STARTREK.COM. Who are you and where are you from?

Chase Masterson. I'm Chase Masterson. I grew up all over. My father was in the army, and he was stationed in Germany when I was a little girl, and we lived there and we traveled all through Europe for several years. And we did Alaska, Connecticut — where my parents are from — and we landed in Texas, which is also a whole other country. And I lived there for nine years, and then came out here. I've been here for thirteen years now.

Q. When did you start acting?

CM. I started when I was five. My mom is a director and an actress. And I'll never forget — we were standing in the kitchen of our little house in Indiana and she said, "I'm going to go to an audition, which is where they tell you if you can be in a play or not. Would you like to come with me and see if you can, too?" And I said, "Damn straight, lady!" So it was great. Getting to start at an early age I think gave me a bit of a head start. Not in terms of career — that all happened quite a bit later — but in terms of understanding the art of the business. I'm happy that I got the early start I did. I did my first professional play — Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream — when I was eighteen, and sang and danced professionally for a few years, and film and television a few years later. It's all good. The theater is a lovely place and I enjoy keeping my hand in that from time to time.

Q. How were you cast on Star Trek?

CM. When I got the audition for Star Trek, I was very happy to get it. Star Trek was the one show that I had really prayed to be on, actually. Because I knew of the incredible fan following. And I thought, frankly, that it would be good strategically, for my career. I also had grown to love the show. I love Deep Space Nine because of the incredible diversity of the show — and the comedy, and the drama, and the pathos — and I really love the Ferengi. So I was very happy to get the role of Leeta when I got it. Ira Behr told me actually in ... I think it was the fifth season, that they had written the role of Leeta for me. And I had still had to audition. It's funny how that works, but I was happy to finally be on the show.

Q. What was your first day on the set like?

CM. I'll never forget my first day on the show. I was so excited to be there. A little too excited, probably. And I was in the hair trailer, at 5 o'clock in the morning, and Avery was in there. What Avery was doing in the hair trailer, I don't know. But he was in there, and I had my hair rolled and — at the beginning of three and a half hours of hair, makeup, and wardrobe, mind you, that's how long it took. I had my hair rolled and was leaving the trailer and saying goodbye to everyone. And I said, "Okay, bye everybody! I'll see you later! And thanks for rolling my hair! And I'm going to go now to makeup, and I'll be back after I get finished with makeup, and then I'm going to come back and see you and then you can unroll my hair and I'll put my wardrobe ... okay, well, I'll see you later, guys! Thank you! Bye!" You know just dorky, new, happy me. And as I'm leaving I turn and say, "Bye, Mr. Brooks!" and he turns to me and he says, "Goodbye, Cathy." And I say, "Oh, no, I'm not Cathy. I'm Chase. Chase Masterson. I met you when I auditioned for the role of Marta, which I didn't get, but it's okay because I got the role of Leeta. And I'm here now, and I'm going to be on your show and you're the star. And I'll see you later, Mr. Brooks. Bye!" And he said, "See you later, Cathy." And I said, "No, I'm not Cathy. I'm Chase. I play Leeta. I'm not Cathy. I've never even played a Cathy." And he took one long, hard, Avery Brooks look at me, and said, "Nordic Trac." I had done a Nordic Trac infomercial years before, how embarrassing, and now, my first day on the show Avery Brooks, the star of the show, is reminding me of it! How embarrassing! So I took one long, hard, Chase Masterson look at him, and I said, "Avery, I got paid for doing it. What's your excuse for watching it?"

Q. What was your favorite part of the job?

CM. I used to joke that my favorite part of the job was the hot towel that they gave you in makeup at the end of the day. Because it was so great. It was from the microwave, and it was just ... felt really good. Actually, that's probably not far from the truth. To sit back and look at a day well done. We knew we were doing some fabulous work and having a wonderful time doing it, as well. The cast and crew of Deep Space Nine was just a fabulous team, and one that doesn't come along every day. It was really a bit of a Camelot, you know, because the work was so compelling, and it wasn't just like a job. You know, a lot of actors, I mean, sometimes we're happy to get whatever jobs we get to do, and Deep Space Nine was not like that. It was very special, in the stories, and in the work, and in the energy between us in the cast and the crew. So I think my favorite part of the job is something that still goes on to this day when I see the people that I had such a fabulous connection with through the show. And I think that's something that I take with me and that I cherished then and now.

Q. What did you like about playing Leeta?

CM. I loved the fact that Leeta was able to grow so far from being a dabo girl who was no ... you know, a dabo girl is not the most respected job on the ship, to one of the leaders of the Ferengi rebellion, and through that my relationship with Rom came about. And I loved it, because it was such a Star Trek decision for a girl to go for the guy who's only pretty on the inside, and that's what counts. Or, at least it counts a great deal. Leeta knew that, and could take Rom for all of his little brother, loner, underdog stuff and see the man that he really was and through that. And partly, I believe, through Leeta's confidence in him, he became an even greater man than he was already. Of course now he's the Nagus, and we're up on Ferenginar, ruling.

Q. What is your favorite episode?

CM. My favorite episode, that I was in, would have to be "Dr. Bashir, I presume" because I got to work with Bob Picardo. Bob is such a fabulous actor, and just such an on-the-ball guy, that you either had to have had a lot of coffee or be really on your toes to work with Bob Picardo. He's just a mile a minute, and really fun in the things he comes up with on camera, off camera — stuff that you don't really get unless you're standing right next to the guy because it's just under the breath, quick funny stuff. One of my favorite scenes that we shot — can I tell you? — is one of the final scenes in "Dr. Bashir, I presume" when I was leaving the station because Rom would not profess his love, and Dr. Bashir ... I'm sorry, Dr. Zimmerman — Bob Picardo — and I were going to leave the station — I was going to go get my own caf?. And in the distance we hear Rom screaming, "Leeta! Wait!" and he comes up and says, "Leeta, wait." And Bob Picardo says, "We heard you the first time." And Rom says to Leeta, "Leeta, I love you." And Leeta says, "Oh, Rom!" as I always said "Oh, Rom!" And there we are, we're going to live happily ever after. Well, that's fine for us, but not fine for poor Bob Picardo because not only did he not have anyone to go off with, he didn't have an exit line. So that was okay, but not for Bob Picardo. So he wrote himself an exit line, which is something that is absolutely unheard of. I mean, on other shows you have the liberty sometimes of adding in an "um" or a "hmmm" or different kinds of things. Our writers are just so fabulous that you don't do that. You don't even ask. And so Bob asked, and he went upstairs through all the channels, and "may he have this line" and "could he have this" and so we shot the scene twice, and the scene that showed in the episode was very funny, I thought, was as he was leaving the station he was following this alien woman onto the shuttlecraft. And he says, "Excuse me, miss. Have you heard about my work with Kama Sutra?" which I thought was very funny. What I thought was even funnier is as he's leaving in the first take we shot, as he's following her off he says, "Excuse me, miss. Have you heard about my work on Star Trek: Voyager?" [clip from "Dr. Bashir, I presume?"] There were many episodes that I think were so beautifully allegorical, and that speak so profoundly to events in our history and to issues in the world today. The war on Deep Space Nine was chilling when you think of the things that it paralleled. And yet, that's the thing I love about Science Fiction. It doesn't hit you in the face, you know? You can sit and enjoy and be moved by something that you see on the screen and have the option in your own mind and heart depending on how far you're willing to go as a person, you know, and how serious you're willing to get, and draw the parallels to what's going on, and learn the lessons, or not, and see it as the entertainment that it also truly is. So I think that the lessons and the parallels on Deep Space Nine, especially with the Bajorans, truly, and the war and all the things that happened in that are very touching.

Q. Who is your favorite Captain?

CM. For me it's always been about either Kirk or Picard, okay? And they both have their assets. I mean, Kirk was the strong, wonderful, virile, handsome man who could just get the job done, whatever that was. Picard, though, you know, Picard in his sensitivity and his intellect is extremely intriguing, and Patrick's been working out.

Q. Have you attended conventions?

CM. It is true. I have attended a lot of conventions. And I've done them for many reasons. I very much have enjoyed the travel, and the fan support has been lovely. I did a lot within a short period of time a couple of years back and it tired me out. But I'm doing a few now, just a few a year, really, and having a good time at it. We're doing a couple of different fun things at the conventions. One I'm getting to sing, and I'm singing not just at conventions these days but at other events. We're also doing the Ferengi Family Hour, which is fun, it really is. We're told that it's the most fun thing that anybody's ever seen at a convention. And we re-work it for every market that we're in. So we're doing it geared up toward Vegas, you know, in August. And another city later in the month. And we just have a good time together. Like I said, we enjoy each other and it's nice to go, and get paid for what we do and have fun doing it, and travel as well.

Q. Tell us about the Ferengi Family Hour.

CM. The Ferengi Family Hour stars Max Grodenchik, Lolita Fatjo, Aron Eisenberg, and myself, and Cecily Adams has done a few guest spots, as well, but she's mostly taking care of her baby right now. Again, we have a good time. Max and Lolita wrote it, and Max put together some fabulous parodies in song. So it's full on — we sing, we dance. It's like Donny and Marie but for Ferengi.

Q. Are you doing any charity work?

CM. One of the nicest things about having been on the show is that it's not just a television show. The fans, in their incredible energy have been able to get together and do some really powerful stuff for the world, in terms of raising money for charity, for one thing. They support our charities, which has been very very nice. Mine is Caring for Babies with AIDS. I've been a supporter of them for ten, twelve years now. And when I told my fan club that they just were there in force, like a gangbusters to do fundraisers, and breakfasts, and all sorts of amazing things. And we've been doing those for six years now. It's been fabulous to see just how far the energy of one show can go when people bond together and care about the world. And I think that's the most important thing we can be doing.

Q. Who are your creative influences?

CM. I find a lot of influence, myself, creatively, in my real life. I don't know if that's what you want to hear, but it's true. I mean, I find as far as what goes on with me and my relationships and my view of the world and I really get inspired by what goes on there.

Q. What are you working on now?

CM. One thing that I'm moving into is production. Producing for me is really exciting because I get to do so much more than an actor gets to do. There are so many different types of creativity involved in writing and producing your own projects, so I'm starting to do that in a very quick and on-going way. As I said, I was one of the producers on "Inhuman," and I have a deal for a children's television show that I wrote and created — creator on and one of the writers — you may be hearing more about that soon. And another news magazine talk show that I'm a producer on. I'm very excited about all of the possibilities ahead. I'm shopping several different projects, and quite a few of them are science fiction because I find it extremely compelling. And I'm preparing for my album, which is going to be called "Thrill of the Chase", and it'll be out later this year. It's been in production for quite a while, actually, but I'm glad that I've taken the extra time to do it because I'm self-producing it. And it's given me a chance to really evaluate and re-evaluate what it is that I want to do with my music. So that's something that I want to be able to do — to bring my own projects to fruition. To get to be one of the creators, one of the leaders, one of the speakers of art today. So I'm excited about that. Check on my web site for details, if you'd like, and, yeah. Not bad for a Dabo girl.