by Niken Paramita

Created on: September 09, 2009

The Half-Klingon Engineer

Roxann Dawson was born Roxann Caballero on September 11, 1958, in Los Angeles, California. She grew up in the same city and took Theater Arts major at the University of California at Berkeley. After graduation in 1980, Roxann immediately jumped to the Broadway stage with the role of Diana Morales in the production of A Chorus Line. She later also appeared in such off-Broadway plays as The Early Girl, V&V Only, The Tempest, and Daughters.

Roxann set off her on-screen career in 1985 in the movie version of A Chorus Line. The performance was followed by a number of minor roles in TV series like Another World and The Fortunate Pilgrim. Marrying actor Casey Biggs, the actress began to be credited as Roxann Biggs in the TV movie Broken Angel (1988). Until 1994, Roxann did some occasional stints in Baywatch (1990, 1 episode as Ines), the movie Guilty by Suspicion (1991, as Felicia Barron), The Round Table (1992), The Hat Squad (1993), The Untouchables (1994, 1 episode as Gina Perino), and some others.

Roxann's big break came when she was cast as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, a half-human, half Klingon Chief Engineer in the series Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001). Playing a character who was much younger in age, Roxann earned accolades from ALMA Awards with three nominations (1998-2000) and a 2001 Special Achievement Award. Interestingly, in the first 46 episodes of Voyager Roxann billed herself as Roxann Biggs-Dawson after marrying casting director Eric Dawson. Later on, however, the actress removed Biggs from her credit.

Despite her mounting bustle, Roxann pursued a writing career with the play Passage through the Heart (1997), which was first staged at the University of Minnesota. Several years afterward, she co-wrote a sci-fi trilogy novel titled Entering Tenebrea, Tenebrea's Hope, and Tenebrea Rising. Roxann, who made her first directing attempt in 1997, also tried her hands as a helmer of Voyager and the series Star Trek: Enterprise.

Outside Voyager, Roxann was only involved in little-seen gigs like the direct-to-video Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996), the telefilms Foto Novelas: Seeing Through Walls (1997) and The Lost World (1998), as well as an episode of Any Day Now (1999) and Seven Days (2000). The voice of B'Elanna Torres in the video game Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force (2000) continued her episodic directing work in Any Day Now (2002), Charmed (2003) and The Division (2 episodes, 2003-2004).

Making a name for herself, Roxann was seen on the cover of the July 2000 TV Guide's Sexiest Stars in the Universe and was featured in US FHM Magazine (June 2001) as one of the Girls of Sci-Fi.

Roxann wrapped up her on-screen appearance in the 2004 film Jesus the Driver. She decided to get focused in directing and then producing. She helmed episodes of Crossing Jordan, Cold Case, Medical Investigation, The O.C., and the 2009 Melrose Place. As a producer, Roxann took part in 16 episodes of Crossing Jordan and 41 episodes of Cold Case. She now resides with her husband and their daughters, Emma and Mia.

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