Written by Sashi Alexandra German
One of the Star Trek guests this past weekend (Sat & Sun Dec. 14 & 15, 1996) at the Sci-Fi Expo in Philadelphia, PA USA was Chase Masterson. I had never seen her at a convention before, and was only able to catch her briefly on Saturday, but saw her entire half hour session on Sunday. She came across as quite sweet and good natured, but seemed to be well cast as "Leeta" on DS9 (it didn't help that every 10 minutes she would ask the audience, "Am I babbling?"). She seemed quite appreciative of Star Trek and fandom (good to hear) and from what I hear, treated people in the autograph lines rather well.
Nana Visitor had her child during the filming of the DS9 Risa episode. Alexander Siddig was on the set and would often talk to people about some baby names they were thinking of. Masterson tried (and failed like every OTHER DS9 guest of the last 2 months) to pronounce Nana & Siddig's new baby (you all know what it is anyway, don't you?)
DS9's Max Grodenchik (Rom) had just appeared the previous week at a convention in Valley Forge (I have posted that review here). Max joked that they were filming an episode where Leeta's line is "He's cute" -- referring to Rom. Max joked at the convention that he carried that page of dialogue with him everywhere. Did she know he did that? Masterson said she had heard about it. She said there wasn't much exciting about the perfect couple -- Bashir and Leeta. "It makes it more interesting to do something different" and have the unlikely pair of Leeta and Rom instead.
How did she get onto Star Trek? She was originally trying out for the part of "Marta" the Dabo Girl, Jake's girlfriend. She really wanted the part and worked hard at getting it and was even coached by her friend and old acting classmate Jonathan DeLarco (Hugh, the Borg from ST:TNG). She was called back several times for further tryouts and finally it was down between her and one other woman. In the end the other woman got it because she was closer to Cirroc Lofton's age, "And I wasn't." Ever since she lost the part she had really wanted to get hired. She heard later that the part of Leeta was written for her. She met Avery Brooks while he was directing the Marta episode -- she said they gave each other "a hard time" and had a lot of fun, laughing a lot -- "He was very easy to get to know."
She has always loved DS9 even before she was hired on the program. When asked why she did, "Because of the Ferengi." She said in the end it was ironic that now she was not only on the show, but was now dating the very alien she likes the most! She also likes DS9 because she feels producer and writer Ira Steven Behr is the best and writes the best dialogue "he's fun and poignant."
One of her more embarrassing moments ever: she was shooting Trek on her very first day and was backing out of the "hair trailer" where Avery Brooks was ("he spends more time in there than anyone else!"). She waved good-bye and he said, "See you later, Kathy." "I didn't know what he was talking about," she assumed he had mistaken her for someone else. Again, he calls her Kathy and she tells him her name is "Chase." Brooks replied that it was Kathy -- the name she used on a Nordic Track informercial she had done a few years ago - "my very first job ever." She was mortified that people would possibly see her on a TV series that aired during prime time... but that the whole world would see her in overnight infomercials.
Speaking of the "Hair Trailer," Masterson related to us a story involving Nana Visitor before she had her baby. Apparently Visitor was backing out of the trailer talking to someone when she fell flat down on her back. A crowd gathered around her and no one wanted to move her because of possible injury. Finally a medical technician came, one who "obviously never watched Star Trek" and said, "Oh my god, your nose!"
She always enjoy the original Star Trek series, especially since a longtime boyfriend was a big fan. "It was 7 o'clock, no time for me, Star Trek was on." They would watch the show together. She said she always loved it and worked hard to try and guest on the current shows sometime.
Masterson said she was VERY excited about having a Leeta action figure, coming out from Playmates soon. "Some actors want an Academy Award. I just wanted an action figure. And now I have one!" She said now she felt she could retire because she's achieved her dream...
Toward the end of her talk she spoke about the "beauty of Star Trek" and how it encouraged the beliefs in multi-generational and multiracial issues. "I have to hand it to the fans that they get that and that it's a core part of who you are. You're sensitive... and to have the vision to see beyond the obvious that a lot of people have not caught on to." She said the more she watches and learns about Star Trek the more she likes it. She recently did a convention with Majel Barrett Roddenberry in Toronto. She said they were both in a quiet area waiting to go on stage and sat for a long time talking. They discussed how Gene Roddenberry came up with the concepts in Trek and what they were meant to express. She added that one thing she liked about fans was the fact they often "put their money where their mouth is" as opposed to other people, and some church and service groups. She said she didn't want to offend anyone, but that she found Trek fans were more likely to take action in places where needed that other organizations that claim to, but don't.
She came to Los Angeles in "the classic story." She took a bus from Texas with her small son and tried to see what acting work she could get... took acting classes with Garrett Wang (Harry Kim, ST:VOY) and Jonathan DeLarco (the Borg, Hugh, ST:TNG). She found it neat that in the end, three out of the ten people in her acting class all got into Star Trek.
She recently got a part on an upcoming episode of "Sliders" (to air Friday 12/20). She plays Sabrina Lloyd's evil sister. Masterson said her fan club is holding a "Blue Light Special" -- watch the "Sliders" episode and write her care of Universal or Paramount and tell her what you thought of the episode -- if you do you will get a signed photo from the DS9 Risa episode. She said it was fun playing a mean person for a change.
One of the best things that has happened to her because of Star Trek has been her ability to raise money for "Care and Information of AIDS" (I think I got the title right. It may be wrong, but it's very close). She's been able to raise thousands of dollars for children who have AIDS and need a place to stay because their parents have died. Money buys food, clothes and other items. Recently she did a convention in Las Vegas and got a letter just last week from a teacher she had met there "for all of 20 seconds." The teacher got his students to start fund-raising for Masterson's charity and she just got a letter from a 5th grader who was passing on his weekly allowance to help out. She said this was just amazing and was part of the power of Star Trek.
She was asked about where she learned to dance? "On my living room carpet!" She said she has taken several years of dance, including ballet and modern. She will shortly have a film premiering at the Sundance Ranch where she had to learn the Flamingo. At night after filming she would go home and watch old movies of great stars dancing the Flamingo... wouldn't sleep all night and then go to the set the next day to film the dance. "Then they never used it" with her dance on the cutting room floor.
When asked her about her son, she said his main comments to her are, "Get off the phone, Mom." She is very busy -- he likes the fact that she's on Star Trek, but they both wish it wouldn't take so much time and prevent them from seeing each other (ST:VOY's Kate Mulgrew has made the exact same statement: she loves working on Star Trek but both she and her two sons are sad that it requires so much of her time and she can't spend as much time with them as she would like).
She once shot an episode of "Acapulco Heat" which she described as "The Baywatch of Baywatch" in terms of swim suits and bodies all the over the place. She brought her son along for a shoot one day and the Director was talking about "shooting the master" shot for the scene. Her son kept asking her "Mommy, why are they going to shoot the monster?"
Masterson said she likes all kinds of music, including jazz and Oldies, especially the Beatles.
She is involved in a new Sci-Fi Internet World Wide Web series, "I'm the lead girl." It's called "Eon 4" and can be found at: http://www.eon4.com She said there are three series going on at the same time, all by the same company. She said she was probably hired because of her association with Star Trek. She plays an astronought and gets to "bodly go..."
On Saturday, Masterson joined the audience during the last 10 minutes of Ethan Phillip's talk. At one point she asked Ethan (who was quite funny on stage and throwing jokes around a mile a minute) if he would be interested in playing Dabo. Phillips replied that he's actually be more intersted in their (Dabo girls's) outfits. I don't think Phillips was aware of who asked the question. But is was kind of cute of her to ask... she meant it in a nice way.
(C) Copyright 1996 Sashi Alexandra German, 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.}
(C) Copyright 1996 Sashi Alexandra German, Hits as of December 31, 1997