John Durbin

John Durbin is the Iowa-born actor who played the role of Ssestar in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode. He went on to appear again on The Next Generation, playing Gul Lemec in and. He later appeared as Traidy in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode and as Telsian Miner in the Star Trek: Voyager episode. His costume from his very first Star Trek appearance in was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay.

Durbin made his acting debut as a corpse in the 1985 horror movie Return of the Living Dead, a film which also featured Drew Deighan and makeup by Ken Myers. Durbin would go on to have similarly small roles in films such as Tapeheads (1988, with Lee Arenberg, Katy Boyer, Mary Crosby, and John Fleck), Dead Man Walking (1988, with Jeffrey Combs, Leland Crooke, and Biff Yeager), Cyborg 2 (1993, with Tracey Walter), Heart and Souls (1993, starring Alfre Woodard, with Wren T. Brown, Janet MacLachlan, and Kurtwood Smith), and Robert Altman's Kansas City (1996). In 1993's Mr. Jones, he played a psychology patient along with fellow DS9 guest actor Albert Henderson. (Thomas Kopache and Scott Thomson also had roles in this film.)

Durbin has, however, occasionally been seen in larger supporting roles. Such was the case in films like The Blue Iguana (1986, co-starring Dean Stockwell), the cult science fiction/horror comedy Dr. Caligari (1989, also featuring Marjean Holden), Checking Out (1989, with Ian Wolfe), the acclaimed Steven Soderbergh drama King of the Hill (1993), and the Ang Lee Western Ride with the Devil (1999, with Zach Grenier). He was most recently seen in the 2005 comedy Take Out with Daniel Roebuck.

Outside of his Star Trek appearances, Durbin's guest starring credits include The A-Team (starring Dwight Schultz and Lance LeGault), Hunter (in a 1986 episode with Brent Spiner and series regular Bruce Davison), Crime Story (in a 1987 episode with Armin Shimerman and series regular Bill Smitrovich), Max Headroom (starring Matt Frewer in the title role, along with W. Morgan Sheppard and Concetta Tomei), Melrose Place, Providence (another series with Concetta Tomei), and Angel (with Daniel Dae Kim, John Rubinstein, and Keith Szarabajka). Durbin was seen in such made-for-TV movies as Tricks of the Trade (1987, with Armin Shimerman), Dead Solid Perfect (1988, with Bibi Besch and Brett Cullen), O Prioneers! (1992, with Deborah May), The Burden of Proof (1992, with Adrienne Barbeau, Neal McDonough, Gail Strickland, and Concetta Tomei), And the Band Played On (1993, with Christopher Carroll, Reg E. Cathey, David Clennon, Thomas Kopache, Dakin Matthews, Lawrence Monoson, Jeffrey Nordling, Saul Rubinek), and Truman (1995, with Holmes Osborne and Harris Yulin). He was also part of the cast of the 1997 mini-series The Shining, starring Steven Weber.