Sroka As Laxeth The Talaxian

Just like his wife Mariette Hartley, actor Jerry Sroka has had a guest spot on Star Trek, in this case a role on Star Trek: Voyager.

Playing Laxeth the Talaxian in Star Trek: Voyager: Investigations gave Sroka a bit of a glimpse of how he might look in the future, at least according to his kids. “You looked just like Grandma!” they told him, after watching the episode.

The same makeup that made Sroka “look like Grandma” helped him slip easily into the guest role. “It helped me escape into the character,” he said. “[I arrived] around 4:45 in the morning, and it was a four-and-a-half makeup process. That was absolutely astonishing for me. I’d never done anything like it. I’d done other thing that required old-age makeup, but this was amazing.

“These guys really knew what they were doing. They’d say, ‘You want some more coffee? Have it now, before your face sets, because you’ll have to wait a little bit.’ But it was remarkable and a great learning experience. And they had such attention to detail. I have such respect for those people and what they do.”

Married for six years to Hartley, the couple hasn’t watched each other’s episodes yet with one another. “No, we haven’t,” said Sroka. “Boy, that’s a cute idea.

“But, really, we’re playing catch-up with everything. When we got back to L.A. from Vegas after the big Star Trek convention there, we watched Star Trek (2009), the one with Chris Pine. I enjoyed that. But we’re always playing catch-up.”

Sroka has just completed a Disney show called Shake It Up and may soon be working on a movie about senior softball.