When a friend told me that the guy who played Dr. Bashir on Deep Space Nine is the great-grandson of the Mahdi, I didn’t believe it….but I looked it up, and, well, it turns out it was true. Alexander Siddig’s full name is actually Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abdurrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdul Karim El Mahdi. The last are a reference to his grandfather, Muhammad Ahmed of Omdurman, the Mahdi of Khartoum.
Interestingly, Odo actor Rene Auberjonois’s great-great-grandmother was actually Napoleon’s younger sister, Caroline Bonaparte Murat (wife of Joachim Murat, King of Naples). So it’s like everyone on Deep Space Nine is related to some important 19th Century historical figure.
And unless I am very much mistaken, Cirroc Lofton is also related to royalty: Haile Selassie.
