About Persis Khambatta: Persis Khambatta was an Indian model, actress. and author. She was best known for her role as Lieutenant Ilia in the 1979 feature film Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Basically, they had asked me if I would shave my head or wear a bald cap. I said look, if you are doing a series for five years I would want to shave my hair because I would go bald with all the gum and glue from the bald cap.
Besides, a bald cap would have never looked real.
I was thrilled, because I like the big screen and I could then move on to the next thing. It was the biggest break for me. In a way, though, I wish it had been a TV series because then you are working for five years.
I also had this artist friend who'd paint butterflies and things like that on my head.
Maybe I'm being philosophical and spiritual, but I believe that if you put negative energy out there that that is what will come back.
Creative people are very insecure people because they don't know whether people like them or are in awe of them. That insecurity always comes out. It makes them a better actor, I feel.
I mean, every Star Trek episode you saw was just phenomenal.
Gene Roddenberry was a genius.
I only went to one Star Trek convention and that was in the late '80s. I hadn't gone to a convention before that. It was quite amusing, with the people dressed up and all of that.
Having shaved my head for the role put a spotlight on me.
After Star Trek, I was with the top agencies, but producers and directors did not know what to do with me.
Everybody told me to stay in Hollywood. This was the place they said I could have a big career. What they failed to mention was that no one would quite know what to do with me.
If there is an exotic woman it's always a terrorist role.
Every star, whether it's Harrison Ford or Robert De Niro, is remembered by one film. Persis is a star in the sky - how can a star be forgotten when all you have to do is look up and see her?
I know that nobody can become a star without a team.
I do not hide my feelings, though sometimes I get carried away. I can't remember what humiliation I had suffered at the hands of one of my boyfriends, but one day I was sitting weeping. Director Robert Wise patted my shoulder and said, 'Come on, Pers...
I thought I was very pretty without hair. Naked, more honest somehow. No glamor, just bald old me. I seldom wore wigs or hats. But some people must have thought I was an exhibitionist or a religious fanatic.
We are all part of the same energy that envelops.
I had a growing career as a model and an actress in London - I had starred opposite Michael Caine and Sidney Poitier in 'The Wilby Conspiracy' - but everyone told me to stay in Hollywood. This was the place, they said, and I could have a big career. ...
It's tough to make it as an actor, tougher still to make it as an actress - the Screen Actors Guild is eager to provide the statistics to verify the latter.
