(written from a Production point of view)
Robin Morselli-Reilly (born 21 March 1955; age 68) is an actress who worked as background actress and stand-in on many episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise. Most notably, she worked on all seven seasons of Deep Space Nine prominently seen as a Bajoran on the Promenade and in Ops.
Morselli was cast through Central Casting and auditioned for her part on Deep Space Nine. She appeared on screen as Klingons, Romulans, and several different aliens. Morselli worked behind the scenes as regular stand-in for Louise Fletcher, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, Salome Jens, and covered for Nana Visitor. She also stood-in for many Ferengi actors including Jeffrey Combs' Brunt and worked as utility stand-in. Besides working as background actress on Enterprise, she also stood-in for Jeffrey Combs' Thy'lek Shran. On Deep Space Nine she worked behind the scenes where she trained off-camera lines with actors and during the seventh season she also performed voice-overs. Her Romulan uniform from the episode "Flesh and Blood" was sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [1] Morselli also worked as a Klingon who shouted away Shaquille O'Neal from his seat at the Billboard Awards show and was interviewed for the Trek Untold podcast #64 on 25 July 2021.
Born in California, Morselli attended Western Illinois University where she graduated in 1976. She always had a passion for acting but attended a law school to become a lawyer as this was her mother's wish. Travelling between California, Illinois, and Seattle, she worked as bartender, Playboy bar waitress, buyer at her mother's clothing store, and in the late 1970s and early 1980s as flight attendant for Continental Airlines. In the 1980s she attended acting classes in California.
Morselli appeared in episodes of Seinfeld and Beverly Hills, 90210 and was featured as a banquet guest in the thriller In the Line of Fire (1993, with Gary Cole, Clyde Kusatsu, Carl Ciarfalio, Michael Zurich, Lena Banks, Robert Buckingham, Elizabeth Pengson, Sharon Schaffer, and Denise Lynne Roberts). She also appeared as a background actress, an Icarus ranger, in Jonathan Frakes' science fiction television pilot Star Patrol! (2000, along with Brian Demonbreun, Tom Miller, Michael Bailous, Kathi Cook, Jason Alexander, Mel Johnson, Jr., and Charles Rocket). In 2020, she filmed scenes for the drama Along Came Wanda, co-produced and starring fellow Deep Space Nine background actress and stand-in Cathy DeBuono.
On the set of Deep Space Nine she met Mark Reilly who worked as camera operator. The two married on 19 January 1997 and on 3 December 1997 she gave birth to their son, Christopher Reilly who also became an actor.
In more recent years, Morselli worked as stand-in on a couple of shows and focused her craft on working behind the scenes for several theaters. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and also became a fundraiser for several charity organizations.
Star Trek appearances[]
Recurring appearance[]
- TNG: "Birthright, Part I"
- DS9:
- "Emissary"
- "A Man Alone"
- "Past Prologue"
- "Babel"
- "Captive Pursuit"
- "Q-Less"
- "The Passenger"
- "Move Along Home"
- "Vortex"
- "Battle Lines"
- "The Storyteller"
- "If Wishes Were Horses"
- "Dramatis Personae"
- "In the Hands of the Prophets"
- "The Homecoming"
- "Cardassians"
- "Melora"
- "Rules of Acquisition"
- "Necessary Evil"
- "Second Sight"
- "Rivals"
- "Whispers"
- "Profit and Loss"
- "Blood Oath"
- "The Maquis, Part I"
- "The Maquis, Part II"
- "The Collaborator"
- "Tribunal"
- "The Search, Part II"
- "The House of Quark"
- "Civil Defense"
- "Meridian"
- "Defiant"
- "Fascination"
- "Visionary"
- "Improbable Cause"
- "The Die is Cast"
- "Facets"
- "The Way of the Warrior"
- "Rejoined"
- "Little Green Men"
- "Homefront"
- "Crossfire"
- "Return to Grace"
- "Bar Association"
- "Body Parts"
- "Apocalypse Rising"
- "The Ship"
- "The Assignment"
- "The Ascent"
- "By Inferno's Light"
- "A Simple Investigation"
- "Ferengi Love Songs"
- "Call to Arms"
- "Favor the Bold"
- "Sacrifice of Angels"
- "You Are Cordially Invited"
- "Valiant"
- "Image in the Sand"
- "Afterimage"
- "Chrysalis"
- "Once More Unto the Breach"
- "Chimera"
- "The Dogs of War"
Stand-in work[]
- DS9:
- "The Forsaken" – stand-in for Majel Barrett Roddenberry
- "In the Hands of the Prophets" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "The Circle" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "The Siege" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "Crossover" – stand-in for Nana Visitor
- "The Collaborator" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "Civil Defense" – utility stand-in
- "Meridian" – stand-in for Christine Healy and utility stand-in
- "Defiant" – stand-in for Tricia O'Neil, Shannon Cochran, and Nana Visitor
- "Fascination" – stand-in for Majel Barrett Roddenberry
- "Past Tense, Part I" – utility stand-in
- "Life Support" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "Facets" – stand-in for Chase Masterson and Jefrey Alan Chandler
- "Shakaar" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "Indiscretion" – utility stand-in
- "Rejoined" – stand-in for Susanna Thompson
- "The Muse" – stand-in for Majel Barrett Roddenberry
- "Rapture" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "A Simple Investigation" – utility stand-in
- "In the Cards" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "Behind the Lines" – stand-in for Salome Jens
- "The Reckoning" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "Time's Orphan" – stand-in for Nana Visitor and Rosalind Chao
- "Tears of the Prophets" – stand-in for Armin Shimerman
- "It's Only a Paper Moon" – stand-in for Chase Masterson
- "'Til Death Do Us Part" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "Strange Bedfellows" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "The Changing Face of Evil" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "When It Rains..." – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- "What You Leave Behind" – stand-in for Louise Fletcher
- ENT: "Terra Prime" – utility stand-in