FEDERATION CIVILIAN DATABASE FILE -- GUINAN

Played By: Whoppi Goldberg

Position: Civilian lounge hostess

Species/gender: El-Aurian female

Place of birth: El-Auria

Marital status: Single, twice married

Children: Several

Former Quarters: U.S.S. Enterprise: Deck 8, Room 3150

Former Office: U.S.S. Enterprise: Adjacent to Ten-Forward lounge, Deck 10

Psychological Profile: Report of Ship's Counselor Deanna Troi

This female member of the scattered yet long-lived El-Aurian "Listener" race became the civilian hostess of the U.S.S. Enterprise's Ten-Forward lounge at Picard's invitation in early 2365, dispensing her trade's time-honored craft of advice while remaining mute about her own background. At Ten-Forward, she kept a selection of alcoholic beverages for special occasions in opposition to Starfleet's synthehol regulations and made herself available to anyone in need, especially the senior staff, as an informal counselor.

Well over 600 years old now, Guinan hid out from her father on Earth in AD 1893 as a mature adult and had an imaginary Tarcassian razor beast as a childhood pet -- and still finds time to "talk" to him. She 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." Her family also includes her father, who is over 700 years old and had pursued her nearly 400 years earlier to come home, and a maternal-side Uncle Terkim, the "black sheep" of the family.

In the 2160s, Guinan first encountered the Q entity, and both mutually consider the other an implacable enemy -- though she went by a different name then. A century later she was not present when her people were attacked by the Borg and scattered from their home system thousands of light-years from Federation space -- though she was aboard the refugee-filled S.S. Lakul some 27 years later near Earth, in 2293, when part of her being was trapped in the same Nexus ribbon which destroyed her ship and a sister El-Aurian craft and caused the apparent death of Captain James T. Kirk. Following the incident, Guinan developed what otherwise would be dubbed a "sixth sense."

Though usually a calm and reasoned observer, Guinan's personal life proved fitful and she held long grudges against both Q and the Borg as enemies -- though even she relented against the latter when "Hugh" Borg proved civilized when cut off from the collective in 2368. She coyly says her relationship with Picard goes "beyond friendship and beyond family," and had earlier claimed she liked bald-headed men; she has vaguely spoken of "serious trouble" that she escaped thanks to the trust of Picard; in return, he once observed that "Guinan is very selective about whom she calls a friend."

No stranger to the phaser range, she once beat Worf on Level 14, firing left-handed, and she silenced a dream-deprived paranoid mob in Ten-Forward with an energy-beam rifle hidden behind the bar. She has also been coached in fencing by Picard, begun when she considered exercise to strengthen her arm in 2368.

Personnel File Addendum: Report of Captain Jean-Luc Picard

CONFIDENTIAL

Guinan's knowledge of the universe due to her age and her "extrasensory perceptions" has aided my crew in a number of missions wherever she could be of assistance. Having explained to me that she had detected the original vortex that brought the alternate Tasha Yar to this universe, Guinan assured me of her conviction that Sela truly was somehow Tasha's daughter during the Romulan involvement in Klingon politics in 2367-68.

Whoopi Goldberg plays in a recurring guest star role, as Guinan, the alien humanoid hostess of "Ten Forward," the ship's lounge. An avid Trekkie, Goldberg 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 starred in the box-office hit "Sister Act." She also starred in "Sarafina!," a film adaptation of the stage musical, shot on location in South Africa. Whoopi also co-stared in the film "Made in America" opposite Ted Danson.

Goldberg received an Oscar nomination and the Golden Globe Award in 1985 for her motion picture debut in Steven Spielberg's film version of Alice Walker's "The Color Purple." She has since starred in such films as "The Long Walk Home," "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Burglar," "Fatal Beauty," "Clara's Heart," "Soapdish," and "The Player," among others.

Whoopi's performance as Oda Mae Brown in "Ghost" earned her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, the Golden Globe Award, and the NAACP Image Award. She was also named the NAACP's "Entertainer of the Year" for 1990.

In 1986, her appearance on an episode of Moonlighting earned Goldberg an Emmy Award nomination as Best Guest Performer in a Dramatic Series. Her performance in the CBS Schoolbreak special, "My Past Is My Own," garnered Goldberg a Daytime Emmy Award nomination as Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special. Her appearance on A Different World earned her yet another Emmy nomination. Her television credits include Baghdad Cafe (in which she starred with Jean Stapleton), "Scared Straight: 10 Years Later," "Carol, Robin, Whoopi and Carl," "Funny, You Don't Look 200," Marlo Thomas' "Free To Be...A Family" and "Freedomfest -- Nelson Mandela's 70th Birthday Special," which she co-hosted. Whoopi co-produced and appeared in "Hot Rod Brown," the first two "Tales from the Whoop" for Nickelodeon, for which she was nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. Whoopi Goldberg, along with Billy Crystal and Robin Williams, have also co-hosted HBO's "Comic Relief" specials, which benefit the nation's homeless.

Goldberg's first album, a recording of her Broadway show, won a Grammy Award as Best Comedy Recording of the Year. Her second album, "Fontaine...Why Am I Straight?" based on her HBO special, also earned a Grammy Award nomination. In February 1992, Whoopi hosted the "34th Annual Grammy Awards" telecast. In 1990, she hosted yet another special for HBO Comedy Hour, "Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Connolly in Performance." She performed in three specials for HBO, including "Whoopi Goldberg: Chez Whoopi," which debuted in August, 1991.

In the summer of 1991, Whoopi returned to legitimate stage to co-star with Timothy Dalton in A.R. Gurney's two-person play, "Love Letters." Among Goldberg's stage credits are solo performances of "The Spook Show," "Moms," based on the legendary Moms Mabley, and "Living on the Edge of Chaos."

Whoopi was named the NAACP's Entertainer of the Year. Other 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. Whoopi was honored for Distinguished Achievement in Film at the "9th Annual American Cinema Awards" and at L.I.F.E. (Love is Feeding Everyone) "Hunger Hero Awards."

She is well-known for her tireless humanitarian efforts on behalf of children, the homeless, human rights, substance abuse and the battle against AIDS.