Bio
Gates McFadden has portrayed Beverly Crusher, MD, in most episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the four Next Generation Star Trek films, and the third season of Star Trek: Picard. McFadden also directed the Next Generation seventh season episode “Genesis” and choreographed the dance routine in the fourth season’s “Data’s Day,” the latter of which came naturally to her as McFadden has had a parallel professional career as a choreographer.
Gates McFadden is an accomplished dancer and puppeteer; her first recorded professional industry credit entailed her choreography work on the 1985 film Dreamchild. Subsequently, she worked on several Jim Henson productions as a choreographer, most notably in the Labyrinth (1986) and The Dark Crystal (1982). She made her film acting debut in The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984).
Gates has been involved in various film and television projects outside of Star Trek. McFadden appeared in the 1990 film The Hunt for Red October, where she played Dr. Cathy Ryan. She had a recurring role as Judge Mallory Jacobs on the legal comedy television series Franklin and Bash with Mark-Paul Gosselaar. Gates and John de Lancie both appeared in the first film written by J.J. Abrams, the 1990 comedy Taking Care of Business.
Most recently, she voiced Queen Marlena in Netflix’s 2024 hit series Masters of the Universe: Revelation.