Max Grodenchik previously played two different Ferengi characters in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "Captain's Holiday" and "The Perfect Mate".

Months later, Grodénchik read for the role of Quark at a large and busy casting call, but did not feel the audition went well and did not expect to hear back, forgetting about it.

He has a knack for fixing things, but until around 2372, he works exclusively as a waiter and stock boy in his brother Quark's bar on Deep Space Nine (DS9).

In 2373, Rom designs and distributes a self-replicating minefield that blocks access to the Bajoran wormhole and prevents Dominion reinforcements from entering the Alpha Quadrant for several months.

Rom eventually married Leeta, a Bajoran Dabo girl employed at Quark's bar, after a period of doubt about her love after having been burned in his first marriage.

Quark, Rom and Nog do not understand or speak English/Federation Standard, but rather rely on Universal Translators implanted near their ears ("Little Green Men").

[8] By 2381, Grand Nagus Rom and his wife, First Clerk Leeta, instituted numerous reforms such as discouraging the arms trade for a longer term focus on other priorities, such as the hospitality industry.

[9] Though often employed for comic effect, Trekonomics author Manu Saadia deemed Rom central to what he considered the turning point in the "Ferengi arc" in DS9.

[10] As the Ferengi are presented as "sort of a parody of the 1990s or 2000s American acquisitive businessman",[11] Rom's great transformation is appropriately exemplified by his formation of a trade union and even quoting verbatim from the Communist Manifesto.

[10] Likewise, Uwe Meyer stated that Rom draws on human ideology, both Communist and that of American trade unions, and that he is presented in a likeable way not the least because he is strongly influenced by the values of the Federation.

Rom is shown as generally unmasculine, emphasized in the episode "Profit and Lace" by presenting him as an expert for 'female' movement, and much better suited to imitating a woman than Quark, who actually has to fill that role.

Rom is again presented as feminized in Ferengi terms, both biologically - he has comparatively small ear-lobes - and culturally - he lacks in business acumen.

[6] In 2021, Julian Beauvais, writing for Screen Rant, thought that Rom was an honorable character for trying to take care of his family, using his engineering abilities to help defeat the Dominion during the war, and as Grand Nagus planning to reform Ferengi society to be more egalitarian.