Character actor James Sloyan, who played four different aliens across three “Star Trek” series and the numbers runner Mottola in the Oscar-winning “The Sting,” died at his home in Sherman Oaks, Calif., on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, “tended by his family.” He was 85.
His family made the death public two months later, in an obituary published in the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, Sept. 20. No cause of death was provided.
“Friends and colleagues remember him always present, always curious, courageous, inventive, loyal, as well as brash, mouthy and very urban. He was one-of-a-kind,” the family said in the obituary.
Four Aliens, Three Series
Sloyan made five appearances across three “Star Trek” series, playing four characters in all. On “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” he played the Romulan Adm. Alidar Jarok in the 1990 episode “The Defector,” the conflicted officer whose defection to the Enterprise drives the hour. He returned to the series in the 1994 episode “Firstborn” as Alexander Rozhenko, the adult son of the Klingon Worf, a role also credited as K’mtar.
He played the Bajoran scientist Dr. Mora Pol in two episodes of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “The Begotten” and “The Alternate.” On “Star Trek: Voyager,” he played the Haakonian scientist Ma’Bor Jetrel, the title character of the episode “Jetrel.”
From “The Sting” to “Xanadu”
Sloyan made his film debut in 1970 in “The Traveling Executioner” and appeared in “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight” in 1971. In the 1973 film “The Sting,” he played Mottola, a numbers runner who becomes the first mark of the con pulled by Johnny Hooker (Robert Redford) and Luther Coleman (Robert Earl Jones), setting the story in motion. “The Sting” won Best Picture at the Oscars in 1974.
In the 1980 film “Xanadu,” which starred Olivia Newton-John, Sloyan played Simpson, the demanding boss at AirFlo Records of aspiring artist Sonny Malone, played by Michael Beck.
Television and Stage Work
On television, he took guest roles on “The Doctors,” “The Streets of San Francisco,” “Kojak” and “Delvecchio,” and had a regular role in 1977’s “Westside Medical.” In 1983, producers cast him opposite “Oh Madeline” star Madeline Kahn as her husband in the sitcom, which ran through 1984.
He was also the voice of Toyota’s luxury brand Lexus in commercials for 18 years, beginning in 1989.
Sloyan was born in Indianapolis on Feb. 24, 1941. He graduated from The American Academy of Dramatic Arts and served three years in the U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., before turning to acting full time.
Sloyan made his Broadway debut in 1969’s “Indians” and took lead roles in off-Broadway productions including “A Dream Out of Time.” He handled fight choreography for Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival. His career ran more than five decades and rarely put him at the top of a poster.
Sloyan is survived by his wife, actress Deirdre Lenihan, and their children, musician Daniel Sloyan and actress Samantha Sloyan.
