When Enterprise debuted in September of 2001, the new Enterprise NX-01 ship and crew were set to blaze fresh trails, go places where no human had ever gone and meet new civilizations. The catch this time, however, was that the ship did not have a universal translator. At least not a computerized one that drew on a vast database. The creators decided to originate a new role in the form of a communications officer doubling as a linguistics expert able to translate alien tongues never before encountered. Or at least attempt to translate them. As the ship truly was going where no human had gone before, the available database was relatively empty. To fill the tricky role of "Hoshi Sato," the producers found the beautiful and highly talented newcomer Linda Park.

Like her onscreen counterpart, Park was a relative rookie when she took the role, having graduated with a BFA from Boston University only a year prior to landing the job on Enterprise. She had some experience, notably a role in "Jurassic Park III" and on the series Popular, but Enterprise provided the young actress with that precious, rare commodity — regular acting work.

Park was born in Korea and grew up in San Jose, California and, until Enterprise, had spent most of her acting time on stage in plays ranging from the classical ("Lysistrata," "Cyrano" and "Richard III") to more modern fare (Caryl Churchill's "Mad Forest").

Since the end of Enterprise, Linda has devoted much of her time to the theater. She earned high praise for her performance as "Clytemnestra" in a New York production "Agamemnon" later in 2005. She also remains an active student of dance, studying ballet and other dance forms. She is a bronze-level international Latin ballroom dancer, not to mention a certified actor combatant by the Society of American Fight Directors. Don't mess with this girl!

That fight training no doubt came in handy for a couple of roles where she donned a cop's uniform. Linda was back in primetime earlier this year as a regular on Raines starring Jeff Goldblum, where she played police officer "Sally Lance." Sadly, that show suffered the same fate as almost every other new drama featuring a former Trek star this season (Shark with Jeri Ryan being the exception) — it was nixed by NBC after only a few episodes aired.

Before Raines, she also played a cop in the independent film "Honor," which just came out on DVD in February. In that story she gets in the middle of a "Fight Club"-type conflict between old friends on the street. In a less "tough" role, Linda played a lonely suicide hotline worker who gets romantically involved with a man who calls her by accident. That short film, called "My Prince, My Angel," was produced by Linda herself, and it's been showing recently at several Asian-American film festivals.

STARTREK.COM would like to wish Linda a very Happy Birthday, and many thanks for four years of great work on Star Trek: Enterprise.

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