Lilyan Chauvin

Lilyan Chauvin was the Emmy Award-nominated French actress, writer, and director who played Vedek Yassim in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode.

Biography
Chauvin was a native of Paris, France, where she began her career in show business working in broadcast radio. She was initially desired to become a lawyer, but soon shifted to acting. She moved to New York on her 21st birthday (6 August 1946) and became a US citizen. She began appearing in New York television productions and ultimately moved to Los Angeles, California, to continue her career. Her acting career spans nearly six decades, with over 120 film and television appearances.

In addition to acting, Chauvin was also a writer and director. She directed several stage productions in Los Angeles, including Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, The Happy Time, and Laughter and Love. In total, she has 34 directing credits as a member of the Directors Guild of America. She was also an acting and directing coach and was the creator, show-runner, and host of the instructional series Hollywood Structured. Additionally, she was a member of Women in Film for 39 years, which included two stints as the organization's Vice President.

Chauvin died at her home in Studio City, California, following a 40-year battle with breast cancer. Congestive heart failure also contributed to her death. 

Film work
Chauvin's early films include the 1957 musical comedy Silk Stockings, 's Les Girls (1957), the picture King Creole, the 1959 thriller The Wreck of Mary Deare, and the 1960 western North to Alaska. She was uncredited in all of these films; the latter co-starred Stanley Adams. Her first credited film role came in the 1958 drama Lost, Lonely and Vicious. She later appeared in such films as Yours, Mine and Ours (1968), The Mephisto Waltz (1971, starring William Windom), and Funny Lady (1975, starring Ben Vereen).

Perhaps Chauvin's best-remembered film work is her performance as Mother Superior in the 1984 horror film Silent Night, Deadly Night (also starring Charles Dierkop). She is also noted for her roles in such films as 1980's Private Benjamin (with Richard Herd, Alan Oppenheimer, and Keone Young), 1990's Predator 2 (featuring Kevin Peter Hall in the title role), 1992's Universal Soldier (with Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Jr., Ed O'Ross, and Leon Rippy), 1994's Pumpkinhead II: Blood Wings (starring Andrew Robinson), 2001's The Man Who Wasn't There (with Christopher McDonald and Rick Scarry), and 2002's Catch Me If You Can (co-starring Robert Curtis Brown, Thomas Kopache, J. Patrick McCormack, Ray Proscia, and Jimmie F. Skaggs).

Her additional film credits include Listen to Me (1989, with Anthony Zerbe), Bad Influence (1990, with John de Lancie), True Identity (1991, starring Frank Langella and Michael McKean), and No Place to Hide (1993, with Dey Young).

Television work
Chauvin has guest-starred on numerous television series in the course of her career. In 1965, she co-starred with Glenn Corbett and Irene Tsu in an episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. Two years later, she was cast by veteran TOS director Marc Daniels in an episode of Mission: Impossible with fellow DS9 guest star Fritz Weaver. She later worked on another production with Weaver, the 1976 film Marathon Man, which also starred Marc Lawrence.

Chauvin received an Emmy Award nomination for her guest appearance on a 1977 episode of the NBC adventure drama series Baa Baa Black Sheep, which starred John Larroquette. In 1979, Chauvin appeared on Ricardo Montalban's popular series, Fantasy Island, in an episode with Ellen Geer, and in 1982, she worked with Roger C. Carmel in an episode of Diff'rent Strokes.

In 1983 and 1984, Chauvin played the recurring role of Sister Jeannette on the primetime soap opera Falcon Crest, working alongside Robert Foxworth and, in one episode, Harry Basch and Ted Sorel. Kate Vernon also appeared in one of Chauvin's episodes. She was later nominated by the Daytime Emmy Awards once again for her performance in a 1990 episode of the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless.

In addition to Deep Space Nine, other genre series on which Chauvin has appeared include Earth 2 (starring Clancy Brown) and The X-Files (in an episode directed by Mike Vejar and co-starring Kay E. Kuter), and J.J. Abrams' Alias (with Castulo Guerra). Among the many other television shows on which Chauvin has guest-starred are Adventures of Superman, Maverick, Perry Mason, Daniel Boone (with George D. Wallace), Mannix (with Paul Carr), The Bob Newhart Show (with Ron Glass), Magnum, P.I., The Facts of Life, Baywatch (directed by Monte Markham), and Murder, She Wrote (with Theodore Bikel, Richard Lynch, and Albie Selznick).

More recent guest spots include episodes of Friends, Frasier (starring Kelsey Grammer), ER, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (with Wallace Langham, Matt Malloy, and Becky Wahlstrom). She made her last TV appearance in a 2007 episode of Ugly Betty, the hit comedy series starring Alan Dale, Tony Plana, and Vanessa Williams.