Born:
June 28, 1954
in
Upington, Cape Province, South Africa
Best Known For:
Playing the Borg queen in the Star Trek franchise.
Early-life:
Alice Maud Krige was born on June 28, 1954, in Upington, Cape Province, South Africa, where her father worked as a physician. The clan later moved to Port Elizabeth. Early dreams of becoming a dancer were put to one side when she decided to become a clinical psychologist, like her mother. She graduated in 1975 but the acting bug had already bitten, thanks to some lessons she'd taken to fill up her university timetable. It soon became her greatest passion, so she moved to London and trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama.
Career:
Krige made her acting breakthrough in 1979 in a BBC Play for Today. That led to TV movie A Tale of Two Cities and the films Chariots of Fire (1981) and Ghost Story (1981). She also appeared in King David (1985) and Barfly (1987). She made her West End debut in an award-winning production of Arms and the Man, and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company. She honed her skills in stage productions of King Lear, The Tempest and The Taming of the Shrew. She became a cult star as the dreaded Borg queen in Star Trek: First Contact in 1996 and reprised the role for the final episode of TV series Star Trek: Voyager and a theme park attraction. Cult series Six Feet Under, Children of Dune and Deadwood also boosted her profile. More recent projects include the movies Silent Hill (2006), Lonely Hearts (2006), The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010) and Thor: The Dark World (2013), as well as TV series MI-5, Tyrant and The Syndicate.
Quote:
On playing an intergalactic ruler: "To be allowed to explore a kind of passionate pursuit of power is exciting."
Trivia:
In 2004, she received an honorary degree from Rhodes University.