Andrew Robinson's initial impressions about Star Trek: Deep Space Nine were all wrong. #1 -- He was originally called in to audition for the part of Odo. "They liked my audition, but obviously hired the right actor." #2 -- He was called back to audition for Garak and almost didn't go. "I hate auditions but my wife, Irene, said don't be a dummy." #3 -- He didn't believe that the role would truly be a recurring one. "In Los Angeles, you never go to the bank with those weak prospects." #4 -- He almost bolted the first time they put him in costume and makeup. "I'm somewhat claustrophobic and I thought it was insane." #5 - He had no idea he'd become a cottage industry appearing at conventions and writing books. "I just thought I was doing this nice little outer space show."

Once Robinson appeared as ST:DS9's resident reptilian Cardassian tailor, his life and the show's storyline were never the same. Garak quickly became one in a recurring constellation of guest characters, growing from a simple mystery into a very complex and popular antagonist. "In the beginning," says Robinson, "he was bizarre, but over the years, he became more fleshed out. The writers loved to write for Garak and they gave him all sorts of facets, his political engagements, his addictions, coming to terms with his father, even a girlfriend."

Born in New York City, Robinson went from finishing a BA in English at the New School for Social Research to a Fulbright Scholarship at the London Academy for Music and Dramatic Arts. After working in theatre, movies and television during the 1960s, Robinson's career took a jump when he played the Scorpio killer in Clint Eastwood's 1971 thriller, Dirty Harry. Robinson has actually played quite a few bad guys over the years, including a werewolf in a recent episode of X Files. The killer is easy to see in Garak -- but don't forget, Robinson also played Liberace!

"When I first went up for ST:DS9," laughs Robinson, "I didn't know a Cardassian from a hole in the ground. As an actor, you want to use yourself, but if you use too much, you're overacting. With Garak, I looked for that emotional material that is sort of an undercurrent, a subtext. Here there was room to find that subtext because the writing was so good."

To his many acting credits, Robinson added directing credits while working on Star Trek, helming the ST:DS9 episode, "Looking for Par'Mach in All the Wrong Places," and Star Trek: Voyager's "Blood Fever." "I prefer the darkness and edge of the ST:DS9 world," says Robinson. "In the more traditional Star Trek world, the bad guy is always out there. In ST:DS9, the bad guy is inside -- not just in Garak, but in Sisko or Odo or anybody. That's more what human beings -- or aliens -- are all about."

Robinson dubs ST:DS9's sixth season episode, "In the Pale Moonlight," the classic Garak episode. When Sisko has second thoughts about Garak's unorthodox methods for helping him draw the Romulans into the Dominion war, Garak offers little sympathy. "If a government agency like Starfleet is going to use a person with a shady way of dealing with the world," says Robinson, "there's a price to be paid. That episode showed that very clearly."

While Robinson says he'll miss working on the show, he thinks it's time for ST:DS9 to end. "I can't imagine they could have much more to say. I also think it will help Star Trek: Voyager to live on its own for awhile." Garak will be quite busy, however: Robinson is writing Garak's memoirs. "One of the things that got me writing was talking with fans who love to talk to me about my character. I got tired of repeating things, like explaining makeup, and wanted to do something different. I started writing Garak's memoirs as if they written by him, finding areas of life that interested me. When I started reading them at conventions, it was enormously popular. [Writer] David George [DS9 novel #23, The 34th Rule, written with Armin Shimerman and Eric Stillwell] urged me to contact Pocket Books and now I'm writing this book about Garak."

Robinson says he's been pleased to find that exploring Garak on paper offers some of the same rewards he's tapped exploring Garak for the screen. "I am really able to use who I am to bring this character to life. On one hand, I have to try and think of a totally alien culture in order to write about Garak's family and friends, but I still have to use my own emotional experiences or else what the hell am I going to write about?"

Deborah Fisher is a contributing writer for STAR TREK: CONTINUUM. She also writes for STAR TREK Communicator.