In the third in our Lockdown series we're getting to know an actress and stuntwoman with one of the most extensive lists of appearances in the franchise outside of any of the main cast - Tracee Lee Cocco.
Joining the show from its fourth season, Tracee would initially be a background character seen at the rear bridge consoles or walking down a corridor to create the sense of ongoing life aboard the USS Enterprise-D but it would come to be so much more, even after The Next Generation closed out in 1994.
"I started out modelling doing a lot of printwork and then I was working for a company out of Finland when the girl for the catalogue shoot didn't show and they put me in there. One thing led to another, I did a McDonalds commercial singing which was hysterical!
My first movie was Gross Anatomy (1988) which starred Matthew Modine and I played a medical student."
Alongside her in this was Christine Lahti who's character suffered from lupus, a condition that Tracee herself was diagnosed with around the time she was involved on the project and still manages it successfully today.
"After that I got auditioned for Baywatch and got on as the regular lifeguard ('89 - '91) and when that got cancelled I got onto Another 48 Hours with Eddie Murphy and in that movie I did a stunt where I was running around a bar and had to jump over tables. It was filmed on the Paramount lot and somebody from Star Trek happened to be watching the filming that day and came up to me after it and said I should go and talk to them because they would like my look.
"I went for the audition and I got it. They put me in the black and gold colour which was the best colour to be because it runs a lot of stuff on the ship. I started out as an ensign and the next time I go to put on the uniform I'd got two pips and I was a lieutenant. Then they started to put me everywhere and do things with the main cast."
The next thing Tracee knew, Michael Westmore was involved prepping her for an alien - in that case, an Antican; "Funny story here is that I go out from the set and the stage to get some air and have a sip through a straw. Who then comes out of her trailer but Sharon Stone (filming Sliver at the time) and comes straight towards me.
"She was asking what I looked like under the costume and that same day I'd given the security guard a picture of me which he showed to Sharon Stone. She was surprised that I was covering my face up because she thought I was so pretty.
"For one," said Tracee, explaining her response to Sharon Stone; "I didn't mind because my skin was fine with the prosthetics, secondly they paid me well and I quite liked it!"
The meeting would lead to an invite to the wrap party for the movie - with Sharon Stone lending Tracee some of her security guards to walk in with!
Westmore would go on to give Tracee 15 more alien roles in Deep Space Nine and Voyager alongside her 50 plus appearances as Lieutenant Jae in The Next Generation which included wearing all three divisional colours and joining the ship for Generations, First Contact and Insurrection.
Star Trek fans will remember Jae stationed at Ops, perhaps sitting next to Patrick Stewart during the performance of Frame of Mind or getting blown out her chair while the Enterprise was under attack from the Duras sisters in Generations. In fact she's worn all three colours during her tenure plus Tracee has turned up in the PC games Klingon and Borg.
"I used to be in Ten Forward a lot and then the studio began to get letters about me. Then I was Michael Dorn's date one time and Jonathan Frakes' too (in episodes)."
Surprisingly (and I only learnt this from this interview), stuntwork can include something as little as falling off a chair. The explosion on the Enterprise bridge from Generations was Tracee's first experience of a stunt of that scale; "I have my limits - I'm not going to jump off a tall building for instance because I have quite a bit of metal in my back!"
Nor have multiple surgeries stopped Tracee working with a recent film project, Night Mistress, in which she played a head bodyguard to the underworld - in fact her experiences on Star Trek were one of the reasons that she got the part.
One of Tracee's other memorable appearances was as one of the Borg drones experimented on by Lore in Descent, Part II; "That was great," she recalled, "I did that drone and a regular Borg as well. When they called me for that it's a one piece metal-look bodysuit and then they attach Borg pieces to that and finally the white makeup - but you can't smile or anything because it cracks."
Tracee would be further involved with the Borg in First Contact acting as Alice Krige's stand-in - and she would also be "stunt arms" for the Queen when she reaches up to grab Picard in the film's climax.
Y'see not only is Tracee Lieutenant Jae or an alien but in Rascals she also moonlighted as a Ferengi and a hand double for the young Picard too!
Being put into scenes prominently with the main cast meant that Jae was getting a lot of attention as The Next Generation progressed with even Patrick Stewart receiving fan mail that were inquiring about the possible relationship between the two characters; "As soon as I got my name by accident I ran with that one and it went from there. I'm totally wowed by the following that the character has now."
Indeed, #bringbackltjae is a real thing with Tracee keen to see if the former Enterprise-all rounder can make further appearances in the franchise because, well, she must be at least an admiral by the time of Picard? Maybe just even in the background?
Tracee's first convention experience was the London Film and Comic-Con in 2012 and from there she went to Fed Con in Germany then Australia for Super Nova and a lot more since then. Due to recent events, the last one that she managed to attend was Destination Star Trek in 2019 where she managed to get to see some of her former cast mates from The Next Generation including Patrick Stewart.
Outside of the Star Trek franchise you can catch Tracee in Demolition Man alongside Sly Stallone and Sandra Bullock - for which she also ended up voicing the arcade pinball machine as well as appearances in Pamela Anderson's Barb Wire and notably in the excellent Space: Above and Beyond.
Following on from her time on the Enterprise, Tracee now splits her time between cons and acting; "I'm so grateful I have a fan club. I love the cons, I get so much energy from doing them!
But if Jae were to come back, what would Tracee like to be doing if she was given free reign? "I love the thought of Section 31 or having my own ship and be out there exploring."
If not commanding the ship then there could be other possibilities and I suggested maybe in the Support Services division; "I'd want to be there to help get the characters out of something or helping to figure out how to get them out."
And for the future? Well, there's the possibility that we might see a storyline in Star Trek Online with the ever-present lieutenant - something that's in discussion so keep an eye out for that!
My first movie was Gross Anatomy (1988) which starred Matthew Modine and I played a medical student."
Alongside her in this was Christine Lahti who's character suffered from lupus, a condition that Tracee herself was diagnosed with around the time she was involved on the project and still manages it successfully today.
"After that I got auditioned for Baywatch and got on as the regular lifeguard ('89 - '91) and when that got cancelled I got onto Another 48 Hours with Eddie Murphy and in that movie I did a stunt where I was running around a bar and had to jump over tables. It was filmed on the Paramount lot and somebody from Star Trek happened to be watching the filming that day and came up to me after it and said I should go and talk to them because they would like my look.
"I went for the audition and I got it. They put me in the black and gold colour which was the best colour to be because it runs a lot of stuff on the ship. I started out as an ensign and the next time I go to put on the uniform I'd got two pips and I was a lieutenant. Then they started to put me everywhere and do things with the main cast."
The next thing Tracee knew, Michael Westmore was involved prepping her for an alien - in that case, an Antican; "Funny story here is that I go out from the set and the stage to get some air and have a sip through a straw. Who then comes out of her trailer but Sharon Stone (filming Sliver at the time) and comes straight towards me.
"She was asking what I looked like under the costume and that same day I'd given the security guard a picture of me which he showed to Sharon Stone. She was surprised that I was covering my face up because she thought I was so pretty.
"For one," said Tracee, explaining her response to Sharon Stone; "I didn't mind because my skin was fine with the prosthetics, secondly they paid me well and I quite liked it!"
The meeting would lead to an invite to the wrap party for the movie - with Sharon Stone lending Tracee some of her security guards to walk in with!
Westmore would go on to give Tracee 15 more alien roles in Deep Space Nine and Voyager alongside her 50 plus appearances as Lieutenant Jae in The Next Generation which included wearing all three divisional colours and joining the ship for Generations, First Contact and Insurrection.
Star Trek fans will remember Jae stationed at Ops, perhaps sitting next to Patrick Stewart during the performance of Frame of Mind or getting blown out her chair while the Enterprise was under attack from the Duras sisters in Generations. In fact she's worn all three colours during her tenure plus Tracee has turned up in the PC games Klingon and Borg."I used to be in Ten Forward a lot and then the studio began to get letters about me. Then I was Michael Dorn's date one time and Jonathan Frakes' too (in episodes)."
Surprisingly (and I only learnt this from this interview), stuntwork can include something as little as falling off a chair. The explosion on the Enterprise bridge from Generations was Tracee's first experience of a stunt of that scale; "I have my limits - I'm not going to jump off a tall building for instance because I have quite a bit of metal in my back!"
Nor have multiple surgeries stopped Tracee working with a recent film project, Night Mistress, in which she played a head bodyguard to the underworld - in fact her experiences on Star Trek were one of the reasons that she got the part.
One of Tracee's other memorable appearances was as one of the Borg drones experimented on by Lore in Descent, Part II; "That was great," she recalled, "I did that drone and a regular Borg as well. When they called me for that it's a one piece metal-look bodysuit and then they attach Borg pieces to that and finally the white makeup - but you can't smile or anything because it cracks."Tracee would be further involved with the Borg in First Contact acting as Alice Krige's stand-in - and she would also be "stunt arms" for the Queen when she reaches up to grab Picard in the film's climax.
Y'see not only is Tracee Lieutenant Jae or an alien but in Rascals she also moonlighted as a Ferengi and a hand double for the young Picard too!
Being put into scenes prominently with the main cast meant that Jae was getting a lot of attention as The Next Generation progressed with even Patrick Stewart receiving fan mail that were inquiring about the possible relationship between the two characters; "As soon as I got my name by accident I ran with that one and it went from there. I'm totally wowed by the following that the character has now."
Tracee's first convention experience was the London Film and Comic-Con in 2012 and from there she went to Fed Con in Germany then Australia for Super Nova and a lot more since then. Due to recent events, the last one that she managed to attend was Destination Star Trek in 2019 where she managed to get to see some of her former cast mates from The Next Generation including Patrick Stewart.
Outside of the Star Trek franchise you can catch Tracee in Demolition Man alongside Sly Stallone and Sandra Bullock - for which she also ended up voicing the arcade pinball machine as well as appearances in Pamela Anderson's Barb Wire and notably in the excellent Space: Above and Beyond.
Following on from her time on the Enterprise, Tracee now splits her time between cons and acting; "I'm so grateful I have a fan club. I love the cons, I get so much energy from doing them!
But if Jae were to come back, what would Tracee like to be doing if she was given free reign? "I love the thought of Section 31 or having my own ship and be out there exploring."If not commanding the ship then there could be other possibilities and I suggested maybe in the Support Services division; "I'd want to be there to help get the characters out of something or helping to figure out how to get them out."
And for the future? Well, there's the possibility that we might see a storyline in Star Trek Online with the ever-present lieutenant - something that's in discussion so keep an eye out for that!
Many thanks to Tracee Lee Cocco for her time to speak to SKoST
You can find out more about the Star Trek actress at her website traceeleecocco.com!
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