I’m not looking for famous people who loved the show and wanted to do a cameo (c.f. Christian Slater, Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth), or actors that had already had extensive careers before their guest appearance (c.f. Ricardo Montalban, Julie Newmar, Joan Collins).
I’m looking for the biggest actor appearing in a bit part in a Star Trek episode years before they were famous.
Here’s some I came up with:
• Teri Garr in ST TOS “Assignment: Earth”
• Ashley Judd in ST TNG “Darmok” & “The Game”
• Famke Janssen in ST TNG “The Perfect Mate”
That’s all I got.
NOTE: I never watched DS9 or Voyager, so I’m sure there will be some good ones in there. Also didn’t find any sort of “Star Trek celebrity list” on the Web, surprisingly…
I forgot about Olivia D’Abo - good one. Forgot about Clint Howard from TOS - Michael J Pollard was also in that one. (And Gene Roddenberry and William Shatner’s kids).
Sally Kellerman guest starred in an episode of TOS (from what I recall, she and one of Kirk’s friends developed some godlike abilities that disrupted whatever mission the Enterprise was on; of course, they were thwarted). I’m not familiar with her work before then, but she later appeared in MASH (the movie) as Hot Lips O’Houlihan and as Rodney Dangerfield’s love interest/professor in Back to School, among other films.
Christian Slater had already become a well-known actor by the time he appeared in Star Trek VI, as he had already appeared in Heathers, The Name of the Rose, Pump up the Volume, the skateboarding classic (hehe) Gleaming the Cube, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Young Guns II, etc. I saw Star Trek VI shortly after it first appeared on cable, and I remember seeing Slater in the film and saying, “Hey, it’s Christian Slater!”
