James Sloyan

Early life and career

Sloyan was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on February 24, 1940. One of four children, two girls and two boys, born to James J. Sloyan and Annamae O'Brien (another being Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Patrick J. Sloyan), Sloyan Jr. spent the lion's share of the next nine and a half years in Europe, namely Italy, Switzerland, Ireland, and—if only long enough to board the next ship bound for home—Paris, France, before dividing the remainder of his preteens/adolescence between three decidedly disparate New York State municipalities. 1) Mechanicville, the birthplace of Sloyan's mother; 2) Albany, the state capitol, where, by his own count, Sloyan was "actually thrown out of five [or] six high schools", and 3) New York City, where in 1957, Sloyan embarked on his scholarship-subsidized two years of study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.

Sloyan's acting career was interrupted in 1962, when he was drafted into the United States Army during the Vietnam War.

Television

Sloyan's television career includes numerous brief performances on daytime dramas The Young and the Restless, General Hospital, and Ryan's Hope, and guest appearances on prime-time series Hawaii Five-O; The Streets of San Francisco; Wonder Woman; Baywatch; Moonlighting; Quantum Leap; The X-Files; MacGyver; Party of Five; Matlock; Murder, She Wrote; and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. He appeared in the television movies Blind Ambition, Billionaire Boys Club, and My Son Is Innocent.

In the fall of 1970, Sloyan, James Broderick, and Reni Santoni were cast in the ABC Movie of the Week episode, "Panic on the 5:22", as a trio of underprivileged, disaffected, and somewhat desperate Bronx residents who board a suburbs-bound commuter train in Manhattan and, after donning ski masks and drawing guns, commandeer its club car in hopes of making a quick killing. Much to their dismay, these hopes are promptly dashed, and their desperation dramatically escalated, by the discovery that these affluent suburbanites carry nothing but credit cards. In 1972, Sloyan co-starred with James Coco in Neil Simon's "The Greasy Spoon", one of five sketches that comprise his dark comedy, The Trouble With People, presented by Bell System Television Theatre on NBC-TV.

Sloyan has appeared in a number of science fiction television series, including Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, in which he portrayed Barnard "Barney" Smith in the episode "The Plot to Kill a City", and several roles in the Star Trek franchise. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, he portrayed Alidar Jarok (a defecting Romulan admiral) in "The Defector", and Alexander Rozhenko (Worf's son) as an adult in the future, in "Firstborn" using the alias "K'mtar". In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he portrayed the Bajoran scientist Doctor Mora Pol, Odo's guardian scientist in the episodes "The Begotten" and "The Alternate". The Star Trek: Voyager episode "Jetrel" features Sloyan as the title character.

Film

Sloyan is featured in The Sting as Mottola, who is used to illustrate the concept of a griftee, in a variation on the pigeon drop scam.

He has played roles in The Traveling Executioner (1970), The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971), and Xanadu (1980).

Advertisements

For 20 years, Sloyan was the voice of Lexus. The company's first commercial, "Balance," aired in 1989 and went on to win several awards as well as homages in pop culture and media. Sloyan served as Lexus' sole voice actor until 2009. He later narrated ads for Mitsubishi.

Sloyan was also a voice actor for Sprint Nextel long-distance services, and in film trailers for movies such as Jumper, The Shadow, and How to Make an American Quilt.

Personal life

Sloyan and actress Deirdre Lenihan began dating in 1963 and became engaged five years later. By 1973, they were openly living together, and seemed poised to take the plunge. They have two children, Daniel Sloyan and actress Samantha Sloyan.