James J. Sloyan

James J. Sloyan Jr. is an American character actor, voice actor, and stage performer born on February 24, 1940, in Indianapolis, Indiana. One of four children born to James J. Sloyan and Annamae O'Brien, he is a sibling of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Patrick J. Sloyan. Following his birth, Sloyan spent approximately nine and a half years living across Europe, including time in Italy, Switzerland, Ireland, and France, before settling in New York State. He lived successively in Mechanicville, his mother's birthplace; Albany, where he attended and was expelled from multiple high schools; and New York City, where in 1957 he began a scholarship-funded two-year program at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. His early professional trajectory was interrupted in 1962 when he was drafted into the United States Army during the Vietnam War.

Sloyan made his Broadway debut in 1969, appearing in Indians. That single credit marked his entry into professional theater at the highest level of the American stage.

His television work spans several decades and encompasses a wide range of genres. In the fall of 1970, he was cast alongside James Broderick and Reni Santoni in the ABC Movie of the Week installment "Panic on the 5:22," playing one of three men who hijack a commuter train's club car. In 1972, he co-starred with James Coco in Neil Simon's "The Greasy Spoon," one of five segments comprising the dark comedy The Trouble With People, broadcast by Bell System Television Theatre on NBC. Sloyan made guest appearances on numerous prime-time series, among them Hawaii Five-O, The Streets of San Francisco, Wonder Woman, Moonlighting, Quantum Leap, The X-Files, MacGyver, Matlock, Murder She Wrote, and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, as well as recurring appearances on the daytime dramas The Young and the Restless, General Hospital, and Ryan's Hope. He also appeared in the television films Blind Ambition, Billionaire Boys Club, and My Son Is Innocent.

Sloyan accumulated a notable presence within the Star Trek franchise across multiple series. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, he portrayed Alidar Jarok, a defecting Romulan admiral, in the episode "The Defector," and later played an adult Alexander Rozhenko under the alias K'mtar in "Firstborn." In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, he appeared as Doctor Mora Pol, the Bajoran scientist who served as Odo's guardian, in the episodes "The Begotten" and "The Alternate." He also portrayed the title character in the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Jetrel." Separately, he appeared in Buck Rogers in the 25th Century as Barnard "Barney" Smith in the episode "The Plot to Kill a City."

His film credits include The Traveling Executioner (1970), The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971), The Sting, in which he played Mottola in a scene illustrating the pigeon drop scam, and Xanadu (1980).

Sloyan's voice work constitutes a significant portion of his career. He served as the sole voice of Lexus for twenty years, beginning with the automaker's first commercial, "Balance," which aired in 1989 and earned multiple awards. His tenure with Lexus concluded in 2009. He subsequently provided narration for Mitsubishi advertisements, voiced campaigns for Sprint Nextel long-distance services, and narrated film trailers including those for Jumper, The Shadow, and How to Make an American Quilt.

In his personal life, Sloyan began a relationship with actress Deirdre Lenihan in 1963 and became engaged to her five years later. The two married by April 1977 and have a daughter, actress Samantha Sloyan.