Tracy Middendorf
Tracy Middendorf (born 26 January 1970; age 55) is an actress who played Tora Ziyal in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fourth season episode "For the Cause". As revealed in Cinefantastique (Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 63), Middendorf also auditioned for the role of Mardah, prior to portraying Ziyal.
Born in Miami Beach, Florida, Middendorf was in her senior year at Pickens High School in Jasper, Georgia when, in 1987, she left to enter a performing arts school in Miami. She later attended the State University of New York (SUNY) at Purchase.
In 1992, she won the role of Carrie Brady (another character who has been played by three actresses) on Days of Our Lives, which had also starred John de Lancie. The following year, she began playing the recurring role of Laura Kingman during the fourth season of Beverly Hills, 90210. In 1994, she made her film debut with a supporting role in Wes Craven's New Nightmare, starring Robert Englund and Heather Langenkamp, with Fran Bennett, Cully Fredricksen and Matt Winston.
In the first ten years of her career, she was seen in such television dramas as Murder, She Wrote (1996, with fellow Deep Space Nine guest-stars Richard Beymer, Meg Foster and Richard Libertini), Touched by an Angel (1997, written by Ken LaZebnik and co-starring Clive Revill), L.A. Doctors (1998, starring Sheryl Lee, with John Billingsley), Ally McBeal (two 1999 episodes, including one with Albert Hall and Ray Walston), Family Law (with Scott MacDonald, Christopher McDonald and Julie Warner), Six Feet Under (with Ed Begley, Jr.), JAG (with Zach Grenier, Scott Lawrence and Terry O'Quinn), and Any Day Now (with Daniel Dae Kim and Tom Wright). She also had a recurring role on The Practice, working with Bruce Davison, Bruce French, John Larroquette, Richard McGonagle, Lawrence Pressman and Steve Rankin.
Middendorf's subsequent science fiction credits following her appearance on Deep Space Nine include an episode of Perversions of Science with Chris Sarandon, the first episode of Angel, in which she played (along with Vyto Ruginis) the very first "damsel in distress" the good vampire tried to save in the series, and an episode of The X-Files (2000, starring Gillian Anderson, with Randy Oglesby). Her later TV work include four episodes of 24 (co-starring Michelle Forbes, Timothy Carhart, Jude Ciccolella and fellow Deep Space Nine guest Billy Burke) and guest spots on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2003 & 2009, starring Paul Guilfoyle, former with Leslie Silva, latter co-starring Wallace Langham and Liz Vassey), Cold Case (with Michael Nouri), Medical Investigation (starring Neal McDonough), House (with Jennifer Morrison), Without a Trace (co-starring Enrique Murciano and John de Lancie), Shark (starring Jeri Ryan, with Billy Campbell, Graham Shiels and Ivar Brogger), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2007, starring Mariska Hargitay, with Steven Weber).
Middendorf has worked with J.J. Abrams several times. She appeared in two episodes of Abrams' Alias in 2003 starring Merrin Dungey, with Terry O'Quinn and Greg Grunberg in the first, William Dennis Hunt in the second, and Christian Slater in both. The first of those were written by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci and directed by the latter. Three years later, Middendorf appeared in Abrams' feature film directorial debut, Paramount Pictures' Mission: Impossible III (2006, also co-written by Kurtzman and Orci and co-starring Simon Pegg and Greg Grunberg). Middendorf also appeared in two episodes of Lost, co-created by Abrams and Damon Lindelof and starring Naveen Andrews, Daniel Dae Kim, Terry O'Quinn and Sam Anderson.
Middendorf has also guest starred in Boardwalk Empire, Scream, and The Last Ship.