Denise Crosby, the granddaughter of famous singer Bing Crosby, is well known for playing Lt. Tasha Yar, the Chief Security Officer onboard the USS Enterprise in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. However, the actor was set to play an entirely different character — the ship’s telepathic, empath counselor, Deanna Troi.
A memo written by Paramount’s Head of Network TV in 1987 details the various talent considered for the roles of the Enterprise crew, with Lianne Langland, Julia Nickson, Rosalind Chao (who played Keiko O’Brien in The Next Generation and its spinoff Deep Space Nine), Leah Ayers and Bunty Bailey all up for the role of the ship’s Chief Security Officer, while Crosby was the only actor named as reading for the part of Troi. Things changed when Marina Sirtis tried out for the role of Yar, then known as Macha Hernandez, a character inspired by the tough-as-nails space Marine Vasquez from James Cameron’s Aliens.
Mack's Musings 