5 actresses who were almost thrown like Tasha Yar of Star Trek before Denise Crosby

During the original casting call for “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, written in the last months of 1986, the Enterprise Head of Security was to be a Latina character named Macha Hernandez, who would be modeled according to the character of Vasquez (Jenette Goldstein) of the film by James Cameron, “Aliens”. Indeed, there was a brief attempted hiring of Goldstein for the role, until the writer DC Fontana stresses that she was not really Latina. The character was renamed Tanya accordingly, then finally Tasha. The new Tasha Yar received an intriguing background. She was a survivor of an ambitious colony of the earth who, by greed and mismanagement, completely collapsed. She lived among anarchy, rampant sexual abuses and poverty before escaping and joining Starfleet.

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Denise Crosby was finally launched like Tasha Yar, and the producers of the show gave the character a position on the bridge, making sure that Yar would always be in front of the camera. Crosby, however, noticed that the central position on the deck did not mean that his character had a lot to do, and that Tasha Yar was seriously subscribed. Crosby, upset by this, left the series towards the end of its first season, and the producers wrote a story in which Yar was killed by a powerful Tar monster. We can only speculate what would have happened to Yar if Crosby had remained; Trekkies can tell you that the show has become much more focused on characters – and much better – by its third season.

At the time when Yar was still being distributed, however, Crosby was not yet a shoo-in. Indeed, there is a now famous casting memo of 1987 (published via Trekmovie) in which producer John Ferraro wrote to the president of Paramount TV John Pike to announce the finalists of each role. Crosby, it turns out that it was not even one of the Yar finalists. The following actresses were however.

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Trekkies already know Rosalind Chao under the name of Keiko O’Brien, the wife of the leader of support character Miles O’Brien (Colm Meaney) presented for the first time in the episode of “Next Generation” “Data’s Day” (January 7, 1991). Chao would present himself to seven additional episodes of “Next Gen”, before going to “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”, appearing on 19 others. Chao has always been a dominant screen presence, even if his character was not explored until later the episodes “DS9”. The producers probably threw Chao as Keiko after remembering his hearing for the role of Yar.

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Before “Star Trek”, Chao had a prolific television career dating back to 1970, when she was only 13 years old. Chao had played with a Beijing opera troop based in California since the age of five, so she was comfortable in front of the public. His first television role was to play the daughter of a Chinese laundromat owner in an episode of “Here’s Lucy”. She also appeared in successful shows like “Kojak”, “The Hardy Boys / Nancy Drew Mysteries”, “The Incredible Hulk” and “The Amazing Spider-Man”. His first feature film was “The Big Brawl” of the 1980s, which was Jackie Chan’s first attempt to reach an American audience. She played a recurring role on “Diff’Rerent Strokes”, and appeared on “M * a * s * H”, “The A-Team”, “Riptide”, “Stringray”, “Miami vice” and several others. Cinema fans will probably remember her work in “The Joy Luck Club”. “Star Trek” would have just been another feather in his cap.

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Chao, now 67 years old, was recently in “3 Body Problem” and “Sweet Tooth”, so she still works regularly.

In another piece of casting, the end of actress Patti Yasutake was considered for the role of Keiko, but she ended up being interpreted as a supporting character named Nurse Ogawa.

Bunty Bailey is perhaps best known for Pop Audience under the name of “The Girl” in the clip “Take On” by An-ha. She also played the girl in “The Sun Threk Threk on A-HA television (in case it was not clear, she went out with the main singer of the group). She also danced for the video of Billy Idol to” be a lover “. Some can also recognize Bailey as the Punk Badass chick in the memorable horror film of Stuart Gordon. brings out his eye globes and replaced by doll eyes.

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Less will recognize her for her work in the 1992 completely unperfable film by Rafal Zielinski “Spellcaster” (with Adam Ant and Richard Blade). She was best known, perhaps, for her punk attitude and her musical associations. Bailey may have been rejected for the role of Tasha Yar because of his lack of experience as a scripted actor. She was fine in the “dolls”, but had to have seemed a simple neophyte in the presence of an old pro like Rosalind Chao. In addition, as a security officer, Tasha Yar should transport a lot of difficult authority, and this is not the atmosphere that we get Bailey by looking at the clip “Take on me”. She has not made a lot of professional screen since the early 1990s, working instead as a dance instructor in her native England.

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Like Rosalind Chao, the producers of “Next Generation” remembered the actress Julia Nickson of her hearing Tasha Yar and finally welcomed him to play a brand in the episode “The Arsenal of Freedom” (April 11, 1988). Nickson would also play a villager in the episode “Deep Space Nine” “Paradise” (February 14, 1994), and kept her science fiction tv credit by playing Catherine Sakai, one of the semi-regulating characters of the first season of “Babylon 5.”. It’s funny, given suspicion that “Deep Space Nine” may have taken some ideas from “Babylon 5.”

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Nickson began to work as a model and actress when she was still at university, and appeared in two episodes of “Magnum Pi” in the mid -80s. Her first film role was opposite Sylvester Stallone in “Rambo: First Blood Part II” In 1985. She also played in the comedy film by Nico Mastorakis in 1988 “Glitch!” Which, by coincidence, also presented Bunty Bailey. Nickson was married to actor David Soul at that time, with films like “K2” and “Sidekicks”. She also appeared in the famous adaptation of the 1994 video game “Double Dragon” and in programs like “Seasquest DSV” and “Walker, Texas Ranger”. She seemed to draw a lot of attention from gender casting directors of the 90s.

Nickson’s latest film was Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” and officially announced her retirement to act on her Instagram account in 2025. She has always been recognized and worked very hard. I hope her retirement goes well.

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Leah Ayers had a considerable CV when she auditioned to play Tasha Yar. In 1979, she played a role in the day soap opera “Love of Life”, although her real breakthrough was the mystery soap “The Edge of Night”. She also played Marcia Brady on this 1990 strange restart of “The Brady Bunch” called “The Bradys”. She, like other actresses on this list, also presented herself on episodes of “The A-Team” and, of course, “The Love Boat”. There was a time when an actor would not be considered legitimate until he appeared in a support role on “The Love Boat”. She was in 11 episodes of the SITCOM Sportive “1st and ten” and three episodes of “Walker, Texas Ranger”. Character actors who work hard, seem to meet frequently.

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She, like Bailey, also had a small clip experience, playing a waitress in the “more than you deserve” video of Meat Loaf. The most recognized role of Ayers could be that of Janice Kent in the thriller of the Jean Van Damme “Bloodport” clause. Ayers retired to act in 1998. She married her current husband, Bruce, took her family name from Kalish and now co-for a family consultation clinic in Los Angeles. Bruce Kalish also worked in Hollywood, so they probably have a lot in common.

Actress Lianne Laglund does not have a very long CV, having only played in films and television from 1983 to 1991. She was in the film Monster “The Demon Murder Case”, and the comedy of the 1987 studio “The Squeed”. She played Maureen O’Hara in a little seen television biopic entitled “Lucy & Desi: before laughing.” She was envisaged for Tasha Yar, but seems to have retired shortly after.

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It’s fun: at the head of this article, I mentioned the primordial memo written by John Ferraro, and he revealed another interesting casting wrinkle. It seems that Denise Crosby was envisaged for the role of the Troi advisor, the empathetic narrowing of the USS Enterprise. British actress Marina Sirtis came to read for the role of Tasha Yar, and show that creator Gene Roddenberry struck the idea of ​​having sirtis and crosby roles. Sirtis was finally interpreted as Troi advisor, and Crosby played Tasha Yar. Indeed, there are reports on the casting directors “Star Trek” testing Crosby and Sirtis together to see if they have photographed well.

However, all of this was during a casting whirlwind, and the above memo could have involved people late, but also those who had not yet entered. It is now difficult to imagine someone else in these “next generation” roles, but a little imagination has attenuated us by the possibilities.

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