10 Future Stars Who Appeared In Star Trek
5. Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Union appears as N'Garen in the Deep Space Nine episode Sons and Daughters. This was one of her earliest roles, as she had only begun auditioning in the late 90s. Star Trek helped to boost her profile sufficiently to get auditions for She's All That and 10 Things I Hate About You, both of which followed quickly after the episode.
Her career truly began to blossom with the release of Bring It On, in which she starred opposite fellow Trek alum Kirsten Dunst. Since then, she has gone from strength to strength. She is an actor and also a writer, with several publications to her name.
Union is a fierce advocate for survivors of assault, as she is a survivor herself. In 2011, she defended Rihanna's music video for Man Down, in which a woman shoots and kills her rapist. She has also been vocal about the killing of Trayvon Martin, and the alleged racism she experienced as a judge on America's Got Talent.
Union has commented on the difficulty facing women of colour in Hollywood. She spoke about how, in earlier years, the casting of actors like Denzel Washington almost ensured that there would be a wife or child character of colour as well, though she felt that as the years went on, that was no longer the case. She called on the industry to look past colour bias.
She landed a lead role in Being Mary Jane, and her career shows no signs of slowing down.