AUGUST 24, 2022 - Star Trek: Strange New Worlds involves several “legacy” characters, from a pre-Kirk era Spock to Doctor M’Benga, who we learn more about with each episode. Then there are the intriguing new characters, such as the ill-fated engineer Hemmer and the U.S.S. Enterprise’s helmsman, Lieutenant Erica Ortegas. Ortegas is played by Columbian-American Melissa Navia, whose 38th birthday we celebrate today.

Navia was born in 1984 in Westbury, New York, a village on Long Island. She’s been in the public eye since 2011, appearing in various independent films and television shows. Notably, she’s been in episodes of Billions, Homeland, and New Amsterdam and won Best Actress at the 2013 Wild Rose Independent Film Festival for her role in the science fiction film The Paragon Cortex. She’s also had recurring roles in the short-lived comedy series Common Charges and the AMC comedy series Dietland.

Navia has found that her character on SNW, Ortegas, speaks to actual soldiers and pilots more than any of the other characters do. “Much of what I hear from actual soldiers and pilots is she is the most authentic crew member in that her gallows humor is exactly what happens in life and death situations,” Navia said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, adding, “That to me is the highest compliment.”

By October 2020, with a worldwide shutdown in effect due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the entertainment industry was starting to look into ways of reopening. In-person auditions were impossible, so self-taping was the only way to land a role. Navia had a breakdown of who Ortegas was and a short scene to read for the camera.

“It was one scene, and it was so well written,” Navia commented. “I knew it was for a series regular, and I taped it with my partner Brian [Bannon] in our apartment. We had to send it straight to casting. I remember trying to submit it down to the wire.”

She then went about the business of life, until two weeks later she was asked to meet SNW showrunners Henry Alonso Myers and Akiva Goldsman via Zoom. They called upon her to read one more scene, and that sealed the deal. Navia was now a part of Star Trek history. “Brian told me this series was going to be special. We jumped up and down when I got it.”

SNW began filming in February 2021, but didn’t premiere until 2022. In an interview with News Talk, Navia credited Bannon for her involvement in Trek. “Brian is 100% the reason that I booked Star Trek,” she said. “He is the example of the kind of person and partner that a working actor like myself, a struggling actor at times, needs in their life. He absolutely believed that the right role would come along.”

Sadly, Bannon would not live to see the show’s premiere. In December 2021, Bannon was diagnosed with leukemia and died only three days later.

Bannon was Irish, from County Donegal, and shortly after his death, Navia took a pilgrimage to his homeland to spend time with his family and friends for what would have been his 50th birthday. “The show…they were able to make space in our crazy schedule for season two for me to go to Ireland…Brian was just my world, and Ireland has an incredibly special place in my heart - and I can’t wait to go back.”

A lot of SNW season one involved adventures and storylines that happened around Ortegas while she was flying the ship, but Navia says that all changes in season two. “Ortegas does have an episode in season 2.... I like to think of her as the person who gets to comment on every single story. Ortegas gets to do a bunch of things that she does in season 2 that she didn’t get to do in season 1, so I’ll leave it at that.”

If it is true that we are all shaped by our experiences and surroundings, then the people we love may have the most profound influence on who we are. That seems to be true of Melissa Navia. Her partner Brian appears to remain an important part of her, and, if he is the reason Navia landed her role in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, we owe him a debt.

You can binge all of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season one right now on Paramount+. Please join us at DSTN in raising a glass to Melissa Navia and wishing her a very happy birthday.