Warning: contains spoilers about the latest season of Star Trek: Picard.
Sidney La Forge is proving one of the most popular new characters in the latest season of Star Trek: Picard. But just who is she and what is her background in the Star Trek universe?
At Starfleet Academy, she infamously earned the nickname “Crash” La Forge, due to her crashing a shuttle twice—not an easy feat in the ultra-high-tech world of the 24th century.
Legendary Enterprise engineer Geordie La Forge is her illustrious father, but the pair seem to have a strained relationship. While Geordie wanted his daughter to design ships, all the young Sidney ever wanted to do was fly them.
When Star Trek: Picard opens, Sidney is serving as helmsman of the USS Titan-A under its by-the-book captain, Liam Shaw. What looked like a quiet mission turned explosive when Admiral Picard and Captain Riker showed up for an inspection. In the short time since, Sidney has already been impersonated by a Changeling and is now an outlaw from the Federation. With yet more twists on the way, we certainly haven’t seen the last of helmsman La Forge.
Who plays Sidney?
Sidney is played brilliantly by up-and-coming actress Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut. Ashlei has appeared on stage in plays as diverse as A Christmas Carol and The Crucible. Her early film and TV work included roles in Gotham, Homeland, and NCIS: Los Angeles.
Florida-born Ashlei is also an accomplished dancer, having earned a degree from the Northwest School of the Arts. Both the actress and her character Sidney are gaining popularity fast. Some Star Trek fans in the know are already predicting another spin-off series set on the Titan-A with Liam Shaw as captain, Seven of Nine as his first officer, and Sidney La Forge at the helm.