Lycia Naff is an actress and journalist who is best known for her appearances in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Total Recall (1990).
Following her retirement from acting, she would turn her attention toward impactful journalism, famously interviewing Barbara Bowman.
Early Life
Lycia was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, on August 29, 1962. She is half-Lebanese and half-Brazilian.
She left her home at sixteen to live in her Aunt’s garage in Burbank and graduated high school from Providence High School in Burbank. Following this, she went to Palm Bech Atlantic College in South Florida and graduated cum laude.
While back in Hollywood to pursue a career in film and television, she also became a founding member of the Open At The Top theater company in North Hollywood.
Acting Career
Television appearances heavily influenced Lycia Naff’s early career. Her first credited role was as a dancer on the first episode of Fame in 1982.
Naff would make regular television appearances through the early 1980s, including a role on a season 10 episode of The Jeffersons and three recurring episodes of St. Elsewhere.
By 1985 she began to land roles in TV movies. The first was Heart of a Champion: The Ray Mancini Story (1985). She would also be in Love, Mary, and Final Jeopardy that same year.
Her biggest project at the time came in 1986 when she was cast as Uba in Clan of the Cave Bear. The film was an adaptation of a novel by Jean M. Auel about a cro-magnon child raised by a clan of Neanderthals. In 1987 she played a prostitute in Richard Donner’s Lethal Weapon.
Two of Lycia Naff’s most notable roles were in 1989. She would join the cast of the daytime drama General Hospital for a twelve-episode run playing the character of Phoebe Dawson.
She would be among hundreds of actors to appear in some of the soap opera’s thousands of episodes since 1963.
She would also make her mark on the Star Trek franchise with two appearances in Star Trek: The Next Generation as ensign Sonya Gomez in two episodes. She would appear in the episodes “Q Who” and “Samaritan Snare” in a role that was intended to be more substantial. There was confusion about her role and whether she was intended to be a potential romantic option for Geordi LaForge. There was also an incident of miscommunication about the length of her hair that may have factored into a storyline being cut.
Her two episodes of Star Trek would not be her final moments with the franchise, however, as she would return as a captain in the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks (2021).
Total Recall
Lycia Naff’s best-known role has always been as the triple-breasted prostitute on Mars in the Arnold Schwarzenegger film Total Recall (1990).
The sci-fi action film was directed by Paul Verhoeven and adapted from the Philip K. Dick story “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale.”
The film has become a cult classic and one of Schwarzenegger’s most iconic films. However, the role has proven to be a weird mark of fame for Naff.
Her character, Mary, was one of the many mutants on Mars. Director Verhoeven wanted the character with a more anatomically correct set of four breasts, but the film ultimately settled on a more cartoonish three.
In a candid interview, Naff reveals the shoot was strange and awkward for her and that she felt embarrassed about it in the day. However, she looks back at it now as a lost opportunity that she failed to capitalize on.
What is Lycia Naff doing now?
(photo: NerdNewsToday)
Lycia Naff began working as a journalist in the mid-1990s. Her last acting role before her retirement was a 2008 Ghost Whisperer episode.
By this point in her career, she was well-embedded in the world of entertainment journalism and would play a significant role in the fate of Bill Cosby in the 2010s.
She would be one of the first women to interview Barbara Bowman regarding the sexual assaults committed by Bill Cosby.
She also participates in projects to do good in Los Angeles, including Drive-By Do-Gooders, of which she is a founder.
Personal Life
There is no information about Lycia Naff dating anyone currently or any marriage records nor is there any information about Lycia Naff having had any children.
No birth announcements or social media posts have confirmed that she has children.