Nichelle Nichols has been a part of the entertainment industry for 60 years as an actress, singer, and voice actress. As the actress celebrates her 88th birthday this week, we take a look back at her career.

Nichols, who was born Grace Dell Nichols on December 28, 1932 in Robbins, Illinois, had the groundbreaking role of bridge officer Nyota Uhura in Star Trek: The Original Series. She starred in all three seasons of the show, which aired from 1966 to 1969.

Her career began in Oscar Brown’s play Kicks and Co. and playing Carmen in a Chicago production of Carmen Jones. During the late 1960s and early ‘70s she toured as a singer with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. Back on stage, she performed in The Roar of the Greasepaint and in James Baldwin’s Blues for Mister Charlie. One of her earliest onscreen roles was in 1964 on an episode of Gene Roddenberry’s first series The Lieutenant.

In Star Trek, Nichols became one of the first black women to star in a major TV series. But it wasn’t just a small or stereotypical part – she had a prominent role on the ship as Lieutenant Uhura. She was a specialist in linguistics, cryptography, and philology, working as a translator and communications officer. Nichols participated in another milestone when she and William Shatner (as Captain Kirk) shared the first interracial kiss on television. She became a role model for women and black performers, paving the way for new opportunities.

Though Star Trek wrapped in ’69, she continued playing Uhura throughout the franchise. Nichols voiced Uhura for Star Trek: The Animated Series in the early ‘70s and later for video games. She and the other primary actors from the original series reprised their roles in 1979 for Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It was followed by five sequels filmed throughout the ‘80s, with the last one in ’91.

During this period, she was also in Insight, The D.A., Truck Turner, Antony and Cleopatra, The Supernaturals, and Head of the Class. In the ‘90s she did voice work in Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles, and Spider-Man: The Animated Series. In the 2000s, she was in Snow Dogs, voiced herself in Futurama and The Simpsons, and was in Are We There Yet?, several episodes of Heroes, and Lady Magdalene’s. Her recent work was in This Bitter Earth, episodes of The Young and the Restless, played Admiral Grace Jemison in Star Trek: Renegades, and she played Uhura in Star Trek First Frontier.

Outside of acting, Nichols was an active supporter of NASA, helping recruit minorities and women. She helped recruit Dr. Sally Ride (the first female astronaut) and US Air Force Colonel Guion Bluford (the first African-American astronaut). Nichols has served on the board of governors on the National Space Society since the mid-1980s to support space exploration.

Nichols was also a regular guest at science fiction and comic conventions until she retired around 2018.