Faith Salie achieved a professional high on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, as well as a personal low

Deep Space Nine’s Faith Salie talks about her heart-wrenching debut.

Now known for her time on NPR and CBS Sunday Morning, Faith Salie used to be an actress. The Rhodes Scholar spent a turn onboard Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, playing Sarina Douglas, a member of the Jack Pack. The Jack Pack were a group of genetically engineered geniuses who lack social skills and were put under the command of Dr. Julian Bashir, himself a genetically engineered individual.

Her character of Sarina quickly became a standout character, who even got a second episode on the Star Trek series. Yet, it wasn’t all good for the young actress at the time. Her mother was battling an illness that took up a lot of her time and was something that weighed on her while she acted.

Salie sat down with Star Trek.com to talk about her time on Deep Space Nine.

"I was cast in “Statistical Probabilities” in the summer of ‘97 and my mother was dying. So when I was back in LA to film it, I was thrilled. It was the biggest part I had gotten since I had moved to LA after grad school. But it was a chunk of time I was away from her while she was dying. She was so happy because Deep Space Nine was a very well-received television show. It was the first time I learned what single card meant. My agent was very proud to tell me that he got me single card credit, so it’s only my name on screen. And because my mom was dying and I hoped she would see this episode, I put my middle initial [C]—as my credit. My middle initial is her maiden name. And it aired a month after she died. I was so sad that she never got to see it.She did die happy. Her two older sons were married or as good as married, like my brother and his partner at the time. I didn’t have anybody. I had just moved to LA. I know it made her very happy to think that, “Oh, my daughter’s career has launched with this role.” That’s part of it. And then with “Chrysalis,” my wasband [Salie’s term for her ex-husband] saw that episode and said that he was watching it at home recovering from coming out of chemo, and I thought I was so beautiful. He thought, I’m going to marry that girl."

Fans should have a new appreciation for Faith Salie and her time on Star Trek

Most people don’t go to work when they’re feeling a little sick, let alone when a loved one is dying. For Salie to be able to find the focus and desire to work through such a traumatic time in her life is whether inspiring and impressive.

Her turn as Sarina Douglas was also one of the more impressive in the latter part of the seasons. Her character was very relatable for a lot of people, as Sarina was often overwhelmed, and felt ignored. General feelings that most experience to some degree.

Her time on the show was far too short, and her emotional breakdown near the end of the season seven episode “Chrysalis” was a great building block for potential future episodes but the show and series never got around to exploring more of her recovery and growth.

Hopefully, with the new Star Trek series like Prodigy and Lower Decks filling in holes here and there about what’s going on in the universe left behind after Voyager, maybe there’s a chance to find out if Julian Bashir kept his promise to Sarina at the end of “Chrysalis”, and did indeed never forgot her.