9 Stars Who’ve Surprisingly Appeared on ‘Star Trek’

Joan Collins (1967)

The sultry English actress played a social worker in “The City on the Edge of Forever,” the second-most-popular episode in Season 1 of the original Star Trek TV series. Collins took the role — which called for her to fall in love with Kirk and then perish for the good of humankind in a complex time-travel plot — because her toddler daughter, Tara, loved the show.

Kirstie Alley (1982)

Talk about a splashy debut: Alley hit the big screen — and the big time — playing Lt. Saavik, a Vulcan, in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. It was the ideal launching pad for an acting career, propelling Alley to her Emmy-winning turn as Rebecca Howe on Cheers and a role opposite John Travolta in three Look Who’s Talking films.

Teri Hatcher (1988)

The future Lois Lane and desperate housewife proved irresistible to roguish freighter captain Billy Campbell in “The Outrageous Okona,” an otherwise forgettable episode from Season 2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Playing transporter operator Chief B.G. Robinson, Hatcher’s otherworldly appeal drew the notice of even Lt. Cmdr. Data — and he’s an android.

Whoopi Goldberg (1988-1993)

Inspired by Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura in the original TV series), Goldberg lobbied the producers of Star Trek: The Next Generation for a role. They came up with just the thing: The wise (and fashion-forward!) Guinan dispensed cocktails and counsel from shipboard bar Ten Forward in 28 episodes. Goldberg boldly went on to win an Oscar, Grammy, Emmy and Tony.

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Mick Fleetwood (1989)

Thunder only happens when it’s raining, and Mick Fleetwood appears on Next Generation only when he’s unrecognizable. In Season 2’s “Manhunt,” the Fleetwood Mac drummer shaved his signature beard — and endured some torturous makeup — to play a murderous alien with a giant fishlike head. Thankfully for the health of the galaxy, he decided to stick with music.

Kim Cattrall (1991)

Seven years before Samantha would slip into her first pair of Jimmy Choos on Sex and the City, Cattrall landed the juicy role of Vulcan Lt. Valeris in Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country. Perhaps it’s not such a leap from scheming space assassin with fashion-forward ears to boom-times Manhattan socialite?

Terry O’Quinn (1994)

He played an admiral deprived of his starship (but still in possession of some hair) on the Next Generation episode “The Pegasus” in Season 7. A decade later, O’Quinn would make a big splash with TV viewers (and win a 2007 Emmy) as the mystic survivalist John Locke — shorn of his locks — on six seasons of Lost.

Kate Mulgrew (1995-2001)

Strong command presence … striking red hair … army of minions eager to do anything their leader asks. Yup, that sums up Red Reznikov, Mulgrew’s character on Orange Is the New Black, but it also neatly captures her breakout role as Capt. Kathryn Janeway — the franchise’s first female Starfleet captain — on seven seasons of the spinoff series Star Trek: Voyager.

Dwayne Johnson (2000)

When “The Rock” played an alien gladiator on Star Trek: Voyager’s Season 6 episode “Tsunkatse,” it wasn’t exactly a stretch from his stint as World Wrestling Entertainment star Rocky Maivia. It was also one of Johnson’s first forays into acting, which has eclipsed his other careers — and delighted fans of The Fast and the Furious movies and the raw HBO series Ballers.

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