Denise Crosby

Crosby in 2003

In 1987, Crosby was cast in the role of Tasha Yar for the much-publicized return of Star Trek to television in the syndicated series Star Trek: The Next Generation. She had been chosen to play Counsellor Deanna Troi before Gene Roddenberry switched the roles that she and Marina Sirtis had originally been given. Initially one of the top-billed characters and featured prominently in episodes such as "The Naked Now" and "Code of Honor", the role of Tasha gradually moved into the background as other members of the ensemble cast became a greater focus of the series. It has been reported that Crosby grew disillusioned with her role because of its "Uhura-like" status: "I was struggling with not being able to do much with the character. I had all these ideas and couldn't do them. I was just stage dressing."[4] Ultimately, Crosby decided to leave the show. Her character was killed by the alien creature Armus during the episode "Skin of Evil". She had appeared in 22 episodes when she left.

In later years, Crosby approached the TNG production team with the idea of reprising her role of Tasha Yar.[5] This came to be in season three's "Yesterday's Enterprise" in which an alternate timeline is created after the USS Enterprise-C, the predecessor to TNG's USS Enterprise-D, comes forward 22 years in time, just before it was to be destroyed. Yar joined the Enterprise-C before it returned to its own time to restore the original timeline. During the documentary Trekkies, Crosby commented that her Tasha Yar character had to die in order to get "the best episodes".

Crosby also guest starred in several other TNG episodes including "Redemption" and "Unification" as Romulan Commander Sela, the half-human, half-Romulan daughter of Tasha Yar, who had been taken prisoner in the past while on board the Enterprise-C. Crosby later reprised the role in the Star Trek: Armada video game, and again in the series finale, "All Good Things...", in which Captain Picard is moving back and forth through time, and encounters Tasha during the events just prior to the pilot episode.

Crosby co-produced and narrated the 1997 documentary Trekkies, followed by the 2003 sequel Trekkies 2. Both films star Crosby, who conducts interviews with devotees of Star Trek, more commonly known as "Trekkies". As of 2017, she was reportedly working on a sequel called Trekkies 3.[6]

Along with other Star Trek actors, she has also appeared in the "Blood and Fire" episode of the fan produced series Star Trek: New Voyages, playing Dr. Jenna Yar (grandmother of Natasha Yar).

In 2013, Crosby provided voicing for the characters of Tasha Yar and Sela in the Cryptic Studios MMORPG Star Trek Online. Crosby became the first of a new wave of several Star Trek alumni to return to the roles they originated since Leonard Nimoy's participation at the game's launch in 2010.

In January and February 2010, Crosby performed alongside Gale Harold and ex-model Claudia Mason in Tennessee Williams' Orpheus Descending at Theater in Los Angeles. The production and cast received mostly positive reviews in the Los Angeles Times stating, "Harold, ideally cast, beautifully ignites with Crosby, whose unconventional interpretation is an affecting revelation."[7]

Crosby has a recurring role on Showtime's 2013 series Ray Donovan.[8] In 2014, she appeared in three episodes of AMC's The Walking Dead as Mary, a member of a group of cannibals.[9] The character first appears in the penultimate episode of Season 4, "Us", and made her final appearance in the season five premiere, "No Sanctuary".

Crosby also played the role of widow Margie Curtis in the TV series Bones, Season 3: Episode 4 "The Secret in the Soil". She played the role of Special Master Faye Richardson in the legal drama Suits in its final season.