Great Character Actor: The Remarkable James Sloyan

James Sloyan is an American television character actor with an instantly recognizable voice.

In his own face, he was a guest star on shows such as Diagnosis Murder, Matlock and Murder, She Wrote, where he most commonly played Dennis Stanton's boss.

In alien face, he was a guest star on Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager. Call me biased, but on these sci-fi episodes, he truly expands, hitting a range from snarkiness to pathos.

On Star Trek: TNG, for example, he plays the defecting Romulan general. He does a splendid and heart-felt job capturing the character's complications: he believes what he is doing is right; he doesn't trust the Federation; he wants to remain loyal to the Romulan Empire but has given himself no choice but to ultimately betray it; he feels out of sorts and "alien" on the Enterprise.

He plays an equally complex character on Voyager, a scientist who wants to undo the destructive results of a weapon that he built. He is the perfect blend of defensiveness, guilt, and justification. He and Ethan Phillips as Neelix--who deserves far more credit for Neelix than he often receives--produce excellent tense-but-not-quite-yelling scenes together.

And that voice! I describe it elsewhere as marbles-in-the-mouth, which doesn't do it justice. I recognized James Sloyan on Star Trek before I recognized him anywhere else, and it was the voice that did it.