Lena Banks

Lena Banks is the actress, model, scriptwriter and teacher who worked as regular background actress on the fifth through seventh seasons of . She also appeared in and and the first season episode .
Banks filmed her first scenes for The Next Generation on Wednesday on Paramount Stage 9. She was also on set the following day when the cast and crew learned about the death of Gene Roddenberry. Most of her scenes from Star Trek VI were cut from the final aired version and only scenes with her in the background remained in the final film. As one of the regular background performers on the Next Generation sets, Banks was scheduled to appear in engineering scenes in the fifth season episode according to the call sheets but was not part of the final episode. Her operations division Starfleet uniform was one of the items sold on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. 
== Life and career ==
Banks attended the Broward Community College in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and graduated in Associate of Arts and Psychology. She then spent a summer session in Political Science and Government at the UCLA and went to the Florida Atlantic University where she graduated in Political Science and Psychology. In 1992, she served for five months as staff assistant for Senator Ted Kennedy at his office in Washington D.C. followed by one year and two months as executive assistant for Spelling Television. Between 1997 and 1998, Banks worked as executive assistant to president Elliot Silverstein at The Artists Rights Foundation.
Banks studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute with coaches David Groh and John Matthews. Her drama coach was Paul Garcia, comedy with Nick Anderson and commercial techniques with Shancy Pierce at the TVI. While studying stage acting at the Metropolitan Educational Theatre she appeared in versions of "Annie", "Music Man", and "Secret Garden". She later performed in "Midsummer Night's Dream" at Globe Theatre and in "Lysistrata" at the Underground Theater.
Beside acting, she is skilled in dance and voice work, and can also be seen in music videos for artists such as and commercials such as the 1994 Miller Lite commercial.
Starting in the early 1990s and founding her company Think Tank INK in 1996, Banks has been working as mentor, teacher and muse providing workshops in scriptwriting technique and creativity, Hollywood hand-holding for scriptwriters of all levels, and mentoring for committed scriptwriters. 
=== Television ===
Working around five years professionally in film and television productions in Los Angeles, Banks was featured in episodes of Herman's Head (1991, starring Molly Hagan), (1991, directed by James A. Contner, starring Elizabeth Hoffman and Ashley Judd, and with Steve Vinovich and Ron Fassler), (1992, with Zach Galligan and Simon Templeman), The Ben Stiller Show (1992, with Andy Dick and Paul Dooley), Mad About You (1992), Life Goes On (1992, directed by Kim Friedman and starring Bill Smitrovich), Doogie Howser, M.D. (1993, with Rif Hutton and Laura Walsh), and (1993, with Cyril O'Reilly and Vidal Peterson).
Beside recurring roles in soaps and series such as General Hospital, , Top of the Heap (1991, with Leslie Jordan and Rod Arrants), and (1993), she was also featured in 1993, starring Joe Lando, Chad Allen, Erika Flores, Frank Collison, and Hélène Udy), (1993, starring Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, and Bebe Neuwirth), (1993), It Had to Be You (1993), The Secrets of Lake Success (1993, with Lanei Chapman, Samantha Eggar, Stan Ivar, Liz Vassey, Brian Keith, Ray Wise, Jeff Rector, and James Ingersoll), (1994, starring Teri Hatcher, Tracy Scoggins, and K Callan and with Michael Cavanaugh and Margot Rose), and (1994, with Ray Wise and Michelle Phillips and cinematography by Lowell Peterson).
Television movies include (1993, with Cliff DeYoung, Glenn Morshower, and Darwyn Carson), the comedy The Day My Parents Ran Away (1993, with Matt Frewer, Brigid Brannagh, Aaron Lustig, Jack Shearer, and John Christian Graas), (1993, with Tim Ransom, Michael Krawic, and James Harper), (1994, with Jeffrey Nordling, Gary Werntz, Scott Jaeck, and Catherine MacNeal), (1994, with Christina Pickles, Robert Picardo, Stephen Davies, Brian Tochi, James Cromwell, and Bernie Casey), (1994, with LeVar Burton and Paul Sorvino), the short film Leslie's Folly (1994, with Clara Bryant), (1994, with Keone Young, Jeffrey Byron, and Brett Cullen), and (1995, with Darwyn Carson, Martin Cassidy, Richard Fancy, and Bumper Robinson).
Through her production company Think Tank INK, Banks worked as host on the series Space Today and 2 Global Girls Travel.
=== Film ===
Throughout her five years in the film business, Banks appeared in a number of movies mostly in featured and background parts. Among these films are (1991, with Robert Beltran and Bebe Neuwirth), (1992, with Time Winters), (1992, with Victor Rivers, Noble Willingham, Daniel Benzali, Julianna McCarthy, and Dion Anderson), (1992), (1993, with William Shatner, James Doohan, F. Murray Abraham, J.P. Hubbell, Charles Napier, and Whoopi Goldberg), (1993), (1993), (1993), (1993), and (1993, with Gary Cole, Clyde Kusatsu, Carl Ciarfalio, Michael Zurich, Robin Morselli, Robert Buckingham, Elizabeth Pengson, Sharon Schaffer, and Denise Lynne Roberts).
Banks was among the stunt drivers on (1991, with Jenette Goldstein) and appeared in the music drama The Mambo Kings (1992, with Jonathan Del Arco, Joycelyn O'Brien, and Susie Stillwell). In (1992), she worked as stand-in for lead actress and filled in as photo double for the "Ice Princess", played by . In addition, she appeared as one of Cobblepot's supporters in a crowd scene along with Brian Demonbreun. And in the 1994 thriller Color of Night, Banks can be seen as ' wife on a picture of his desk.
Further film work include (1993, starring Mädchen Amick), (1993), (1994, with Mikki Val), (1994), (1994, starring Winona Ryder), (1994), (1994), (1994), (1994, with Joycelyn Robinson), (1994), (1994), the drama When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), (1994), (1994, with Kevin Grevioux), (1994), (1994, with David Soul, Daniel Riordan, Barry Lynch, Buddy Joe Hooker, Bobby Bass, Kristopher Logan, Melanie Hathorn, and Johnny Martin), (1994), (1994), (1994), (1994), (1994), (1994, starring Whoopi Goldberg, with Brent Spiner and Jenifer Lewis), (1994, starring Heather Langenkamp), (1994), (1994), (1994), (1994, with Iman, Stephanie Niznik, Rosemary Forsyth, Keegan de Lancie, and Rachelle Roderick), and (1994).
Banks worked as casting associate and associate producer on (2015) in which she had a supporting role as cell phone neighbor. The film featured Tony Todd and Joe Davis.
== Star Trek appearances ==
File:Presidents assistant ST6.jpg|President's assistant(uncredited)
File:Female ensign in cargo bay 5, 2370.jpg|Starfleet ensignRecurring character(uncredited)
File:Saratoga escape pod survivor 1.jpg|Saratoga officer(uncredited)
File:Romulan officer on Vilmor II 1.jpg|Romulan officer(uncredited)
=== Recurring appearance ===
* as Starfleet ensign
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** (Season 6)
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** (Season 7)
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== External links ==
* – former official site
* – another former official site
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es:Lena Banks
Category:Performers
Category:Film performers
Category:TNG performers
Category:DS9 performers