Roxann Dawson (née Caballero, born September 11, 1958),
also credited as Roxann Biggs and Roxann Biggs-Dawson, is an American actress and director. She is best known for her role as
B'Elanna Torres
B'Elanna Torres is a main character in ''Star Trek: Voyager'' played by Roxann Dawson. She is portrayed as a half-human half-Klingon born in 2346 on the Federation colony Kessik IV. She was admitted to Starfleet academy but dropped out before gr ...
on the television series ''
Star Trek: Voyager'' (1995–2001). In the 2000s, she transitioned to a career primarily as a director, and has directed numerous episodes of television series including ''
Star Trek: Enterprise
''Star Trek: Enterprise'', titled simply ''Enterprise'' for its first two seasons, is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It originally aired from September 26, 2001, to May 13, 2005 on Uni ...
'', ''
Crossing Jordan
''Crossing Jordan'' is an American crime drama
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its dete ...
'', ''
Cold Case
A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or r ...
'', ''
Heroes'', ''
The Closer
''The Closer'' is an American television police procedural starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Brenda has a reputation as a c ...
'', ''
The Mentalist
''The Mentalist'' is an American drama television series that ran from September 23, 2008, until February 18, 2015, broadcasting 151 episodes over seven seasons, on CBS. Created by Bruno Heller, who was also its executive producer, the show f ...
'', ''
The Good Wife
''The Good Wife'' is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in l ...
'',
''Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D''., ''
Mercy Street
"Mercy Street" is a song written by English musician Peter Gabriel from his 1986 album '' So''.
Background and recording
The song was inspired by the personal and confessional works of the American poet Anne Sexton, who wrote a play titled '' ...
'', and ''
The Deuce''.
Early life
Roxann Dawson Caballero was born September 11, 1958
[ in ]Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
, California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. She graduated from University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant un ...
in 1980.
Career
Acting
Dawson's first professional acting job was in a Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
production of ''A Chorus Line
''A Chorus Line'' is a 1975 musical with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban, and a book by James Kirkwood Jr. and Nicholas Dante.
Set on the bare stage of a Broadway theater, the musical is centered on seventeen Broadway dancers ...
''.["Biography"](_blank)
The Official Roxann Dawson Website. Retrieved January 19, 2013.
In 1989 Dawson worked on the NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
drama '' Nightingales''. During the course of her work on that show, she met casting director Eric Dawson, who would later become her second husband. After the show was canceled, Eric's company cast her in guest roles on '' Matlock'' and '' Jake and the Fat Man''.[Korbelik, Jeff (September 10, 2005)]
"Former Lincoln man gets Emmy nomination for casting 'Nip/Tuck'"
''Lincoln Journal-Star
The ''Lincoln Journal Star'' is an American daily newspaper that serves Lincoln, Nebraska, the state capital and home of the University of Nebraska. It is the most widely read newspaper in Lincoln and has the second-largest circulation in N ...
''. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
In 1994, Dawson was cast as the half Human/half-Klingon
The Klingons ( ; Klingon: ''tlhIngan'' ) are a fictional species in the science fiction franchise ''Star Trek''.
Developed by screenwriter Gene L. Coon in 1967 for the original ''Star Trek'' (''TOS'') series, Klingons were swarthy humanoids c ...
engineer B'Elanna Torres
B'Elanna Torres is a main character in ''Star Trek: Voyager'' played by Roxann Dawson. She is portrayed as a half-human half-Klingon born in 2346 on the Federation colony Kessik IV. She was admitted to Starfleet academy but dropped out before gr ...
on '' Star Trek: Voyager''. She was a main cast member for all seven seasons of the show.
Her other television credits include appearances on ''The Hat Squad
''The Hat Squad'' is an American crime drama television series that ran for only one season on CBS from September 16, 1992, to January 23, 1993, during the 1992–93 United States network television schedule, 1992–1993 season. 13 episodes were m ...
'', ''Baywatch
''Baywatch'' is an American action drama television series about lifeguards who patrol the beaches of Los Angeles County, California, and Hawaii, starring David Hasselhoff. It was created by Michael Berk, Douglas Schwartz, and Gregory J. Bo ...
'', ''The Closer
''The Closer'' is an American television police procedural starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Brenda has a reputation as a c ...
'', '' Matlock'', ''The Untouchables
Untouchables or The Untouchables may refer to:
American history
* Untouchables (law enforcement), a 1930s American law enforcement unit led by Eliot Ness
* ''The Untouchables'' (book), an autobiography by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley
* ''The U ...
'', '' Any Day Now'', ''Without a Trace
''Without a Trace'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Hank Steinberg that aired on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009 with the total of seven seasons and 160 episodes. The series focuses the cases of ...
'', ''The Lyon's Den
''The Lyon's Den'' is an American legal drama television series set in Washington, D.C. The legal drama starred Rob Lowe as a lawyer named Jack Turner, newly appointed as partner of a long-established law firm that, as the plot revealed, harbored ...
'', ''The Division
''The Division'' is an American police procedural drama television series created by Deborah Joy LeVine starring Bonnie Bedelia. The series focuses on a team of female detectives and police officers in the San Francisco Police Department. The s ...
'', the U.S. version of ''Coupling
A coupling is a device used to connect two shafts together at their ends for the purpose of transmitting power. The primary purpose of couplings is to join two pieces of rotating equipment while permitting some degree of misalignment or end mov ...
'' and the science fiction television series '' Seven Days''.
Directing and producing
While working on ''Voyager'', Dawson made her directorial debut on the episode "Riddles
A riddle is a statement, question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that requ ...
", which aired in September 1999. She later directed the second part of the two-part episode "Workforce
The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic reg ...
" and directed 10 episodes of ''Star Trek: Enterprise
''Star Trek: Enterprise'', titled simply ''Enterprise'' for its first two seasons, is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. It originally aired from September 26, 2001, to May 13, 2005 on Uni ...
''. In 2002, she provided the voice of the repair station computer in one
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
of the ''Star Trek: Enterprise'' episodes she directed.
Dawson has also directed episodes of ''Charmed
''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadcas ...
, The O.C.
''The O.C. '' is an American teen drama television series created by Josh Schwartz that originally aired on the Fox network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 22, 2007, running a total of four seasons. "O.C." is an initiali ...
, Close to Home'', ''Lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
* Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
*Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
, Heroes, Hawthorne, The Closer, Cold Case
A cold case is a crime, or a suspected crime, that has not yet been fully resolved and is not the subject of a current criminal investigation, but for which new information could emerge from new witness testimony, re-examined archives, new or r ...
, Caprica
''Caprica'' is an American science fiction drama television series. A spin-off prequel of the re-imagined ''Battlestar Galactica'' (2004), Caprica is set 58 years before the main series. ''Caprica'' shows how humanity first created the Cylon a ...
'', ''The Mentalist
''The Mentalist'' is an American drama television series that ran from September 23, 2008, until February 18, 2015, broadcasting 151 episodes over seven seasons, on CBS. Created by Bruno Heller, who was also its executive producer, the show f ...
'' and '' Treme''. In 2010, she directed the season two episode " Teacher and Pupils" of ''Lie to Me
''Lie to Me'' (stylized as ''Lie to me*'') is an American crime drama television series. It originally ran on the Fox network from January 21, 2009, to January 31, 2011. In the show, Dr. Cal Lightman (Tim Roth) and his colleagues in The Lightma ...
'' and the season two episode "On Tap
Draught beer, also spelt draft, is beer served from a cask or keg rather than from a bottle or can. Draught beer served from a pressurised keg is also known as
Name
Until Joseph Bramah patented the beer engine in 1785, beer was served dire ...
" of ''The Good Wife
''The Good Wife'' is an American legal and political drama television series that aired on CBS from September 22, 2009, to May 8, 2016. It focuses on Alicia Florrick, the wife of the Cook County State's Attorney, who returns to her career in l ...
''. In 2013, she directed the March 22 episode "Reunions" of ''Touch
In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch ( haptic perception), as well as temperature ( thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It ...
'', and the October 15 episode "Eye-Spy" of ''Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
''Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'' is an American television series created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen for ABC, based on the Marvel Comics organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, an ...
''.
In 2014 she directed the March 5 episode "Dreamcatcher" of ''Revolution
In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...
'' and the October 22 episode "Phobia" of ''Stalker
Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term ...
''. For the 2015 season of the Amazon Video series '' Bosch'', she directed "Chapter Six: Donkey's Years"). She directed early episodes of ''Mercy Street
"Mercy Street" is a song written by English musician Peter Gabriel from his 1986 album '' So''.
Background and recording
The song was inspired by the personal and confessional works of the American poet Anne Sexton, who wrote a play titled '' ...
'', a series released on PBS in January 2016. In 2016, she also directed the season one episodes "Broussard" and "Zero Day" of the TV series ''Colony
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state' ...
''. She's also directed the episode "Crossbreed" of season five of ''The Americans
''The Americans'' is an American period spy drama television series created by Joe Weisberg that aired on the FX television network for six seasons from January 30, 2013, to May 30, 2018. Weisberg and Joel Fields also serve as showrunners a ...
''. She also directed episode 8 ("Chapter 60") of the fifth season of ''House of Cards
A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a structu ...
''.
Dawson was a producer on ''Scandal
A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way. Th ...
, Crossing Jordan
''Crossing Jordan'' is an American crime drama
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its dete ...
'' and ''Cold Case''.
Writing
Dawson's first play ''Desire to Fall'' was produced by the Circle Repertory Company workshop in 1986. Dawson's second play, ''Passage Through the Heart'' debuted in 1997 at the University of Minnesota Duluth
The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) is a public university in Duluth, Minnesota. It is part of the University of Minnesota system and offers 16 bachelor's degrees in 88 majors, graduate programs in 25 different fields, and a two-year pro ...
. From 2000 to 2001, Dawson co-wrote with Daniel Graham a trilogy of science fiction novels, ''Entering Tenebrea'' (), ''Tenebrea's Hope'' () and ''Tenebrea Rising'' ().
Personal life
Dawson was married to actor Casey Biggs
Casey Patrick Biggs (born April 4, 1955) is an American actor, best known throughout the ''Star Trek'' community for starring as the Cardassian Damar, on ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. He has appeared in over eighty film and television and stag ...
, but they eventually divorced. He later became a recurring cast member on the sister series ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' (abbreviated as ''DS9'') is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller. The fourth series in the ''Star Trek'' media franchise, it originally aired in syndication from ...
'', playing the Cardassian Damar.
In May 1994 Dawson married casting director Eric Dawson, whom she met while working on the series ''Nightingales''. They have two daughters, Emma and Mia; Mia was adopted from China. Dawson joined the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
at the time of her second marriage in 1994, despite having been raised in "an atheist household". This eventually inspired her to direct the 2019 Christian film '' Breakthrough''.
Filmography
Acting credits
Film
Television series
Video games
Documentaries
Audiobooks
Theatre
Directing credits
Film
Television
Writing credits
Awards and nominations
See also
* List of female film and television directors
This is a list of female film and television directors. Their works may include live action and/or animated features, shorts, documentaries, telemovies, TV programs, or videos.
A
* Jennifer Abbott (Canada)
* Sarah Abbott (Canada
* Jenn ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Roxann
1958 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
Actresses from Los Angeles
American film actresses
American people of Latin American descent
American stage actresses
American television actresses
American television directors
American Roman Catholics
Converts to Roman Catholicism from atheism or agnosticism
Hispanic and Latino American actresses
Television producers from California
University of California, Berkeley alumni
American women television directors
American women television producers