Nana Visitor

Nana Visitor is an American actress, best known for playing Kira Nerys in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Jean Ritter in the television series Wildfire.

Visitor began her acting career in the 1970s on the Broadway stage in such productions as My One and Only. Her film debut (billed by her birth name, Nana Tucker) came in the 1977 horror film The Sentinel. On television, Visitor co-starred in the short-lived 1976 sitcom Ivan the Terrible and from 1978 to 1982, had short-lived regular roles on three soap operas: Ryan's Hope, The Doctors, and One Life to Live. Upon the suggestion of her older brother Paris, she adopted the stage name "Nana Visitor" in the early 1980s.

In 1984, she appeared in a season-two episode of Hunter. In 1985, Visitor made appearances on the television series MacGyver, in the season-one episode "Hellfire" as Laura Farren, and in the season-two episode "DOA: MacGyver" as Carol Varnay. She also made an appearance in the fourth-season Remington Steele episode titled "Steele Blushing" the same year. In 1986, she appeared in "Hills of Fire", a fourth-season episode of Knight Rider, as well as third-season Highway to Heaven episodes "Love at Second Sight" and "Love and Marriage, Part II" as Margaret Swann.

In 1987, Visitor appeared as Ellen Dolan in a failed television pilot for Will Eisner's pulp comic creation The Spirit, starring Sam J. Jones as the title character and Garry Walberg as her father, Commissioner Dolan.

In 1988, she made an appearance on the sitcom Night Court as a mental patient who is obsessed with the movies. That same year, she made an appearance on the television series In the Heat of the Night as the owner of the Sparta newspaper. She also made an appearance that year in an episode of Matlock. In 1989, Visitor appeared in the fifth episode of the television series Doogie Howser, M.D. as Charmagne, a rock star who has a throat nodule removed at Doogie's hospital, and as Miles Drentell's glamorous girlfriend, in "Success", a 1989 episode of Thirtysomething's second season.

In 1990, Visitor co-starred with Sandra Bullock in the short-lived sitcom Working Girl, which was based on the feature film of the same name.

From 1993 to 1999, Visitor appeared on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Major (later Colonel) Kira Nerys, a former freedom fighter/terrorist from the planet Bajor, who fought against the occupation of her world by the Cardassians. After the occupation ended, she was appointed as first officer of the series's eponymous space station, built by the Cardassians and turned over to Starfleet.

After DS9 ended, Visitor had a recurring role as villain Dr. Elizabeth Renfro on the television series Dark Angel. Visitor then starred as Roxie Hart in both the touring and Broadway companies of the musical Chicago, including starring as Hart as curtains rose again after September 11, 2001. Visitor was then cast as Jean Ritter on the ABC Family series Wildfire, which premiered on June 20, 2005.

In 2008, she appeared as Emily Kowalski, a dying cancer patient in "Faith", an episode of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica's fourth season. Visitor had a small role as Pamela Voorhees in the 2009 version of Friday the 13th. She has also lent her voice in a few appearances on the sitcom Family Guy, such as Rita in the episode "Brian's Got a Brand New Bag", and as the voice of the Enterprise in "Extra Large Medium." In 2011, she had a small part in the Hammer Horror film The Resident, playing the realtor. She appeared in Torchwood: Miracle Day episodes seven ("Immortal Sins") and eight ("End of the Road"). In 2012, she appeared as Dr. Patty Barker, a canine psychotherapist, in "An Embarrassment of Bitches", a season-four episode of ABC's Castle.