Star Trek: 10 Things You Didn't Know About T'Pol
5. She Was The Hardest Character To Cast On Enterprise
The character that would become T'Pol was the last one to be cast. According to Brannon Braga, hundreds of actresses were tested for the part, with none of them winning over the other.
The character bible described her as alluring, yet confident and capable. For a time, when she was to be T'Pau, elements of Celia Lovsky's performance were sought - austere, for example. As the character changed between bible and audition, the producers weren't entirely sure what exactly they were looking for.
Jolene Blalock was in the very last group to come in and read for the part. It was, apparently, a slam dunk. She had, in fact, turned down the audition three times already. Blalock had been a fan of the Original Series, and Spock in particular, as a child, though had no interest in any of the spin-offs. It was only after her agent convinced her to read the script for Broken Bow that she agreed to read for the part.
Once she came in, things moved very quickly and, before long, she was undergoing the two-hour make-up sessions to transform her into a Vulcan.