One Stargate SG-1 Actor Played 9 Different Characters

After Roland Emmerich's 1994 "Stargate" movie debuted, there were actually plans for a "Stargate" trilogy of films. Instead, a continuation TV series followed, but Emmerich was nowhere in sight when "SG-1" arrived in 1997. Neither were stars of the film, Kurt Russell and James Spader. Instead, "SG-1" was overseen by showrunners Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner with "MacGyver "star Richard Dean Anderson replacing Russell in the role of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Michael Shanks replacing Spader as Dr. Daniel Jackson.

In some ways, it might seem as though a TV series would be easier to make than a sequel to a successful Hollywood blockbuster. For one thing, TV was not yet in the so-called "golden age" that would arise in the years that followed its debut, and as such, audiences didn't always expect movie-level production values from their small-screen entertainment. On the other hand, a show about an elite squadron that traverses the universe also requires quite a bit of location scouting in order to provide enough in the way of alien landscapes for the SG-1 crew to explore.

That actually became the biggest problem "SG-1" faced, at least according to the show's VFX supervisor, who spoke about the difficulty of having to constantly repurpose Vancouver, British Columbia shooting locations. At least when it came to actors, things were a little easier. It's one of the benefits of making a show with a lot of alien characters that you can bury your performers in mounds of makeup, making it easy to re-use them. One actor in particular might just hold the record in that regard, having played nine different characters across the 10 seasons of "Stargate SG-1."

With a lot of alien worlds come a lot of alien races, and "Stargate SG-1" was full of various intergalactic species. Some were more lamentable than others: What is widely thought of as the worst episode "SG-1" episode, "Emancipation," featured a race of Mongol descendents called the Shavadai, who showcased a lot of unfortunate stereotypes about regressive "uncivilized" non-Western societies. Otherwise, though, the series showcased a rich array of alien races, and actor Alex Zahara played a surprising number of them.

In an interview with GateWorld, Zahara talked about his frequent returns to the show, revealing that it all had to do with his relationship to the writers. The Canadian actor recalled how he originally auditioned to play Xe'ls, a member of the Neraida race, and got the part, debuting as the character in season 2, episode 13, "Spirits." As Zahara told GateWorld, "Ever since then I've not really had to audition, but they've written episodes with me in mind, and that's just amazing."

Since his season 2 debut, the actor has portrayed Michael Clark, Stragoth leader, Stragoth 1, Shy One, Unas 1 (in "Beast of Burden"), Eggar, Iron Shirt, and Warrick Finn. Thanks to the fact that almost all of these alien characters required extensive makeup and prosthetics, viewers were none the wiser as to the fact they'd seen the same actor playing multiple different species across several seasons.

In his GateWorld interview, Alex Zahara acknowledged the uniqueness of his "Stargate SG-1" situation and the fact he'd played nine different characters over the series' run, saying, "Unless you're a regular, that doesn't happen." He and fellow "SG-1" actor Dion Johnstone are known among fans as the most prolific supporting players in the history of the series, with both having portrayed all manner of intergalactic species. But Zahara has Johnstone beat for the sheer number of roles he's played.

Asked about his extensive "SG-1" résumé, he noted that he actually took over one of Johnstone's roles when he became unavailable. "I've surpassed him," said Zahara. "He's been off doing other things. I played his character due [to the fact] that he was unavailable."

"Stargate SG-1" was cancelled after its tenth season, and Zahara didn't play any characters in the multiple spin-offs. But he retains the title of playing the most characters on the original series, with the actor explaining to GateWorld that "the 'Stargate' guys" got to know him over the years and used to call him months ahead of casting him as a new character on the show, giving him plenty of time to prepare — which is about as good as you can get without being a series regular.