STARFLEET PERSONNEL FILE -- Troi, Deanna

Played By: Marina Sirtis

Rank: Commander

Current assignment: Ship's counselor, U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-E

Full Name: Deanna Troi

Date of birth: Terran equivalent: March 29, 2336

Place of birth: Near Lake El-Nar, Betazed

Parents: Betazoid Ambassador Lwaxana Troi and the late Starfleet Lt. Ian Andrew Troi

Education: Starfleet Academy, 2355-59; advanced study at University on Betazed

Marital status: Single

Children: One, deceased, via alien conception taking human form: Ian Andrew Jr., b/d 2365

Quarters: Formerly, Enterprise Deck 9/Room 0910

Office: Formerly, Enterprise Deck 8.

Starfleet Career Summary

2362 -- Educational leave for advanced career study, Betazed

2364 -- As lieutenant commander, assigned as ship's counselor, U.S.S. Enterprise under Capt. Jean-Luc Picard

2370 -- Promoted to commander; passed Bridge Officers' Exam

2372 -- Transferred with remainder of Picard's senior staff to Sovereign-class U.S.S. Enterprise

Psychological Profile: Report of Starfleet Medical, Counselor General With excerpts from Service File Entries, reflecting update of SD 50900

Although actually of mixed human and Betazed heritage, Troi is one of many from her planet active in the Starfleet counselor corps and was ship's counselor for the U.S.S. Enterprise throughout its service life and now aboard its successor namesake. Troi's race is known for its inter-species telepathy and its emotional empathy with most other species whether on board the ship, in a ship at close proximity or on the planet below. While such a capacity has heightened her counseling skills, they have also aided her captain's command mission decisions on several occasions, including hostile encounters, negotiations, and first-contact missions. Most notably she recently took part in the temporal restoration of Cochrane's Phoenix flight and human first contact.

A lifelong interest in Ancient Western stories arose in childhood when her human father would read them to her and sing at bedtime, including her favorite "Down in the Valley"; she also recalled later how she'd check under her bed for "monsters" and carry her over muddy patches. He died when she was 7, and the grieving she and Lwaxana shared is also a vivid memory.

Sometime prior to that she had been "genetically bonded" according to Betazoid custom to Dr. Wyatt Miller, the son of her late father's best friend. The Millers expected to carry out the arranged marriage in 2364, but Wyatt realized the woman he'd been imagining was a Tarellian plague victim and he left to help her people instead.

Unbeknownst to Troi until 2370, she had a sister Kestra six years her senior who drowned in the nearby lake during a picnic when Troi was but a newborn infant. In grief and guilt her parents moved away, and upon Ian's death Lwaxana deleted all mention of Kestra in personal logs. Though exasperated at times by the bawdy Lwaxana, she gained new insight with that revelation, which added new meaning to her mother's lifelong and oft-detested nickname "little one" and came while relieving Lwaxana's metaconscious trauma. Among her childhood keepsakes, not recovered from storage until 2368, are a doll, a small teddy bear, necklaces, and two books; she'd once had a Betazoid kitten as a pet, but it never got along with her mother.

Following Academy graduation she returned to her homeworld for advanced psychology studies at the University there, where she befriended the troubled Tam Elbrun during his treatments for stress.

It was also during this period when she met and enjoyed a deep romance with her "imzadi," Starfleet Lieutenant William Riker. Aside from her intended mate Wyatt Miller, Riker is the only other person she felt had the capacity to share full telepathic contact. They had planned to reunite six months after he left Betazed for the U.S.S. Potemkin in 2362, but his rapid career rise negated that and she eventually cooled to him. Despite latent feelings and her occasional use of the "imzadi" endearment, their professional life has remained largely platonic yet warm since their surprise reunion on the U.S.S. Enterprise two years later.

Troi has shown no signs of negative reaction to Riker's occasional attractions to other women, including both Ensign Ro and the J'naii renegade Soren, and is even touched that he still confides in her. Even so, the appearance of the "old" U.S.S. Potemkin-era Riker in the form of Thomas easily swept her off her feet.

Romantic attractions of her own have included genetically bred Genome Colony leader Aaron Conner, the deaf mediator Riva, a brief dating relationship with fellow officer Worf, and an intense fling with negotiator Devinoni Ral.

Owing to concern about her lack of command expertise during a crisis stint as senior bridge officer on the U.S.S. Enterprise, she successfully completed the Starfleet bridge command exam in 2370. It is this training which contributed to the successful restoration of Cochrane's pioneer flight, when she helped minimize 24th century involvement and thus potential timeline contamination by acting as ground flight controller when the original crew was killed by time-traveling Borg.

She is also trained in languages and linguistics, often making her a valued first contact team member. Again, it was her skills in interpersonal contact which helped Cochrane adjust to her comrades' true story when trying to restart the known timeline after Borg temporal sabotage in 2373. During her original Enterprise posting she had preferred wearing non-regulation clothing as a calming influence on those about her, but following temporary commander Jellico's order to don a uniform in 2369 she began to make it habit.

Troi has been pregnant once, though the 2365 incident involved a speeded-up cycle brought on by an alien wishing merely to live the experience. The boy, whom she named after her father, resumed its normal noncorporeal form when his presence proved harmful to unstable cargo aboard and Troi felt the loss deeply.

She ran the gamut of emotions from anger to fear to helplessness when deprived of her empathic ability by nonsentient two-dimensional lifeforms two years later, becoming the so-called "patient from hell."

Her career and Betazoid empathy have put Troi at risk during her career many times. She was abducted in a forced shuttlecraft crash in 2364 by the malevolent entity Armus on Vagra II, then barely survived abduction and surgical alternation in 2369 to pass as a Romulan Tal Shiar agent aboard a warship to help that Empire's underground smuggle out two high-ranking defectors. And a year later she nearly committed suicide in the nacelle plasma stream when reacting to an empathic echo left by a murderous original builder of the Enterprise. Troi has also been telepathically assaulted by a troubled Ullian archivist, Jev, and later nearly died from hyperaging as the emotional dumping ground of the Lumerian envoy Ves Alkar.

Dessert is her favorite part of a meal, and one of her greatest favorites and weaknesses is chocolate. Paraphrasing Terran philosopher-humorist Will Rogers, she says "she never a chocolate she didn't like" - unless it might be the replicated variety; a Ktarian chocolate puff is her very favorite. She's also part of the officers' poker circle, and once beat Data at tri-dimensional chess.

PERSONAL ADDENDUM, Capt. J.L. Picard SD 50900 Update

For the record, I commend Counselor Troi for her efforts above and beyond the call of duty in a crisis in persuading 21st century warp pioneer Zefram Cochran to continue his historic flight despite Borg interference. As an ongoing advocate of historical education for all, I would suggest a little more research in the realm of pre-syntheholic beverages.

Marina Sirtis is Counselor Deanna Troi, a half-human/half-alien (Betazoid) empath with the ability to read emotions and sense what is happening around her. "Deanna is also a very wise person with extensive knowledge of philosophy, psychology and different religions, and is called on to advise Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) in a variety of situations," says Marina.

During the show's fifth season hiatus, Marina ventured into her own new frontier: marriage. A June bride, Marina wed musician Michael Lamper in a traditional Greek ceremony.

Born in East London to Greek parents, and brought up in North London, Marina attended the Guild Hall School of Music and Drama. Shortly after graduation, she became a member of the Worthing Repertory Theater, where she portrayed Ophelia in "Hamlet," among other classical roles.

Marina has worked extensively in British television, in musical theater and in repertory companies throughout England and Europe. In addition to appearing in the feature film "The Wicked Lady" with Faye Dunaway, Marina revealed her considerable vocal talents in a European tour of the immensely popular "Rocky Horror Show." During the third season hiatus, Marina returned to England, where she filmed the feature "One Last Chance" for the BBC, which was shot on location in London and Windsor. As well, Marina played a cameo role in the film "Waxwork II: Adventures in Time."

Star Trek: The Next Generation's viewers do not hear Marina's English accent, but rather a combination of several different accents that she has devised. "In the 24th century, geographical or nationalistic barriers are not so evident. The Earth as a planet is your country, your nationality. I didn't want anyone to be able to pin down my accent to any particular country, and being good at accents, the producers trusted me to come up with something appropriate," she explains.