Biography for
Rosalind Chao More at IMDbPro »

Date of Birth

Height

Spouse

Trivia

Is the wife of well-known voice actor Simon Templeman, who is best known for voicing the character "Kain" in the Legacy of Kain video game series.

Has gained popularity among Star Trek fans for her long career on two Star Trek series including "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993).

Has an action figure modeled after her character Keiko from "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993).

Graduated from Pomona College, (Claremont, California) in 1978.

Her ethnicity is Chinese

Has a son and daughter.

Turned down the chance to work full-time on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) so that she could spend more time with her family. But, she instead agreed to do recurring roles in episodes each season.

Rosalind's father encouraged her to audition for what would be her first television role on the 70s TV sitcom "Here's Lucy" (1968).

Was enrolled in the communications department at U.S.C. where she hoped to go into broadcasting. After a disillusioning year at the CBS-owned radio station in Hollywood, Rosalind decided to return to acting.

Her parents ran a successful restaurant near Disneyland.

Along with Michael Dorn, Marc Alaimo, Jeffrey Combs, 'John DE Lancie', Jonathan Frakes and Tim Russ, she is one of only seven actors to appear in at least ten different seasons of "Star Trek": "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987) Seasons Four through Six and "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) Seasons One through Seven.

While auditioning for the part of Keiko O'Brien on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987), she was up against actress Patti Yasutake, who also auditioned for the role. Rosalind eventually got the role, and Patti got the part of "Nurse Allysa Ogawa" on the same show.

Made her first appearance at a Star Trek Convention in August 2005 at Vegas Con.

Born in Anaheim, California as a first-generation Californian, her parents ran a successful Chinese American pancake restaurant, Chao's, right across the street from Disneyland, and she worked there from an early age. After moving from Garden Grove to Villa Park, California, Chao was enrolled at Marywood, an all-girls school where she was the only non-Caucasian student.

Personal Quotes

"When I leave Los Angeles to do something, that's when I notice how into Star Trek and how loyal to the shows' actors the fans are. The fans will notice me on the street and ask me questions about Keiko's personal relationships, especially the female fans. They're very concerned, because they want her to maintain her career. They always talk to me about that. It's very funny."

"When they offered me the role as a regular on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993), I was actually pregnant with my first child and I was also getting ready to do The Joy Luck Club (1993). So, I had to say no to the producers at that point. I wanted to be able to spend time with my husband and with my first child right after he was born. And I did. I really think it worked out well for everyone".

About actor Colm Meaney: "I adore Colm. We're old friends by now, so that's great. Also, we bicker like a real husband and wife do".

On filming a scene in the episode 'Times Orphan': "We were shooting at Griffith Park, when we were doing the picnic scene. I had some speech to make, and I noticed people talking behind the camera, which was very unusual because the Deep Space Nine crew was very professional. And I noticed people moving around. It turned out that a rattler had been, like, this far away from me, as we were shooting. And nobody cut and had me move! Colm just got up and got out of the way, they got the kid out of the way, and nobody said word one to me! Can you imagine?"

"I'm very grateful to the Star Trek people because they made it possible for me to participate in a movie that really made a difference to Asian-Americans, and it made a difference in my life as well." (On how she was let out of any permanent obligation so that she could do the movie The Joy Luck Club (1993)).

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