Lawrence Pressman

Lawrence Pressman is an actor who has appeared three times on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, playing three different characters. His largest role on the series was as Legate Tekeny Ghemor in and. In between those episodes, he appeared as a Changeling posing as Federation Ambassador Krajensky in. Pressman is very fond of his role as Tekeny Ghemor and is a great admirer of Avery Brooks, who directed Pressman in his second appearance.

Hailing from Cynthiana, Kentucky, Pressman is Jewish and was one of millions of people to have had members of his family killed by the Nazis. Every member of his family in Russia (except for Pressman's aunt who had escaped to the United States) was murdered. His father spent many years searching for relatives, but found they had all been killed.

Outside of his DS9 roles, Pressman has worked on well over 100 different film and television projects. He may best be known for his role as Doctor Canfield in , in which James Sikking also starred, playing Doogie's father. Prior to this, he was the star of the short-lived NBC series Mulligan's Stew in 1977. During the 1980-1981 TV season, Pressman co-starred with Julie Cobb and Louise Sorel on the CBS series Ladies' Man. More recently, Pressman had a recurring role on shows such as Profiler (working with the likes of Lawrence Monoson, Stephen Root and Mark Rolston) and Judging Amy (include an episode with William Windom and another with Michael Buchman Silver).

Pressman got his start in Hollywood with a role on the soap opera The Edge of Night in 1969. He was soon acting in film, appearing in Making It with John Fiedler and co-starring in the cult blaxploitation film Shaft, both released in 1971. He went on to make guest appearances on many popular series, such as Mary Tyler Moore, Hawaii Five-O, M*A*S*H, Murder, She Wrote, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The West Wing and The X-Files. Subsequent motion picture credits include The Man in the Glass Booth (1975), Nine to Five (1980), The Hanoi Hilton (1987, co-starring David Soul), Very Bad Things (1998, with Leland Orser and Christian Slater), Mighty Joe Young (1998, also featuring Scarlett Pomers) and an uncredited role in 2001's Dr. Dolittle 2 (featuring James Avery, Googy Gress and the voices of Andy Dick, Michael McKean and Keone Young). In addition, he played Coach Marshall in the first American Pie film in 1999 and reprised the role in the third film in the series, American Wedding, in 2003. Both films had Pressman workking with John Cho, also in the former, Cho and Pressman joined Clyde Kusatsu, as for the latter, Cho and Pressman were joined by Loren Lester and Angela Paton.

In addition to the above, Pressman also had a role in the acclaimed 1976 mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man, which also featured fellow Star Trek performers Kim Darby, Fionnula Flanagan and Leigh J. McCloskey. He also appeared in the 1983 mini-series The Winds of War, along with Peter Brocco, Michael Ensign, Ken Lynch, Byron Morrow, George Murdock and Logan Ramsey. Pressman's TV movie credits include 1986's The Deliberate Stranger (co-starring DS9 actress Terry Farrell, as well as Jeanetta Arnette and William Boyett) and 1996's The Late Shift (with Ed Begley, Jr. and Daniel Roebuck). In 2003, Pressman was just one of a few Trek stars to appear in the TV movie DC 9/11: Time of Crisis, playing Vice President Dick Cheney. Other Star Trek actors to appear with him include frequent DS9 guest stars Gregory Itzin, Penny Johnson and Stephen Macht.

More recently, Pressman has appeared as Judge Floyd Hurwitz in two episodes of Boston Legal, the hit ABC drama series starring William Shatner. The first episode in which he appeared, 2007's "Son of the Defender," also featured Rene Auberjonois (who was a series regular at the time) and Mark L. Taylor. His latest episode, 2008's "The Mighty Rogues," co-starred John Larroquette (who replaced Auberjonois on the show), Bruce French, Daniel Hugh Kelly, and Derek Webster. In addition, Pressman has been making recurring appearances as judges on the series Crossing Jordan and General Hospital. Also, in 2007, Roxann Dawson directed Pressman (and DS9 guest star Julianna McCarthy) in an episode of Cold Case.

Pressman married actress in 1973. Their son, David Pressman, was born seven years earlier and has also become an actor. Lanna Saunders passed away on 10 March 2007 due to complications from multiple sclerosis.