Denise Crosby: Biography
Not everyone born in Hollywood, California, has famous family connections. Denise Crosby's early and young adult life, however, were influenced by her status as Bing Crosby's grandchild and Blake Edwards's daughter-in-law.
There is no doubt Crosby has steadily forged her own niche in the entertainment industry, from her portrayal of Lisa Davis on Days of Our Lives to the no-nonsense Lieutenant Natasha 'Tasha' Yar on Star Trek: The Next Generation, where she also played her own daughter, Romulan Commander Sela — a role she would reprise on the "Star Trek Armada" video game.
Since her Star Trek days, Crosby has 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." One of her very first film appearances was in the Eddie Murphy vehicle "48 Hrs." Crosby has recently made time to star in and co-executive produce a feature documentary, "Trekkies" about the fans of Star Trek.
Crosby is married to Ken Sylk and has one son, August William Sylk.
There is no doubt Crosby has steadily forged her own niche in the entertainment industry, from her portrayal of Lisa Davis on Days of Our Lives to the no-nonsense Lieutenant Natasha 'Tasha' Yar on Star Trek: The Next Generation, where she also played her own daughter, Romulan Commander Sela — a role she would reprise on the "Star Trek Armada" video game.
Since her Star Trek days, Crosby has 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." One of her very first film appearances was in the Eddie Murphy vehicle "48 Hrs." Crosby has recently made time to star in and co-executive produce a feature documentary, "Trekkies" about the fans of Star Trek.
Crosby is married to Ken Sylk and has one son, August William Sylk.
- In 1991, she guest-starred in an episode of The Flash along with Dick Miller and future Star Trek: Voyager star Jeri Ryan.(edit)
- She made an uncredited appearance in Quentin Tarantino's 1997 thriller Jackie Brown.(edit)
- She starred in the direct-to-video releases Dream Man (1995), which co-starred "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" actor Armin Shimerman, and Executive Power (1997), co-starring "Star Trek: Enterprise" guest actress Joanna Cassidy.(edit)
- In 1998, she appeared with her "Yesterday's Enterprise" co-star Christopher McDonald in the drama "Divorce: A Contemporary Western". (edit)
- After leaving "The Next Generation", Crosby focused on feature films. She starred in five movies between 1988 and 1989, including "Miracle Mile" (with Robert DoQui, Jenette Goldstein, Raphael Sbarge, William Schallert, and Brian Thompson) and Blake Edwards' "Skin Deep".
Perhaps her most famous film is the 1989 Stephen King horror movie "Pet Semetary", in which she was the lead actress and co-starred with frequent Trek guest actor Brad Greenquist and her one-time "Star Trek: The Next Generation" co-star Kavi Raz.(edit) - She appeared in made-for-television movies as "My Wicked, Wicked Ways... The Legend of Errol Flynn" (1985)(TV) starring Duncan Regehr and Alan Oppenheimer and as Malice in "Wonderland" (1985) with Anne Haney, Mark L. Taylor, and Jason Wingreen.(edit)
- Prior to assuming the role of Tasha Yar, Crosby co-starred with future The Next Generation and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" guest actor Andrew Prine in the 1986 science fiction adventure Eliminators.(edit)
- She co-starred in the hit 1982 action comedy "48 Hrs" along with fellow Trek alumni Jonathan Banks and Margot Rose.(edit)
- During the documentary Trekkies, Crosby commented that her Tasha Yar character had to die in order to get "the best episodes."(edit)
- Crosby had second thoughts about leaving "Star Trek: The Next Generation", and approached the "The Next Generation" production team with the idea of reprising her role of Tasha Yar.
This came to be in season three's "Yesterday's Enterprise", in which an alternate universe is created after the USS Enterprise-C, the predecessor to The Next Generation's USS Enterprise-D, comes forward 22 years in time. Yar joined the Enterprise-C before it returned to its own time.(edit) - 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 "Star Trek: The Next Generation".(edit)
- Her first high profile role was as Lisa Davis on the soap opera "Days of Our Lives".(edit)
- She is the granddaughter of Bing Crosby and Dixie Lee.(edit)
- After leaving "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in 1988, she produced and also hosted the documentary Trekkies in 1997. In 2004, she also produced and hosted the sequel, Trekkies 2.(edit)
- She was influenced in her career choice by the involvement of other family members in the television and movie industry.(edit)
- She appeared in Playboy magazine in 1979.(edit)
- She played in the movie The Family Martinez (1986), starring future "Star Trek: Voyager" star Robert Beltran.(edit)
- She says that she left "Star Trek: The Next Generation" before the first season ended, because she felt her character was not being given enough to do.(edit)
- She began her acting career with a small role in her then-father-in-law's romantic comedy "10" in 1979. (edit)
- She provided the voice of the character Admiral Sela in the computer game Star Trek: Armada.(edit)
- Her grandfather was actor/singer/comedian Bing Crosby.(edit)
- After Dennis Crosby married a Las Vegas showgirl, her mother, Marilyn Scott, sued her father, for paternity in a highly publicized trial.(edit)
- She originally auditioned for the role of Counsellor Deanna Troi, on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987), but Marina Sirtis won the role and Denise was hired as Lt. Tasha Yar.(edit)
- Her son, August Sylk, is born June 17, 1998.(edit)
- She has been married to actor Ken Sylk since 1995.(edit)
- Her father is actor Dennis Crosby.(edit)
- She was married to Geoffrey Edwards from 1983 to 1990.(edit)
- Her nickname is "Pooky."(edit)
- Her height is 5' 8" (1.73 m).(edit)
- Appears in the music video for Chris Isaak's "Dancin'".(edit)
- (on leaving "Star Trek: The Next Generation")
Denise Crosby: Leaving the show was a really difficult decision to make. It was purely an artistic one. I was very, very frustrated as an actor on the show and I felt straight jacketed. I always kind of use the comparison of being drafted by the major leagues and then being benched so I just felt like I needed to keep going you know, keep running, but I had no idea that I would still have this continuous involvement (with Star Trek) you know.(edit)
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