The Ladies of Star Trek: The Next Generation

Whoopi Goldberg as Guinan

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Guinan is an El-Aurian, an extremely long-lived species, by human standards.  El-Aurians are a species able to sense beyond linear time; a species of "listeners".  She was born around 1650, and is therefore over 700 Earth years old.  Nothing else is known of Guinan before 1890, when she took up residence in San Francisco, California, on Earth, while hiding from her father for some reason.  She of course hid her true identity from the humans she met.   Apparently she has some kind of space craft, or she would not have been able to go to Earth.  She soon becomes acquainted with and quite fond of Samuel Clemens, better known by his pen name, Mark Twain.  Guinan meets Captain Picard and Lieutenant Commander Data in San Francisco in 1893, when they go back in time (Time's Arrow).  But they already know her; from the 24th century, no less.   Guinan was not on her home world when it was attacked by the Borg and scattered throughout the galaxy, but she was aboard the refugee ship, the SS Lakul, 27 years later in 2293, and was rescued by the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-B when the SS Lakul was destroyed by the "Nexus" energy ribbon (Star Trek VII: Generations).   That ship held some of the remaining El-Aurians following the Borg's destruction and assimilation of their home planet.  Guinan developed what humans would call a "sixth sense", as a result of her experiences with the Borg.  She suddenly appeared aboard the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-D in 2365 as the bartender/hostess in Ten-Forward (The Child).  She encountered the Q entity at some point in the 2160s, and Q now appears to be afraid of, or at least have a healthy respect for, her (Q Who?). her.  Guinan keeps a selection of real alcoholic beverages in Ten-Forward for special occasions, in opposition to Starfleet's synthehol regulations.  Guinan makes herself available to anyone in need, especially the senior staff, as an informal counselor.  She had an imaginary Tarcassian razor beast as a childhood pet, and still finds time to "talk" to him.  Guinan herself has been married at least twice and has "a lot" of children.  One of her offspring "wouldn't listen to anybody; a rarity in a species of listeners; but he grew out of it after several hundred years".    Guinan is usually a calm and reasoned observer and listener, but her life has been eventful to say the least.  She has, as a result, held long term grudges against both Q and the Borg.  She relented somewhat against the Borg when "Hugh", a Borg drone survived a scout ship crash in 2368 and was rescued by the Enterprise.   "Hugh" proved to be somewhat civilized when he was separated from the collective (I, Borg).  Guinan says the relationship she has with Captain Picard "goes beyond friendship, and beyond family", but never explains that statement.  She likes liked bald-headed men, because one was kind to her once.  She escaped "serious trouble" once thanks to Captain Picard's trust.  He once told Ensign Ro Laren that, "Guinan is very selective about whom she calls a friend" (Ensign Ro).  She, along with Captain Picard, Ensign Ro, and Keiko O'Brien, were reduced to children briefly in 2369, after the Enterprise shuttlecraft they were aboard passed through a strange energy field (Rascals).   She had detected the original vortex that brought the USS Enterprise NCC 1701-C through time and changed the timeline (Yesterday's Enterprise).   Lieutenant Tasha Yar, still alive in the altered timeline, met Guinan, and volunteered to accompany the Enterprise-C back in time to the battle at Nerendra III.

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Whoopi Goldberg, born Caryn Johnson in New York, New York, on 13 October 1949, has played the recurring role of Guinan, the El-Arian bartender in Ten-Forward, since the beginning of the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.  She is an avid Trekker, and says, "Star Trek is something I wanted to do since I was a little girl.  It was the first show that said, yes, there's a future for black folks."  Whoopi Goldberg received an Oscar nomination and the Golden Globe Award in 1985 for portrayal of Celie in her motion picture debut; Steven Spielberg's film version of Alice Walker's "The Color Purple."   She has been very busy since then, in motion pictures and on television.  Her film credits include Jumpin' Jack Flash, as Terry Doolittle in 1986; Fatal Beauty, as Rita Rizzoli in 1987; Clara' Heart, as Clara Mayfield in 1988; Ghost, as Oda Mae Brown in 1990, a performance that earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Golden Globe Award, and the NAACP Image Award, as well as being named the NAACP's "Entertainer of the Year" for 1990; Sister Act, as Deloris Van Cartier/Sister Mary Clarence; Sister Act II, as Deloris in 1993; Naked in New York, as the Face on the Theater Wall in 1994; and How Stella Got Her Groove Back, as Delilah in 1998; among many others.  Television credits include Kiss Shot, as Sarah Collins in 1989; Happy Birthday, Bugs!: 50 Looney Years, as herself in 1990; the series, Bagdad Cafe, as Brenda in 1990; and A Knight in Camelot, as Vivien Morgan in 1998; among others.  She also starred in Sarafina!, a film version of the stage musical, which was filmed on location in South Africa.   Whoopi also co-starred in the film Made in America opposite Ted Danson.  Her appearance on an episode of Moonlighting in 1986 earned her an Emmy Award nomination as Best Guest Performer in a Dramatic Series.  Whoopi's performance in the CBS Schoolbreak special, My Past Is My Own garnered her a Daytime Emmy Award nomination as Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special.   An appearance on A Different World earned her yet another Emmy nomination.  Whoopi Goldberg co-produced and appeared in Hot Rod Brown, and the first two Tales from the Whoop for Nickelodeon, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award.  Her first album, a recording of her Broadway show, won a Grammy Award as Best Comedy Recording of the Year, and her second, Fontaine...Why Am I Straight? based on her HBO special, also earned a Grammy Award nomination.    IWhoopi Goldberg hosted the 34th Annual Grammy Awards telecast in February 1992.  She hosted another special for HBO Comedy Hour, Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Connolly in Performance in 1990.  She performed in three specials for HBO, including Whoopi Goldberg: Chez Whoopi in August, 1991.   In the summer of 1991, Whoopi returned to the stage in the summer of 1991 to co-star with Timothy Dalton in A.R. Gurney's two-person play, Love Letters.   Solo performances of The Spook Show, Moms, based on the legendary Moms Mabley, and Living on the Edge of Chaos are included in her stage credits.  Recent honors include the "Hollywood Woman's Press Club's Golden Apple" for Female Star of the Year, UCLA's "Jack Benny Award," and Women in Film's "Norma Zarky Humanitarian Award," among others.   She was also honored for her Distinguished Achievement in Film at the 9th Annual American Cinema Awards and at the Love is Feeding Everyone (LIFE) "Hunger Hero Awards".  Whoopi Goldberg is well known for her efforts on behalf of children, the homeless, human rights, substance abuse, and the battle against AIDS.

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