputy Chief of Staff
Member of "Now Voyager" - that fantastic Kate Mulgrew fan club!
sashi@feith.com
-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,._.,-*~'`^`'~*-,.

(C) Copyright 1996 Sashi Alexandra German, , All Rights Reserved. Permission to duplicate electronically, for nonprofit posting on an electronic fora or for other reading enjoyment, is especially granted, AS LONG AS THIS COPYRIGHT NOTICE IS PRESERVED AND NO CHANGES ARE MADE TO THE MATERIAL. No other reproduction in any form is authorized without prior permission from this copyright holder (and that's not hard to get! All you do is ASK!).

Return to Main Page

Comments or Suggestions

[Main] [Con Reports] [Star Bios] [Star Pic Index] [Klingons] [Aliens]
[Costumes] [Federation] [Autographs] [Makeup] [Sites] [E-mail]

Hits as of December 31, 1997