Happy Birthday to Marina Sirtis

To Star Trek fans, Marina Sirtis will always be Counselor Deanna Troi. There could be a Star Trek: The Next Generation reboot years from now, and she will still hold first place as the counselor who stood beside Captain Picard aboard the Enterprise for seven seasons before heading out into further adventures in the movies. She finally settled down with the love of her life, Captain William T. Riker, and we got to see some of their happy married home life in the first season of Star Trek: Picard. Seeing Sirtis step into the character again was, to us, like a friend inviting us to watch television with her.

"Respect is earned not bestowed."

Today is Marina Sirtis’ birthday, and it’s mind-boggling that she embraced this character thirty-four years ago and can, at a moment’s notice, become her again. Though she has appeared in other tv series like NCIS, Scandal, Young Justice, and Grey’s Anatomy, Counselor Troi is the role that fans love the most. Not just because it’s the one in which she appeared the most but because she brought a warmth to The Next Generation that wouldn’t have existed within a rigid militaristic structure. Yes, the words she spoke were written for her, but not just anyone could have said them and made us believe them.

"“Confidence is faith in oneself. It can’t easily be given by another.”"

https://twitter.com/Marina_Sirtis/status/1366248234813820935

Sirtis recently moved back to her native England after living in Los Angeles since 1986, but regardless of where she is, it’s doubtful she’ll ever leave Deanna Troi behind. So if season two of Picard calls, we’re all hoping we’ll see her again because there’s so much more we want to know about her life after Starfleet. In fact, we would definitely be up for a Riker/Troi series! 

Happy Birthday, Marina!