Christina Chong has had a very successful career, including her breakout character Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

British actress Christina Chong plays Lieutenant La’an Noonien-Singh on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. La’an is a new character created for Strange New Worlds, but she has connections to one of Star Trek’s most infamous villains. As her last name suggests, La’an is the descendant of Khan Noonien-Singh (Ricardo Montalbán), the genetically enhanced dictator first introduced in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode “Space Seed.” Though La’an fears becoming like her notorious ancestor, she could not be more different from the power-hungry Khan.

In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, La’an serves as the Chief of Security on the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount). La’an has endured great hardship throughout her life, and her tough exterior hides a surprising amount of emotion and vulnerability. La’an may remain serious most of the time, but she still gets in on the fun occasionally, such as when she proclaims her love of grapplers in Strange New Worlds‘ crossover episode, “Those Old Scientists.” Christina Chong consistently delivers an understated but powerful performance as La’an, and the character has quickly become a fan favorite.

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Christina Chong’s La’an Noonien-Singh In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Explained

La’an is much more than her infamous surname.

La’an Noonien-Singh spent most of her childhood aboard a colony ship, the SS Puget Sound. Tragically, this ship was attacked by the vicious Gorn, leaving La’an as the only survivor. She was rescued by a Federation starship, the USS Martin Luther King Jr., on which Una Chin-Riley (Rebecca Romijn) served as an Ensign. Una helped La’an start to recover from her ordeal with the Gorn and the two became life-long friends. La’an tries to distance herself from her infamous ancestor Khan and has an understandable distrust of augments. A veteran of the Klingon War fought in Star Trek: Discovery season 1, La’an is a survivor who takes her duty as Chief of Security on the Starship Enterprise very seriously and generally prefers work to more fun activities.

Strange New Worlds has showcased La’an’s skills and talents beyond her role as Chief of Security. Twice in Strange New Worlds season 1, La’an stepped in for Lt. Commander Una Chin-Riley as Acting First Officer. Of course, La’an’s traumatic past with the Gorn was integral to each encounter the Starship Enterprise has had with the reptilian aliens. La’an also literally saved Star Trek‘s Prime Timeline in Strange New Worlds season 2, episode 3, “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”, when she prevented a Romulan temporal agent named Sera (Adelaide Kane) from killing a young Khan Noonien-Singh (Desmond Sivan) in 21st century Toronto – a mission La’an cannot speak of to anyone. In Strange New Worlds, La’an’s importance to Captain Pike’s USS Enterprise has been proven time and again.

Why La’an Is One Of Strange New Worlds’ Breakout Characters

There’s a great deal of depth to La’an.

La’an is a more serious character with a stoic personality, but Christina Chong deftly imbues the character with a lot of depth and heart. La’an prefers to keep her emotions to herself, and while she undoubtedly feels deeply, she also fears being vulnerable. Strange New Worlds season 2 saw La’an begin to break out of her self-imposed shell after she fell in love with and tragically lost an alternate reality version of Captain James T. Kirk (Paul Wesley) during their time travel mission to 21st century Toronto. Soon after, La’an confessed her feelings to her timeline’s Lt. James T. Kirk, and she became determined to “change her paradigm” in Star Trek‘s first-ever musical episode.

Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh speaks to viewers who also feel anxious about revealing their true selves to others and, instead, throw themselves into their work. Despite being surrounded by friends among the crew of the Starship Enterprise, La’an is undeniably lonely and prefers to keep to herself. However, La’an is also disarmingly funny and capable of delivering showstopping deadpan quips. La’an is a complex character, played with nuance and insightfulness by Chong, and audiences have embraced La’an as a fan-favorite character.

Christina Chong Outside Of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Chong has a versatile career in film, TV, and music.

Christina Chong has appeared in many British television shows, including Doctor Who, Whitechapel, Monroe, Black Mirror, and Line of Duty. Chong also had supporting roles in two popular miniseries, 24: Live Another Day and Halo: Nightfall. She appeared in the Syfy series Dominion, ABC’s Biblical drama Of Kings and Prophets, and the supernatural drama Heirs of Night. Chong also has an impressive feature film career; she can be seen in Johnny English Reborn, Legacy, W.E., Christmas Eve, and Tom & Jerry, although her role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens was cut.

Christina Chong trained in musical theater before she took on TV and movie roles. When not filming Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Christina concentrates on her burgeoning music career. She recently released her first EP entitled Twin Flames, and followed it up with a cheeky Christmas single titled “Fck U 4 Xmas”. Her Christmas song is evidence of her sense of humor, and Christina’s fellow Star Trek actor Tawny Newsome said she was “blown away” by how funny Christina is. Her endless versatile talents are why Christina Chong has turned Lt. La’an Noonien-Singh into one of the best characters in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.