Patti Yasutake was one of the first actresses with Asian roots to be successful on US television in the 80s. Now she has lost her battle with cancer.
The American TV actress Patti Yasutake has died. She was known to a large audience as nurse Alyssa Ogawa from the science fiction series “Star Trek – The Next Generation” (1987-1994). According to several US media reports, the actress died of cancer in Los Angeles on Monday, according to her long-time manager. She was 70 years old.
After beginning in the theater, Yasutake was successful in the TV business for almost 40 years from the mid-1980s. She had numerous guest appearances in series such as “TJ Hooker”, “The Real Agent”, “Falling for Amy” and “Pretty Little Liars”.
However, the TV actress is best remembered for her role as Sister Ogawa in 16 episodes of “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. She also played the same character in the spin-offs “Star Trek: Generations” and “Star Trek: First Contact”.
On the website startrek.com, editor Christine Dinh wrote that Ogawa was one of only two people of Asian descent to appear in recurring roles on the “Star Trek” series, “a rarity at a time when so few people who looked like me appeared on screen in Western media that I could count them on one hand.”
Source: Stern
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
