Ishka is a fictional character from the science fiction television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9). A female Ferengi, she is the mother of Quark (Armin Shimerman) and Rom (Max Grodénchik). Ishka appears in five canon episodes of DS9, and also features in seven licensed-but-non-canon Star Trek novels.

Conceptualized as a feminist character, Ishka was played by Andrea Martin once and Cecily Adams four times. Both actresses endured a lot of makeup, prostheses, and costuming. Adams loved the character, and was stunned by the positive fan reaction to Ishka.

Conception

Ishka was conceived as a Ferengi "women's libber" that Robert Hewitt Wolfe described as transcending the stereotypical protester. Ishka did not want to end the Ferengi profit-making way of life, but wanted Ferengi females to be able to take part in it. Martin was offered the role without even having to audition. Ira Behr, Robert Hewitt Wolfe, and David Livingston all had good things to say about the casting of Martin as Ishka. Martin could not return for "Ferengi Love Songs", the show held auditions for the role and saw "a lot of people". Prior to auditioning, Cecily Adams was only peripherally familiar with the Star Trek universe, having only seen a few Next Generation and Voyager episodes.<!-- exhausted -->

<!-- exhausted -->

<!-- exhausted -->

<!-- exhausted -->

<!-- exhausted -->

</references>

  • Ishka at StarTrek.com (Archived by the Wayback Machine)