Silver screen and small screen actor Cas Anvar couldn't
believe he was stepping onto a soundstage in a STAR TREK episode when he first emerged in costume as Sentek in
Episode 10 (“To Boldly Go: Part
I”).
After playing opposite Ben Affleck in Argo, an Oscar winner for Best Picture, Anvar has stayed busy with
Hollywood in film and TV roles in productions like the Princess Diana biopic Diana, the sci-fi adventure Source Code and suspense thriller The Factory. He has also appeared in Steve Spielberg’s The Terminal and then there’s a long
list of TV roles on Anvar’s resume, including appearances on NCIS:LA, In Plain Sight, Boston Legal,
Castle, and 24.
But to emerge in full Romulan garb on a planet set in rural
Georgia? That was one of his personal
career highlights – so far.
“On my very first scene, they brought me to the planet
set. And it was amazing. I’d never really seen a real STAR TREK set before. You don’t realize how those sets were
constructed back then. This thing was so
authentic with its fake boulders and sparkly mineral dust and the elevator on
the surface of the planet. Then I had my
first exposure to holding a disruptor and doing the big fight scene. It was everything you’ve ever imagined when
you watch STAR TREK!”
Anvar is a Canadian born and trained actor whose big break
came with his role 2003’s Shattered Glass
with Hayden Christiansen, and his professional career began following
graduation from Canada’s prestigious National Theatre School. Anvar is also a well-known voice actor, whose
talents can be heard in some of the world’s most popular video games (including
Call of Duty: BO2, Halo 4, and Assassins Creed: Revelations.)
As a voice actor, he was familiar with Star Trek Continues executive producer Vic Mignogna. Anvar learned about the opportunity to join the cast as a guest star following a fortuitous meeting with STC director James Kerwin and through a connection with STC make-up artist Lisa Hansell.
“I’d been exposed to STAR
TREK CONTINUES before I found out about the opportunity to
participate. Their reputation was very
high, and the production really is amazingly impressive and very high
quality. I like the way STC uses
technology to make it possible to produce ‘new’ episodes of The Original Series
without losing authenticity,” Anvar said.
Anvar is a fan of all flavors of STAR TREK, noting that “there’s not one that I’ve missed. I’m a Roddenberry fan – a fan of the universe
that he created. But each of the STAR TREK series is like a movement in a
symphony. Each one has a place and a
purpose and its own unique flavor.”
The “Vulculan”
To prepare for the role of Sentek (“I call him a ‘Vulculan,”
says Anvar), he thought about what would be required for a cool and collected
Vulcan to appear as a hot-headed Romulan.
“This is a character who grew up on Vulcan with emotional
suppression. And he’s masquerading as a
Romulan, who is much more emotional and volatile. So how does this character allow himself to
pass as a Romulan? He has to behave in a
way that is a little less Vulcan, trying to find the balance. You have a lot of imagery and a wealth of
knowledge of Vulcans by watching Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Of course, Sentek was performing in a very
non-Vulcan way. That made for an
interesting challenge to try to figure out how he could rationalize such
impulsive and dangerous behavior. It was
fun to figure it out.”
In the Steps of Bill Shatner
“I studied psychology and sciences at McGill, and I think
Bill Shatner did as well. He started in
theater and did some Shakespeare, and of course everyone knew that he was an
alumnus of the school. He went on to
perform at Stratford in Toronto.”
That connection to Shakespeare proved very fortuitous.
“I actually got Bill Shatner to endorse a fundraising effort
for a Shakespeare campaign, along with Christopher Plummer (an honorary McGill
graduate.) Both of these famous actors
came from my hometown. But after 9/11, our
Shakespeare company had a financial problem.
These great actors were sympathetic and helped us raise the money we
needed. Later, of course, I also worked
with Shatner on Boston Legal and saw
him as the incredible Denny Crane.”
The always-busy Anvar just finished season three of The Expanse, which will reach viewers on
the SyFy network in the coming months.
“Season three of The
Expanse is looking amazing. And I'm
just about to go to Toronto to shoot another feature film called Beneath Earth and Sky.”
But thinking back, he loved the opportunity to play a STAR TREK alien.
“Honestly, it was a surreal experience. Ever since I was a kid I wanted to be on STAR TREK and play some sort of an alien
– ever since I was a kid. To getting to
realize that dream was exciting,” Anvar says.
