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Lawrence Pressman (born 10 July 1939; age 84) is an actor who played Tekeny Ghemor in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine third and fifth season episodes "Second Skin" and "Ties of Blood and Water", and the Krajensky Changeling in the third season episode "The Adversary". Pressman is very fond of his role as Tekeny Ghemor and is a great admirer of Avery Brooks, who directed Pressman in his second appearance.

Hailing from Cynthiana, Kentucky, Pressman is Jewish and was one of millions of people to have had members of his family killed by the Nazis. Every member of his family in Russia (except for Pressman's aunt who had escaped to the United States) was murdered. His father spent many years searching for relatives, but found they had all been killed. (citation needededit)

Outside of his Deep Space Nine roles, Pressman has worked on well over 100 film and television projects. He may best be known for his role as Doctor Canfield in Doogie Howser, M.D., in which James B. Sikking and Lucy Boryer also starred. Prior to this, he was the star of NBC's Mulligan's Stew in 1977. During the 1980-1981 TV season, Pressman co-starred with Julie Cobb and Louise Sorel on the CBS series Ladies' Man. More recently, Pressman had a recurring role on shows such as Profiler (working with the likes of Lawrence Monoson, Stephen Root and Mark Rolston) and Judging Amy (include an episode with William Windom and another with Michael Buchman Silver).

Pressman got his start in Hollywood with a role on the soap opera The Edge of Night in 1969. He was soon acting in film, appearing in Making It with John Fiedler and co-starring in Shaft, both released in 1971. In the same year he starred in and narrated the Oscar-winning documentary The Hellstrom Chronicle, as the fictitious scientist Nils Hellstrom. He went on to make guest appearances on many popular series, such as Mary Tyler Moore, Hawaii Five-O, M*A*S*H, Murder, She Wrote, Law & Order, NYPD Blue, The West Wing and The X-Files. In 1986 would appear in an episode of the CBS Schoolbreak Special entitled The Drug Knot, which the episode was directed by Anson Williams. Subsequent motion picture credits include The Man in the Glass Booth (1975), Nine to Five (1980, with Earl Boen), The Hanoi Hilton (1987, co-starring David Soul), Very Bad Things (1998, with Leland Orser and Christian Slater), Mighty Joe Young (1998, also featuring Scarlett Pomers) and an uncredited role in Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001, featuring James Avery, Googy Gress and the voices of Andy Dick, Michael McKean and Keone Young). In addition, he played Coach Marshall in American Pie (1999) and reprised the role in American Wedding (2003). Both films had Pressman working with John Cho, also in the former, Cho and Pressman joined Clyde Kusatsu, as for the latter, Cho and Pressman were joined by Loren Lester and Angela Paton.

In addition to the above, Pressman also had a role in Rich Man, Poor Man (miniseries)Rich Man, Poor Man (1979), which also featured fellow Star Trek performers Kim Darby, Fionnula Flanagan and Leigh J. McCloskey. He also appeared in The Winds of War (1983), along with Peter Brocco, Michael Ensign, Ken Lynch, Byron Morrow, George Murdock and Logan Ramsey. Pressman's TV movie credits include Rehearsal for Murder (1982, with William Daniels), The Deliberate Stranger (1986, co-starring Deep Space Nine actress Terry Farrell, as well as Jeannetta Arnette and William Boyett) and The Late Shift (1996, with Ed Begley, Jr. and Daniel Roebuck). In 2003, Pressman was just one of a few Trek stars to appear in DC 9/11: Time of Crisis, playing Vice President Dick Cheney. Other Star Trek actors to appear with him include frequent Deep Space Nine guest stars Gregory Itzin, Penny Johnson and Stephen Macht.

More recently, Pressman has appeared as Judge Floyd Hurwitz in two episodes of Boston Legal, starring William Shatner. The first episode in which he appeared, 2007's "Son of the Defender," also featured René Auberjonois (who was a series regular at the time) and Mark L. Taylor. His latest episode, 2008's "The Mighty Rogues," co-starred John Larroquette (who replaced Auberjonois on the show), Bruce French, Daniel Hugh Kelly, and Derek Webster. In addition, Pressman has been making recurring appearances as judges on the series Crossing Jordan and General Hospital. Also, in 2007, Roxann Dawson directed Pressman (and Deep Space Nine guest star Julianna McCarthy) in an episode of Cold Case.

Pressman married actress Lanna Saunders in 1973. Their son, David Pressman, was born seven years earlier and has also become an actor. Lanna Saunders passed away on 10 March 2007 due to complications from multiple sclerosis.

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