Species / Race / Gender / Ethnicity Breakdown Among Star Trek Cast Members

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1 < Return to Adherents.com/lit Species / Race / Gender / Ethnicity Breakdown Among Star Trek Cast Members The lists and tables on this page are based on a total list of 42 principal Star Trek cast members. Important supporting cast members such as Garak, Gul Dukat, Nurse Chapel, etc. have not been included in this analysis. I analyzed the ethnic, gender, and species makeup of Star Trek cast members just out of interest. This isn't an attempt to make any kind of statement. I find it interesting, but I don't care either way. I don't think there needs to be "more" of any group or "less" of any group. If the characters and stories are interesting and the shows are well made, that's what is important. If the Enterprise had a Korean captain, a Korean first, a Korean science, a Korean chief medical, a Korean helmsman, and a Korean-Vulcan communications, I would still watch it if the characters and stories were interesting. Even if all of these characters were all men. Even if they're all Jewish men. In fact, they could all be Jewish rabbis. It could still be fascinating. Maybe they all have slighly different positions on the Torah, and their viewpoints color how they interpret the Prime Directive. (No, I'm not a Korean Jew.) For the record: 40% of principal characters have been non-human, or partially non-human 33% have been women 28% have been played by non-white actors One interesting observation about the show is that, in five different series, there have really only been two regular characters who were simply white human females: Dr. Crusher and Captain Janeway. (In contrast, there have been 13 white human male regular cast members.) Natasha Yar and Dr. Pulaski were also human white females, but they were only on a series for one season each. T'Pol, Troi, Kira, Kes, Jadzia Dax, Ezri Dax, and Seven of Nine were all played by white actresses, but were alien characters. (Althogh Troi was half-human, and Seven was biologically human but culturally Borg.) The other fully human female characters are Uhura and Hoshi Sato, black and Asian. Star Trek women have been more likely to be alien than Star Trek men. It is difficult to mask a person's race or gender, even when they are playing a character. Yes, there is a lot of racial diversity among Star Trek cast members. But in the 24th century (or even the 21st for most of us), who cares? There are other significant "areas of diversity" which Star Trek has studiously avoided, perhaps in order to avoid controversy, because they didn't work well within the dramatic framework of the show, or perhaps because they didn't fit well into Roddenberry's vision of the future. For instance, very few career paths or employers are represented by the principal cast members. Nearly all of the main characters are Starfleet s. Quark is the only main charcter who is clearly a civilian. Kira, Odo, Seven of Nine, Kes, Neelix and T'Pol may not be Starfleet s, but they clearly work within the Starfleet command structure. There is little diversity among the main characters' family structure: Chief O'Brien and Tuvok are the only main characters who were married throughout the series in which they starred. Sisko did get married at the end of his series. Worf married Jadzia Dax (who died soon). Tom Paris and Torres also got married toward the end of their series. A few of the other characters (most notably Dr. Crusher) are widows/widowers or divorced. The major area of diversity avoided by the Star Trek is religious diversity and other voluntary membership subcultures. There are no principal cast members who are readily identifiable as Jews, Catholics, Muslims, GLBT, Libertarians, Goth, etc. Related issues were usually dealt with on the show through fictional "proxy" cultures. For instance, "Deep Space Nine" frequently explored religious themes, but usually did so through the Bajor or Klingon cultures. Roddenberry's vision of a future without such divisions was not uncommon for science fiction writers of his day. Nevertheless, it is true that many major groups of people on Earth today are not represented among Star Trek characters. There's nothing wrong with that. There are nearly 200 independent nations in the world (meaning 200 potential nationalities), and there are thousands of different ethnicities, religions, and native languages. No single work of fiction can possibly include representatives from all of them. The target audience of the franchise is universal, and people of all backgrounds have appreciated its interesting and universal themes. CAPTAIN Name Position Series Gender Species of Race of Actor Nationality of James T. Kirk Captain TOS M Human White American Jean-Luc Picard Captain TNG M Human White French Benjamin Sisko Captain DS9 M Human Black American Kathryn Janeway Captain Voy F Human White American Jonathan Archer Captain Ent M Human White American 1ST OFFICER Spock 1st Officer TOS M Vulcan/Human White 1/5

2 William Riker 1st Officer TNG M Human White American Kira Nerys 1st Officer DS9 F Bajoran White Bajoran Chakotay 1st Officer Voy M Human Hispanic (character is Native American) T'Pol 1st Officer Ent F Vulcan White CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICERS Leonard McCoy Chief Medical Officer TOS M Human White American Beverly Crusher Chief Medical Officer TNG F Human White Scottish Katherine Pulaski Chief Medical Officer TNG F Human White American Julian Bashir Chief Medical Officer DS9 M Human Born in Sudan, Africa of an English mother and a Sudanese father The Doctor (EMH) Chief Medical Officer Voy M Hologram White Starfleet Phlox Chief Medical Officer Ent M Denobulan White CHIEF ENGINEER Montgomery "Scotty" Scott Chief Engineer TOS M Human White Scottish Geordi La Forge Chief Engineer TNG M Human Black Miles O'Brien Chief Engineer TNG/DS9 M Human White Irish B'Elanna Torres Chief Engineer Voy F Human/Klingon Charlie Tucker Chief Engineer Ent M Human White CHIEF SECURITY/TACTICAL OFFICERS Natasha Yar Worf TNG F Human White mixed Black/White (Her character's human father is Hispanic) African Confederation American (Southern) TNG/DS9 M Klingon Black Klingon Odo Chief of security DS9 M Changeling White Bajor Tuvok Voy M Vulcan Black Malcolm Reed Armory Officer Ent M Human White British OPERATIONS/COMMUNICATIONS OFFICERS Uhura Operations/Communications TOS F Human Black Swahili Data Operations/Communications TNG M Android White Ukrainian/Turkana IV Harry Kim Operations/Communications Voy M Human Asian American Hoshi Sato Communications/Translator Ent F Human HELM/NAVIGATION/FLIGHT CONTROL OFFICERS Asian (Korean) Hikaru Sulu Helm/Navigation TOS M Human Asian American Pavel Chekov Helm/Navigation TOS M Human White Russian 2/5

3 Wesley Crusher Helm/Navigation TNG M Human White Scottish/American Thomas Paris Helm/Navigation Voy M Human White American Travis Mayweather Helm/Navigation Ent M Human Black SCIENCE OFFICERS/COUNSELORS/MISC. Deanna Troi Counselor TNG F Betazoid White Jadzia Dax Science Officer DS9 F Trill White Quark Bartender DS9 M Ferengi White Ezri Dax Counselor DS9 F Trill White Neelix Chef/Chief Morale Officer Voy M Talaxian White Kes Misc. Voy F Ocampa White Seven of Nine Misc. Voy F Human/Borg White Non-Human s First of all, let's point out the obvious: There are only non-human characters on Star Trek. All the actors have been human. American ("Boomer") Out of 42 principal cast members, 17 (or 40%) have been non-human or partially non-human. This includes two entirely artificial lifeforms: Data (an android) and the Doctor (a hologram). It also includes 3 human/alien hybrids: Spock (half Vulcan), Torres (half Klingon), and Troi (half Betazoid). These list of 17 "non-human" crew members also includes Seven of Nine, who is, biologically, fully human, but became, through technological modification, Borg, and lived most of her life within the Borg collective. There are actually only eleven (26%) fully alien, non-artificial principal cast members: Worf, Kira, Odo, Quark, Jadzia Dax, Ezri Dax, Kes, Neelix, Tuvok, T'Pol and Phlox. The most common alien race among principal cast members is Vulcan. There are two full-blooded Vulcans (T'Pol and Tuvok), as well as Spock, a half-vulcan who fully embraced his Vulcan side with regards to culture and philosophy. There are two Trill cast members, although, in a peculiarly Trill way, Jadzia and Ezri Dax are partially the same character. There are two Klingon cast members. Worf, who was a principal cast member on Star Trek for more seasons than any other character, is fullblooded Klingon and fully embraces his Klingon culture, although he was actually raised by humans. Torres is half-human/half-klingon, and mostly favored her human side culturally, although she grew to appreciate her Klingon side. Data and the Doctor might be considered "two artificial life forms," although the android and the doctor are not the same form of technology. Name Species of Position Data Android Operations/Communications Kira Nerys Bajoran 1st Officer Deanna Troi Betazoid/Human Counselor Seven of Nine Borg/Human Misc. Odo Changeling Chief of security Phlox exotic alien Chief Medical Officer Quark Ferengi Bartender The Doctor (EMH) Hologram Chief Medical Officer Worf Klingon B'Elanna Torres Klingon/Human Chief Engineer Kes Ocampa Misc. Neelix Talaxian Chef/Chief Morale Officer Jadzia Dax Trill Science Officer Ezri Dax Trill Counselor T'Pol Vulcan 1st Officer Tuvok Vulcan Spock Vulcan/Human 1st Officer 3/5

4 Female s Fourteen out of the 42 principal cast members have been women. This is exactly one third, or 33%. Women have served in most major postions: captain, 1st, science, tactical, chief medical, chief engineer and pperations/communications. The only "major" Star Trek position women have never held is helm / navigation / pilot, which is typically a lowranking, less important position. Two women have served as first s: Kira and T'Pol. Two women have served as communications : Uhura and Hoshi Sato. Two women have served as chief medical : Crusher and Pulaski, although they were on the same show and were replacements for each other. Name Position Kira Nerys 1st Officer T'Pol 1st Officer Kathryn Janeway Captain B'Elanna Torres Chief Engineer Beverly Crusher Chief Medical Officer Katherine Pulaski Chief Medical Officer Natasha Yar Hoshi Sato Communications/Translator Deanna Troi Counselor Ezri Dax Counselor Kes Misc. Seven of Nine Misc. Uhura Operations/Communications Jadzia Dax Science Officer Non-White Actors Most of the actors who have portrayed principal characters have been white. In some cases, the actor's race did not relate to the character's race. For instance, Tuvok played a dark-skinned Vulcan. But it was not correct to call Tuvok an "African-American Vulcan," because, although the actor was African-American, the character was not. There is no Africa or America on the planet Vulcan. Also, although Torres had a Hisanic last name, her Hispanic ethnicity was never addressed on "Star Trek: Voyager", because the conflict between her human and Klingon backgrounds was much more important. Worf was also played by an African-American, but his character was simply a Klingon, and was not a "black Klingon." Of the 42 principal cast members, eleven (26%) can be classified as racial minorities. There are six characters played by black actors: Sisko, Geordi La Forge, Travis Mayweather, Tuvok, Uhura, and Worf. (Should these actors be called African-Americans? Levar Burton, who played Geordi, was born in Germany. Uhura's character was African, not American.) There are three Asian characters portrayed by Asian actors: Sulu, Harry Kim, and Hoshi Sato. Keiko O'Brien (Japanese) was also an important supporting character on "Deep Space: Nine", and there was a Japanese on "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Torres is a Hispanic name, but Roxann Biggs-Dawson who played her is biracial (with one African-American parent and one white parent). Chakotay's character is very much a Native American (from South or Latin America) who devoutly subscribes to many of his culture's traditional religious beliefs and practices. The actor himself is of Mexican descent. So he does have Native American ancestry, although he is mestizo, and describes himself as Hispanic or Mexican. Name Position Race of Actor Harry Kim Operations/Communications Asian Hikaru Sulu Helm/Navigation Asian Hoshi Sato Communications/Translator Asian Benjamin Sisko Captain Black Geordi La Forge Chief Engineer Black Travis Mayweather Helm/Navigation Black Tuvok Black Uhura Operations/Communications Black Worf Black B'Elanna Torres Chief Engineer Black/White Chakotay 1st Officer Hispanic Julian Bashir Chief Medical Officer Arab (Sudanese)/English 4/5

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