Paul Sorvino Played Worf's Brother In Star Trek: TNG
Goodfellas actor Paul Sorvino played Nikolai Rozhenko, Worf's human brother, in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Worf was introduced in TNG's premiere episode with the rest of the crew of the USS Enterprise-D, but the Klingon Starfleet officer didn't get much to do in TNG season 1. After the death of Lt. Tasha Yar, Worf became Chief of Security and began featuring in more storylines.
Worf's Klingon parents were killed by Romulans at the Khitomer Massacre, so Worf was raised by Sergey and Helena Rozhenko on a farming colony on Gault and then on Earth. Sergey had been serving on the USS Intrepid when the ship answered a Klingon distress call. In the wreckage left by the Romulans, Sergey found the young Worf, and he and his wife decided to raise him as their son. Worf's parents visited him on the Enterprise in TNG season 4, episode 2, "Family," but his human foster brother, Nikolai Rozhenko, did not make an appearance until Star Trek: The Next Generation season 7.
The only biological child of Sergey and Helena, Paul Sorvino's Nikolai Rozhenko served the United Federation of Planets as a cultural observer. Worf and Nikolai had been raised as brothers, although Nikolai's impulsiveness sometimes conflicted with Worf's more stoic nature. In 2370, Nikolai was observing the people of Boraal II, where he fell in love and conceived a child with a villager named Dobara. When the atmosphere of Boraal II began dissipating, Nikolai forced the hand of Captain Jean-Luc Picard by transporting the villagers to the USS Enterprise-D. The Enterprise crew then found a suitable new planet, and Nikolai decided to remain with Dobara and their unborn child.
Worf's Brother & Human Parents Are Important To The Klingon's Story
Worf grew up as the only Klingon in a small farming village, where he gained his sense of self-control, as he often had to hold back his strength when playing with human children. Despite being raised by humans, Worf always felt drawn to his Klingon roots, and he traveled to the Klingon homeworld of Qo'noS to perform the Rite of Ascension at the age of fifteen. Worf returned to Earth and later became the first Klingon to join Starfleet, eventually landing a position on the USS Enterprise-D.
In many ways, Worf is more Klingon than most Klingons. He strives to uphold everything he knows about what it means to be Klingon, but he has never actually lived among his own species for any significant amount of time. Worf's unique upbringing makes him a man of contradictions - he feels too human to be a true Klingon warrior but too alien to be human, and this is where much of his conflict stems from. Worf's Star Trek: The Next Generation journey explored his duel nature, but the Klingon didn't truly come into his own until he joined the cast of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
