What Star Trek: Enterprise’s Commander Shran Looks Like In Real Life – SlashFilm

Commander Thy’lek Shran first appeared in the “Star Trek: Enterprise” episode “The Andorian Incident” (October 31, 2001), marking the moments when humans first encountered the Andorian people. Even non-Trekkies might be able to spot an Andorian, as they have bright blue skin, white hair, and two small antennae. On the original “Star Trek,” Andorians were merely said to be diplomatically combative, but on “Enterprise,” the showrunners expanded them into a strict, militant, but deeply principled people. 

The plot of “The Andorian Incident” involved the Andorians infiltrating a distant Vulcan meditation temple, claiming that the Vulcans had hidden sophisticated spy equipment under it. When Captain Archer (Scott Bakula) visited the temple, he was unexpectedly taken hostage by a platoon of Andorian soldiers who were already hiding there. The Andorians were led by Commander Shran, an angry and aggressive figure who didn’t believe Archer when he pleaded ignorance about a Vulcan spy station. By the end of the episode, however, Archer will unwittingly expose that the Vulcan retreat actually was a spy station, earning Shran’s begrudging respect. Shran would appear in nine additional episodes of the series, eventually reaching the rank of General. 

Shran was played by veteran actor and “Star Trek” semiregular Jeffrey Combs. By the airing of “Enterprise” in 2001, Combs was already immediately recognizable to Trekkies for playing multiple roles on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.” Over the course of 33 “Deep Space Nine” episodes, Combs played the villainous Vorta Weyoun, a major player in that show’s extensive Dominion War story, as well as the duplicitous Ferengi Brunt. In one episode, Combs played a pervy alien named Tiron. In 2000, he played a sleazy alien fight hustler named Penk on “Star Trek: Voyager.” For Combs, Shran was just another feather in his “Star Trek” cap. 

Indeed, Shran wasn’t the only character Jeffrey Combs played on “Star Trek: Enterprise.” In the episode “Acquisition” (March 27, 2002), Combs played another Ferengi character named Krem. And he played other “Star Trek” characters besides. Throughout “Deep Space Nine,” sharp-eyed Trekkies might have spotted him in large crowd scenes, sans alien makeup, playing a human. He also turned up with no makeup in the episode “Far Beyond the Stars,” playing a detective named Kevin Mulkahey. 

In 2003, Combs was hired to voice a Romulan character named Suldok for the video game “Star Trek: Elite Force II.” He also voiced an evil computer mastermind named AGIMUS on the comedy series “Star Trek: Lower Decks.” All told, Combs has played ten characters for “Star Trek.” He talked about his many roles in the “Deep Space Nine” retrospective documentary film “What We Left Behind.” 

But “Star Trek” is actually just a small part of Combs’ career. Combs has a long and impressive resume of credits stretching all the way back to the early 1980s. Combs, like so many professional actors, was bitten by the acting bug in high school, and decided to study acting at college at the University of Washington. He landed his first film acting credit, playing a drive-in teller in John Schlesinger’s 1981 comedy film “Honky-Tonk Freeway.” His first horror movie was “Frightmare” in 1981, but — to horror fans, at least — he skyrocketed to fame playing Herbert West, the death obsessed college student in Stuart Gordon’s 1985 film “Re-Animator.” The following year, he and Gordon re-teamed to make the striking and goopy “From Beyond,” which allowed Combs to play a cannibalistic maniac with an enlarged brain. Thanks to those two movies, Combs is considered horror royalty. 

Combs is an intense actor who can play broad, wild characters just as well as he can play quiet, subdued ones. Throughout the 1980s, he continued to build his career in horror films and B-movies. He also continued to work with Stuart Gordon, having a small part his in 1990 film “Robot Jox,” his 1992 sci-fi prison movie “Fortress,” and his 1995 H.P. Lovecraft adaptation “Castle Freak.” He also had small parts in Gordon’s 2002 drama “Edmond” and his final film, “Stuck,” in 2005. In 2009, Gordon directed Combs in an acclaimed one-man show called “Nevermore,” wherein he played a beleaguered Edgar Allan Poe. That show was scheduled to run for one month in Los Angeles, but was extended numerous times, as Combs gave a career highlight performance. 

The producer of “Re-Animator,” Brian Yuzna, also was fond of Combs, and cast the actor in various projects, including “The Guyver,” “Bride of Re-Animator,” “Faust: Love of the Damned,” and others. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Combs also turned up in multiple films for Full Moon Entertainment, notably “Trancers II” and as the title character in the “Doctor Strange” rip-off “Doctor Mordrid.” In 1993, he played H.P. Lovecraft himself in an anthology film called “Necronomicon.”

One of Combs’ best and most unhinged screen performances was playing a traumatized FBI agent named Milton Dammers in Peter Jackson’s 1996 film “The Frighteners.” It’s no wonder horror fans love Combs. He’s ubiquitous and reliably great.

And I didn’t even mention Combs’ dozens of animated voices, which included Marvel superheroes, DC Superheroes, and Transformers. I also didn’t mention his stint on “The 4400,” or his excellent performance in 2012’s “Would You Rather.” Most recently, he was in the 2025 film “Lilly Lives Alone.”