Nichelle Nichols

'Nichelle Nichols' (qv) was born Grace Nichols on December 28, 1932 in Robbins, Illinois. She began her show business career at age 16 as a singer with 'Duke Ellington' (qv) in a ballet she created for one of his compositions and later sang with his band. After switching to acting, she was twice nominated for the Sarah Siddons Award for best actress in "The Blacks" and "Kicks and Company". Her film debut found her dancing with 'Sammy Davis Jr.' (qv) in _Porgy and Bess (1959)_ (qv). A guest appearance on _The Lieutenant (1963)_ (qv) led to an offer from 'Gene Roddenberry' (qv) to join the cast of _Star Trek: The Original Series (1966)_ (qv), which provided her best known role, as communications officer Lieutenant Nyota Uhura. She later repeated her role in a string of successful Star Trek films: _Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)_ (qv), _Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)_ (qv), _Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)_ (qv), _Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)_ (qv), _Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)_ (qv), and _Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)_ (qv). She also later appeared in a series of guest role in Star Trek fan-made series and films. Invited to join the board of directors of the National Space Institute, NASA asked her to participate in its astronaut recruitment programme for the space shuttle project. Three of her recruits were on the ill-fated Challenger mission. For her work, she received NASA's distinguished Public Service Award. She has a consultant firm, Women in Motion Inc. through which she produced and starred in the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum film "What's in It for Me?". With all this, she has not neglected her singing making a series of video albums the latest being "'Nichelle Nichols' (qv): Live at Disneyland".::tonyman5