List of Star Trek Characters

Looking for a list of Star Trek characters? The original Star Trek crew was designed by creator Gene Roddenberry with very specific goals in mind. Roddenberry wanted to do more than entertain his viewers; he wished to use the characters on Star Trek to inspire discussion about world peace and evoke a vision of international cooperation. The diverse cast was heralded as inspirational and ground-breaking.

Cast and List of Characters for Star Trek: The Original Series

• Captain James T. Kirk: The commanding officer of the Starship Enterprise was played by William Shatner. Kirk is a brash American, very much in the spirit of the cowboy characters found in popular Western shows. In the first Star Trek pilot, titled "The Cage," there was a different commanding officer named Captain Christopher Pike.
• Lieutenant Spock: Spock was a Junior Science Officer, played by Leonard Nimroy. He was also half-Vulcan and half-human, suggesting unity between the two planetary species. He was admired for his absolute control over all emotions and his logical way of handling tricky situations with fairness and justice.
• Leonard McCoy: Also known as Bones, Doctor McCoy was the Chief Medical Officer on board. He was played by DeForest Kelley. The good doctor was charged with healing the crew, who dealt with all kinds of new and unusual physical ailments throughout their journey. Like Kirk, McCoy is an American, with a character based heavily on the frontier doctors found in Westerns.
• Montgomery Scott: Also known as Scotty, this Chief Engineer and Second Officer was played by James Doohan. As his name implies, the character is of Scottish descent.
• Hikara Sulu: Played by George Takei, Mr. Sulu was the Helm Officer of the Starship Enterprise. Sulu's name is deliberately ambiguous and meant to represent all Asian cultures, although the character himself was born in San Francisco and is Japanese.
• Uhura: Uhura, the Communications Officer, was played by African American actress Nichelle Nichols. Uhura is of African descent. Interestingly, Nichols considered quitting the show because she didn't feel her character had enough to do. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. persuaded her to stay, because black women were rarely seen in positions of power on television at the time.
• Pavel Chekov: Multitasking as the navigator, Weapons Officer and Chief of Security, Pavel was played by Walter Koenig. This Russian fleet member was included in the cast because Roddenberry wanted to convey an image of a unified futuristic world where all countries on earth could be unified. This flew in the face of the politics of the day, when Russia and the United States were at odds and in competition regarding space travel and arms.
• Christine Chapel: This nurse was played by Majel Barrett, who went on to be Roddenberry's wife and the voice of Starfleet computers in subsequent TV series and movies. Chapel, and American, was the kind and empathetic foil to the short-tempered Doctor McCoy, and was patterned after nurses seen in World War II movies.