Exclusive: Celia Rose Gooding On Playing The Iconic Role Of Uhura In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Currently playing on Paramount+ is STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS, which is based on the years Captain Christopher Pike manned the helm of the U.S.S. Enterprise. The series features fan favorites from season two of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, Anson Mount as Captain Christopher Pike, Rebecca Romijn as Number One and Ethan Peck as Science Officer Spock. The series will follow Captain Pike, Science Officer Spock and Number One in the years before Captain Kirk boarded the U.S.S. Enterprise, as they explore new worlds around the galaxy.
Also part of the series are Jess Bush as Nurse Christine Chapel, Christina Chong as La’an Noonien-Singh, Celia Rose Gooding as Cadet Nyota Uhura, Melissa Navia as Lt. Erica Ortegas and Babs Olusanmokun as Dr. M’Benga.
For Gooding, she’s playing the role famously played by Nichelle Nichols in the original Star Trek series. As the daughter of Tony Award winner LaChanze (“The Color Purple”), Celia’s also a singer and theater actress, best known for her role as Mary Frances "Frankie" Healy in the Broadway rock musical Jagged Little Pill. Her singing won her a 2021 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album and her performance was nominated for a 2020 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical,
Blackfilmandtv.com caught up with Gooding as she spoke her role and stepping in the shoes once worn by Nichelle Nichols.
You're playing an iconic role. How did this all come about that your Did you audition for it or did they come out to you?
Celia Rose Gooding: Yeah, so I auditioned. I actually didn't know I was auditioning for Uhura or when I was auditioning. I auditioned for a pseudonym. I had the basic character, personality traits understood. But it wasn't until after I booked the role that they told me that I was playing the iconic character of Nyota Uhura. So, yeah, I auditioned and I have been awestruck and flabbergasted and honored and humbled ever since.
Had you been a Trekkie fan or did you have to play catch up?
Celia Rose Gooding: I definitely had to play catch up, but I have a bit of an advantage. I come from a family of Trekkies. My mom is a massive Trek fan. And so when I told her I was auditioning to play a character in the franchise, she was like, “sit down, grab your fuzzy socks and some popcorn because you got to learn today,” and she she introduced me to the original series and when I was about nine years old, I remember going to the movie theaters with my mom to go watch the early Trek movies, and really, really falling in love with the franchise at that moment. But when I was older, flash forward to today, she was definitely a huge part of me understanding of the the Roddenberry timeline and the prime timeline, as they call it.
Knowing what Uhura turned out to be as an adult, how will you how would you describe her as a young person coming into this world as a cadet?
Celia Rose Gooding: I would describe Cadet Uhura as she's a bit of a sponge. She is incredibly observant and absorbent of the world around her. She is a massive learner. She's a polyglot, she is someone who really values connection and culture. And she is someone who utilizes her love for culture to really just absorb as much information as possible and use it to her advantage. She is sensitive. She's very sensitive. She is is someone who is a bit insecure about her place in this world right now as a cadet. She's someone who is still figuring out if what she has to offer to enterprise is of value. She is credible. She's talented. She is so so much smarter and so much more worthy of this space than I think she believes in herself. And yeah, she has competence coming. But I don't think she has that iconic competence that Nichelle has in her Uhura that has been so loved. I don't think she's there yet. She's someone who's eventually going to grow into that. But right now she's very sensitive. She's very weary and she's still making sense of of the universe around her but she is excited to be a part of this crew. She is just making sense of it day by day. I think she is. I'm very precious of her. She's very, very precious to me because she reminds me a lot of my younger self and yeah, he has a lot to learn. But she's already so so well along the way.
It's good to be part of an ensemble, but Episode Two was pretty much yours. How did that make you feel as an actress knowing that you are more on the pages of the script, even though it's an ensemble show?
Celia Rose Gooding: Strange New Worlds is one of my first a few TV and film credits. And so being a fairly new actor to this part of the industry. I have a theater background and stage where I feel it was comfortable. When I opened that 102 script, I was like, “oh, it's wheels up right now where we're going. We are up.” And at first, I was very, very nervous and very, very scared to be like, “Oh, okay. Now's the time. We're doing this right now.” But I have an incredible crew and an incredible team and an incredible support system. And so I felt very, very safe in really getting my space legs as I call it, not my sea legs, with space legs. And yeah, it was first incredibly daunting. But as I got through it day by day, I had an incredible team of support. And it's it's it was more like muscle memory. Once you get into it, everything clicks in and falls into place, and I do what I do professionally. But at first I was very nervous, but it ended up coming together really well and having an opportunity to watch that episode at the premiere with my mom and my closest friends by my side. It was an incredible moment.
How you look on the show was how you look in real life. Was there any discussion as far as how your appearance would be once you got the role?
Celia Rose Gooding: Yeah. I auditioned with my short hair. I didn't audition with a wig on or anything. So when I was auditioning for Uhura, I didn't know it was Uhura at the time, I was really establishing that look, even from the audition. and the team, the Paramount+ team, Akiva and Henry, Chris Fisher, and Alex Kurtzman were incredibly supportive of my look. And they never forced me to wear a wig. They never approached me as if me wearing a wig was something that they were really looking for. They really left it up to me. And they were like, “Hey, we love how you look." If you want to wear a wig to feel more comfortable, you absolutely can.
But if you want to play this character like this, this is how we envision it for you.” And so I, it was really up to me. And knowing Nichelle's history of how she advocated for how black women present themselves in Star Trek, I really thought it was important for me to show up as myself and not feel a need to adorn myself to fit a beauty standard that I obviously do not align with. And so it was incredibly important for me to show up as my full self, because I think that's what Nichelle would have wanted. And that's something that I want. And that's something that the Paramount+ team really wants. And so it really was exciting for me to show up as my full self.
You mentioned beauty standard. Nichelle was known for having a set of earrings always on each episode. Not that you have to do it, but is there anything that you may wear or do that people would be aware, besides obviously short hair?
Celia Rose Gooding: Yeah, I think the costumes team and and myself were all very detail oriented. And so we're very specific as to how we watch her grow into the Uhura that we will know and love in the future. But it's a growth process. It's by every season, we see her get steps and steps closer to the iconic village of Uhura in the TOS era. But it's coming, the iconic earrings, hopefully they're coming in the future. The Beehive may eventually be coming, but it's something that we're not rushing towards. Because we understand how the longevity of this series of Strange New World. It's a growth process every day, we get a step closer to the to the TOS era. And so I think the the iconic pieces of Uhura’s presentation that fans are looking forward to we will get there eventually, but we are taking our time and I actually am really enjoying that process.
One thing about the producers is that they love your background as a theater actress so much that they've included some singing on the show. What was that feeling like?
Celia Rose Gooding: It was incredible. I am a singer at heart. I love singing, I love having an opportunity to showcase my voice. at being a Grammy winner. It was incredible to have an opportunity to sing. Singing is where I feel truly most comfortable. It reminds me of home. It reminds me of my family because I come from a family of singers and having an opportunity to showcase this character who canonically is a singer and Nichelle had many moments to show her vocal prowess in the original series, and to have a full episode dedicated to that ability and to the importance of that was an incredible opportunity. I think Nichelle and I having a a shared background in stage performance was really important to showcase that and highlight that in the Strange New Worlds era.
Can you talk about working with this cast and how close you've been bonding as you do each episode?
Celia Rose Gooding: I love this cast. We shoot in Canada and I'm a New Yorker. And so it was very hard for me to be away from my family for so long. I'm a family oriented girl. I am a product of my community. And so to come up here and to meet this cast and to really gel with them from day one, we have an incredible ensemble dynamic. I am so proud of my of this team and this cast and crew and I feel incredibly supported and incredibly uplifted by by this cast family and so they really are my home away from home this team. I'm so grateful for them and their support. As someone who's very new in this industry, they really are like a dream team to work with. I'm incredibly lucky.