Recently we had the chance to talk with Casey Biggs about his acting career, including his work in theater, his role as Damar on StarTrek: Deep Space Nine, and his role as Oscar in the recent movie Sweet Parents.
Horror Geek Life: Was acting something you were always interested in or did you discover it later, like a happy accident?
CB: I started acting in high school. I could sing, I did all the big musicals in school, and when I realized I wasn’t going to be a professional football player I thought what the hell, I should just stick with this. I got into Juilliard and from there, I never really looked back.
Horror Geek Life: Besides theater, you’ve worked in television and film. Do you have a favorite medium to work in or do they all have their own individual charms?
CB: I enjoy theater. I’m directing a lot of theater now actually, but most of my work now is on film because I don’t want to go spend three years somewhere. I was ten years at the arena stage in Washington, D.C., doing play after play then I came out to California in my early twenties and started doing a lot of television. I went back and did stage for a couple of years, then went back out to California, just kind of going back and forth. I’ll tell you, I really feel bad for anyone coming out of the gate right now because there is no work for anybody. I taught the Master’s program at the new school for ten years, that’s where I met David Bly, who directed Sweet Parents, he was one of my students, and I really enjoyed that a lot. But then I finally realized my wife didn’t want to live in New York anymore, so we came out here to California.
Horror Geek Life: In regards to the theater, do you think that’s something every actor should experience, working without a net so to speak, or is it simply not for everyone?
CB: I think they should, without question. The difference in the theater is it’s your medium, you are the medium, you are the puzzle. In film, you are a piece of a puzzle, and sometimes not even a big piece. I’ve done film work where everything I did ended up on the cutting room floor. They paid me, but I wasn’t even in the film, and that’s not very satisfying.
Horror Geek Life: Where did your interest in singing come from?
CB: I’ve always had the interest, I’ve always sung. I had bands in high school, I still have bands now; three bands, in fact. I have a jazz band, a blues band, and a thing called the Enterprise Blues Band, with my buddies from Star Trek. It’s fun because we’re like rock stars in Germany, that’s not saying a lot when David Hasselhoff is as well. (Laughs)
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Horror Geek Life: Speaking of Star Trek, the role of Damar brought you into that universe on Deep Space Nine. Can you tell me about landing that role and what it was like entering that fandom?
CB: Well it was funny, our show ended in 1999, and around 1994/95, I got a call to go in for an audition from my agent. I go in and I’m sitting there with twenty guys and you look at the script and you’ve got three words, literally three words, and I’m thinking…I went to Juilliard, what the hell am I doing here? (Laughs) I went in, did it, these kinds of things you walk into the room and there are twelve people sitting there looking at you, and I think the line was, “They’re in range sir, fire!”, and I did the line and the guy said that was really great. I go home and before I even get home, I get a call. They want to see me again tomorrow and I thought this was odd, this is like a part for an extra. So I went back and this time, there were only four guys and I got the part. Little did I know they actually had big plans for that character, which they don’t tell you, so the first season I did two episodes, then I did eight, then thirteen. They just kept getting bigger and better, and it’s actually the gift that keeps on giving.
Horror Geek Life: As you mentioned, Demar ended up having a great story arc, as did many characters on Deep Space Nine. It must have been fun not only building that character over the years but doing it with that trio that included you, Jeffrey Combs, and Marc Alaimo.
CB: Oh yeah, it was so good. I got a big show in New York and I told the producer yeah, I’m going to do a show on Broadway and he said what, you’re scheduled for thirteen episodes! I’m like, well you didn’t tell me. They flew me back to L.A. on my days off to shoot which was fantastic, they could have just killed me off and recast the character but they didn’t do that. Marc and Jeff are both classically trained actors too, so it was like going into a candy store with these guys.
Horror Geek Life: It’s funny, for a while Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was kind of the black sheep of the Trek universe, not really getting the respect it deserved. Did that allow the writers and actors a little more freedom to do things they might not have been able to normally do?
CB: No, not really, you had to basically say what was on the page. I mean, if you wanted to change something you had to go up the ladder, go back and forth. Interestingly, I got another TV series in the middle of all that, which shot in Richmond, Virginia, and it was a post-Civil War kind of thing, so half of the week I was flying spaceships in L.A. and the other half I was riding a horse in Richmond. I was smart enough to know that if I let it go to the agents, it never would have happened. They would have to go to the casting director, then the producers. You have to find out who has the power on set, and that’s usually the First Assistant Director because they schedule everything. I would go and ask the First AD of each show what my schedule was and get one at the beginning and the other at the end of each week, so I finessed my work schedule on both shows to make it work, but if I left it to the agent it never would have happened.
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Horror Geek Life: What was your first reaction to the fans/conventions, because that fandom is very large and even more passionate?
CB: It was outrageous. I think the first one I went to was in Pasadena and I was surprised anyone even knew who I was, being I had three hours of makeup on for my character. It was great, it really was. I met some fantastic people over the years, it’s taken me around the world, I did five Star Trek Cruises, which were a blast. The Enterprise Blues Band played on them, we have this other band called the Star Trek Rat Pack, with me, Max Grodénchik, Jeffrey Combs, and Armin Shimerman. We’d take all these old Rat Pack songs, change the lyrics and dress up in tuxedos, drink cocktails, just like the real Rat Pack, that’s a blast, and we’re still doing those, actually.
Horror Geek Life: Let’s talk a about Sweet Parents. How did you end up working on this film?
CB: Well, David Bly was a student of mine, back around 2004-06, at the new school for drama, the Master’s program, and he came to me one day and said you know, I have this script and I’d like you to do it if you can. I looked at it and said yeah, this is good, call me when you get the money. Lo and behold, ten years later he calls me, he’s got the money and we shot it. I’m so pleased and proud of what he pulled off, because that’s a monster, trying to produce, direct, and act in a movie, particularly with a lovely story like that. It’s sort of ambiguous, which is nice. My character was terrific, and the good thing was I had another student who was from Brazil, in San Paulo, and my character is from San Paulo, so I had this kid read all of my lines so I’d have the right accent. That was lucky, I’m telling you. We shot it in New York and some of it in my house in California, the part in the film that was supposed to be in South America we shot out here.
Horror Geek Life: You had some great scenes with Leah Rudick, you two seemed to have a very real connection. Was that chemistry between you two natural or was it something you worked on?
CB: I think she’s very good. She comes out of the comedy world, so she’s really good at improvising and working with you, which was terrific. It was immediate, I’d say. She and David are romantic partners; she wrote the script with him and they both have great respect for me, which is wonderful. I was so happy to do this part, actually.
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Horror Geek Life: The dinner scene at the end with the four characters was very well done. Did you all have time to prep or rehearse that scene or being an indie film was it simply here it is, go to it?
CB: It was really here it is, go to it. It was a tough night filming that; dinner scene are so hard to shoot. You have four different points of view, four different people, different setups, so David was all stressed, and then he got to that big long monologue he had and he said I can’t do it, we’re not going to do it tonight. I said no, no, sit down, breathe and then use what you have going on with you right now and do it, and he pulled it off, which was terrific. Another thing I was pleased with was when I was teaching, I would pound into the student’s head, do not wait for anybody to give you permission to do your art. Make it happen yourself, and that’s what he did.
Horror Geek Life: What projects do you have coming up, or have you completed some projects that are on hold because of the pandemic?
CB: I wrote and starred in a little thirty-minute short film here called The Heart of Paradise, which was lovely. It was in a lot of festivals, and is now over at the Hallmark Channel. They are thinking about making it into a full-length Christmas movie, but it’s not a Christmas movie, although I could make that happen if they paid me enough money. (Laughs) That was a wonderful film, it can actually be seen on Vimeo right now.
Today, I have an audition for a big Netflix project, and the cool thing about what’s happening now is I just shoot it at home and send it to the producers, and they either hire you or they don’t, which is fine with me. If they don’t hire me, I don’t have to leave and go anywhere but if they do hire me, it’s like ah, shit, I have to go do something now. (Laughs) It’s the Colin Kaepernick story, which I think is really cool; that could be quite interesting. I also make wine here, and I shot nineteen spots for Paso Wine and they are on YouTube, called Paso Wine Man, they are just hilarious. They are kind of like the Old Spice Man meets The Most Interesting Man in the World, that kind of thing, they are a lot of fun.
I want to thank Casey for taking the time to speak with us!
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