Facts About the New Cast of Star Trek (2009)

In the beginning, Gene Roddenberry gave us a look into the future with great characters and a great concept. The original legendary TV series started on September 8, 1966 and went off the air on September 2, 1969. In the first pilot episode, you would expect all of the legendary characters to be introduced. But, instead of Captain James T. Kirk, we had Captain Christopher Pike as played by Jeffrey Hunter. You still had Leonard Nimoy playing Mr. Spock. But you didn't have "Bones," "Scotty," Sulu, Chekov or Uhura. Then, Roddenberry re-wrote his characters.

He cast William Shatner as James T. Kirk, DeForest Kelley as Doctor Leonard "Bones" McCoy, James Doohan as Montgomery Scott or "Scotty," George Takei as Hikaru Sulu, Walter Koenig as Pavel Andreievich Chekov and Nichelle Nichols as Nyota Uhura. Along with Nimoy's famous role of Mr. Spock, this turned out to be the best ensemble cast for what would come to be known as one of the greatest and most important science fiction TV shows ever made.

If you can tell by now, I am a big Trekkie.

After 40 years, 10 films, 4 spin-off TV shows, Star Trek has finally come full circle. The new film will center on Kirk, and Spock as they were as cadets in Starfleet Academy. To me, I always imagined Gene Roddenberry wanted to keep looking forward in time. Not backward. The filmmakers and studios want to appease the demands of Trekkies. They want to take a look back at the original crew of the Starship Enterprise once again. I felt like we had moved on in the Star Trek universe, from Captain Kirk to Captain Jean Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). But, the die-hard fans want to see Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura back for one last movie. However, they can't exactly get the original cast back to play their legendary roles for this story. Two of the original cast members are unfortunately dead. The others are way passed their prime. So, what's the alternative Hollywood comes up with? Replace the original cast with these younger actors.

Christopher Whitelaw Pine plays James T. Kirk as a young man.

Zachary John Quinto plays Spock as a young man.

Karl-Heinz Urban plays Dr. Leonard McCoy as a younger man.

Simon Pegg plays Montgomery Scott or Scotty as a younger man.

Zoe Saldana plays Nyota Uhura as young woman.

John Yohan Cho plays Hikaru Sulu as young man.

Anton Yelchin plays Pavel Chekov as a young man.

Here's a few facts that might you understand and connect with these actors when you go to see the new film, opening on May 8th, 2009.

Christopher Pine was born on August 26, 1980 in Los Angeles, California to Robert Pine and Gwynne Gilford. He has appeared in such romantic comedies as The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and Just My Luck. However, Pine first appeared on TV in the 2003 episode of ER called, The Guardian. When Pine first auditioned for the role of James Kirk, he was said to describe the audition as "awful". He could not take himself seriously as a leader or perhaps, such a famous leader as Captain Kirk.

Zachary Quinto was born on June 2, 1977 in Pittsburgh and grew up near Green Tree, Pennsylvania. He has starred as Adam Kaufman on the TV show, 24, Sasan on So NoTORIous and Sylar on Heroes. The new Star Trek film will be Zachary's big screen debut. Zachary first took an interest in playing the role of Mr. Spock back in 2006, simply due to his physical resemblance to Leonard Nimoy. He really enjoyed the idea of portraying a character who is half-human and half-Vulcan. Vulcan's have abandoned any and all emotions for the sake of logic. However, Spock's character can be very complex and very intriguing to play.

Karl Urban was born on June 7, 1972 in Wellington, New Zealand. He is best known as the human, Eomer in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. He also played the Russian assassin, Kiril in The Bourne Supremacy and the Viking-born Native American in Pathfinder. Karl Urban has definitely made a name for himself. Karl has said that he wanted to take the essence of what Deforest Kelley did as Leonard McCoy, honor that, and bring something new to the character. He's been a Star Trek fan since he was seven years old. Urban was watching the original TV series with his son on DVD when he decided to pursue the role of "Bones."

Simon Pegg was born on February 14, 1970 in Gloucester, England. You'll probably recognize him from the comedies, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Run, Fatboy, Run and the more recent, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People. Simon got his start doing stand-up comedy in 1993. Television producers saw his act, and gave him several minor roles in such TV shows as Asylum and Big Train. Then, he became a pretty big star with his own TV sitcom, Spaced. For this new Star Trek film, Pegg needed to develop a Scotty-like accent and turned to his Scottish wife for help.

Zoe Saldana was born on June 19, 1978 in New Jersey, and raised in Queens, New York. You'd best recognize her as Anamaria in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Theresa Jones in Guess Who. But, she also played Officer Torres in The Terminal. She made her first appearance on TV in an episode of Law & Order. After playing Uhura in this upcoming Star Trek film and the alien, Neytiri Nazachema in James Cameron's new 2009 film, Avatar, Ms. Saldana should be a much bigger star.

John Cho was born on June 16, 1972 (personal note: he is exactly 10 years older than me) in Seoul, North Korea. He is best known as Harold in the Harold & Kumar films. However, he has made appearances in many other films, including all three American Pie films, the Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies and Big Fat Liar. John got his start in Korean magazines as a model. Then, he came to America and started working with the Asian American threatre company, East West Players.

Finally, we come to the youngest of the group, Anton Yelchin. He was born on March 11, 1989 in Leningrad, USSR or should as it is called today, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation. He made several small appearances in such films as Along Came a Spider and Hearts in Atlantis. He got his big break as Charlie Bartlett in the movie of the same name. Anton will also be making an appearance as a young Kyle Reese in the upcoming Terminator Salvation.