Denise Crosby Biography

Denise Michelle Crosby (born November 24, 1957 in Hollywood, California) is an American actress who is perhaps best known for her brief role as Security Chief Tasha Yar on the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Denise Crosby's choice of career solified at an early age, and was influenced by the involvement of other family members in "show biz". Her father was actor Dennis Crosby, her grandfather was actor/singer/comedian Bing Crosby and her ex-father-in-law the noted director Blake Edwards (Crosby was married to Geoffrey Edwards from 1983-1990).
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OCrosby is married to Ken Sylk and has one son, August William Sylk.
Denise Crosby's first high profile role was as Lisa Davis on the Days of Our Lives soap opera.

One of her very first movie appearances was in the Eddie Murphy film 48 Hours.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

In 1987 Denise Crosby was selected for the role of Tasha Yar for the much publicized return of Star Trek to the small screen in the syndicated series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Initially one of the top-billed characters, featured prominently in episodes such as The Naked Now and Code of Honor the role of Tasha gradually moved into the background as other members of the ensemble cast became a greater focus of the series.

It's been reported that Crosby grew disillusioned with STNG due to the "Uhura-like" status of her role: Tasha was always present, yet her character was never expanded on. Ultimately, Crosby decided to leave the show, and her character was unceremoniously killed by the alien creature Armus during a scene in the episode Skin of Evil. She had starred in 22 episodes of the program at the point of departure.

Later, in interviews Denise confided that if more scenes like the Yar-Worf conversation in Skin of Evil, had been written, she would not have left the show.

In later years, however, Crosby had second thoughts about leaving the show, and advocated with the STNG production team to reprise her role of Tasha Yar. This came to be in season 3's Yesterday's Enterprise, in which an alternate universe is created after the Enterprise-C, the predecessor to TNG's Enterprise-D, comes forward in time. Yar would join the Enterprise-C as it re-entered its own time.

Denise would also guest star in several other STNG episodes as Romulan Commander Sela, the half-human, half-Romulan daughter of the Tasha Yar from the alternate universe's Enterprise. Sela is a role Crosby would later reprise on the Star Trek: Armada video game.

Other work

Since her Star Trek days, Crosby worked non-stop in television, notably as Dr. Gretchen Kelly on Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, as well as in high-budget features like Deep Impact. Crosby has also starred in Stephen King's Pet Sematary and the Quentin Tarantino caper Jackie Brown.

She also starred in the 2002 western horror film Legend of the Phantom Rider. She has also appeared in movies such as Red Shoe Diaries.

Following her appearance on Star Trek she also posed for the May 1988 Playboy magazine (see List of people in Playboy 1980-1989).

Trekkies

Crosby produced and narrated the 1997 documentary Trekkies, followed by the 2003 sequel titled Trekkies 2. Both films star Crosby, who conducts interviews with devotees of Star Trek, more commonly known as "Trekkies.

DENISE CROSBY PICTURES

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DENISE CROSBY BIOGRAPHY