Grace Dell Nichols (photo ©Ilya Haykinson), this is her birth name, was born on December 28, 1932, in Robbins, Illinois.

Nichelle Nichols’s career in show business started as a singer and dancer but also acting on stage, often in musicals. In the ’60s, she participated in a tour in the USA, Canada, and Europe with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton’s bands. Occasionally, she also worked as a model.

Nichelle Nichols started working for television and movie productions and in her participation in the TV show “The Lieutenant”, she was noticed by its producer, Gene Roddenberry. A couple of years later, Roddenberry cast her in the role for which the actress became famous, Uhura in “Star Trek”.

At the end of the first “Star Trek” season, Nichelle Nichols was planning to leave the series. Her role wasn’t exactly of a protagonist because the stories were centered around Kirk, Spock, and McCoy and the actress felt that it would be better for her to work on Broadway.

It was a meeting with Martin Luther King Jr. that made her change her mind because the champion of civil rights told her that he was a fan of the show and encouraged her to stay in the “Star Trek” cast because her presence was very important as a role model for women and African Americans. Uhura was a bridge officer on the Enterprise, a revolutionary role for the time for a woman and, even more, African American. Another moment that made history was her kiss with Captain Kirk, cited as the first example of an interracial kiss.

After the end of “Star Trek”, Nichelle Nichols kept on playing Uhura in the animated series connected to the saga and in the first movies: “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” in 1979, “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” in 1982, “Star Trek III: The Search for Spock” in 1984, “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” in 1989 and “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” in 1991. Over the years she has also lent her voice to several videogames connected to Star Trek.

After the cancellation of the series “Star Trek”, Nichelle Nichols also started a long collaboration with NASA. The actress served as a spokesperson for a project to recruit women and people from ethnic minorities, and since the ’80s she worked with the National Space Society, a non-profit organization that promotes the exploration and colonization of space.

Over the years, Nichelle Nichols has been a frequent guest of honor at several events related to space missions, from the landing on Mars of the Viking 1 space probe to the presentation of the Space Shuttle prototype, not accidentally called Enterprise, attended by most of the “Star Trek” cast.

Nichelle Nichols also went on with her career as a singer and actress which includes two music albums and participation in various movies and TV shows. However, it’s inevitable that her role in the “Star Trek” saga is the one remembered much more than all the others. It’s rightly so because playing Uhura she’s become a role model that went beyond the prejudice of her time.

Edit. Nichelle Nichols passed away on July 30, 2022.