Christina Chong

Real world article

(written from a production point of view)

Christina Chong (born 18 September 1983; age 40) is an English actress who plays La'an Noonien-Singh in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

She was born in Enfield, Greater London, to a Chinese father and an English mother. After the separation of her parents, she moved to the small town of Longridge with her mother and five siblings. She started dancing at the age of four, and at 14, she gained a place at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London, graduating five years later. After an injury cut her career short in musical theatre, she moved to New York City to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute.

Returning to England, she appeared in supporting roles in Johnny English Reborn (2011) and the drama W.E. both in 2011. On television, she appeared in a 2011 episode of Doctor Who, two episodes of the crime series Whitechapel, and "The Waldo Moment", a second season episode of the anthology series Black Mirror, alongside David Ajala.

In 2011-12, she co-starred in Monroe. In 2014, she played a recurring role in the miniseries 24: Live Another Day and co-starred in another action miniseries, Halo: Nightfall. Still in 2014, she played a recurring role in four episodes of the acclaimed police series Line of Duty, which she reprised in two additional episodes in 2021.

In 2015, she appeared in a recurring role in Dominion, followed by a co-starring role in Of Kings and Prophets in 2016. In 2018, she played a recurring role in the British action drama series Bulletproof, starring Noel Clarke, and in 2019, she co-starred in Heirs of the Night.

Her further film credits include Christmas Eve (2015, with Patrick Stewart and Gary Cole), 2020's Transference: A Love Story, and 2021's Tom & Jerry. She was cast in a minor role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015, directed and produced by J.J. Abrams and featuring Simon Pegg) and Michael Giacchino in the cast. However, her part ended up as a deleted scene, depriving her of the chance to become the third actor to complete appearances "science-fiction trifecta" (Doctor Who, Star Wars and Star Trek) in live-action roles - the other two being Pegg and Deep Roy.