Denise Michelle Crosby is an American actress best known for her brief appearance as Security Chief Tasha yar on the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Although she had an extensive film and television career from the 1980s through 2003, her Star Trek appearance of only 22 episodes (plus several guest appearances in later seasons) is her most widely reocgnizedn role. She produced and narrated the 1997 documentary Trekkies.