Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Majel Lee Hudec enrolled in an acting workshop when she was only ten years old. Her interest in acting continued, and when she was in High School (she attended Shaker Heights High) but after graduation, she went to college, hoping to become a legal clerk. For a year, she attended law school, but dropped out and moved to New York when she got an 'F' in contract law. In New York, she landed a role in "Models By Season", a play staged in Boston. She then moved on to "The Solid Gold Cadillac" which went on tour for nine months.

In the fifties, Majel came to see the competition in New York as fierce, and so moved to California. While there, she managed to star in several Paramount films including "The Black Orchid". It was then she came to believe that the real action was in television, and that's where she wanted to be in life.

After successfully appearing in several series, she met Lucille Ball at an acting class and was then signed a contract with Desilu. Not too long afterwards, she appeared in an episode of "The Lucy Show".

In 1964, after he exclusive contract expired, she accepted a guest appearance in a new show called "The Lieutenant" which was produced by Gene Roddenberry. Gene and Majel became good friends, and she was eventually received a co-starring role in a new show Gene was producing - "Star Trek". Majel played the first officer in the series, and was known as 'Number One'. After watching the pilot episode for the series, the strength of the female character unsettled the network NBC, and so ordered a second pilot. One without the strong Number One.

Majel didn't let that hold her back however, and moved on with her career, continuing with more and more guest spots. But when Gene Roddenberry produced the second pilot to his "Star Trek" series, he had been so impressed with Majel's work in the first one, he hired her as Nurse Chapel in "The Cage" as the pilot was called. To help the show when it came to the network, Majel was credited as Majel Barrett, not M. Leigh Hudec like she was in the first one.

Majel's friendship with Gene grew over the years, and on August 6th, 1969, Majel married Gene Roddenberry in Japan, in a traditional Buddhist-Shinto ceremony. On February 5th, 1974, Majel gave birth to a healthy boy, Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Junior, known affectionately as 'Rod.'

On "Star Trek: The Next Generation", she created the role of Deanna Troi's mother, Lwaxana Troi. She is loud and bossy and as far away from Christine Chapel as anything could be. Majel has carried that role over to "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". Majel can also be heard as the voice of the ship computer on "Star Trek: Voyager", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

Majel owns and operates Lincoln Enterprises, a mail order business that she and Gene started to deal with the mountain of requests for Star Trek-related materials.

Sadly, Majel's husband Gene passed away in October 1991 of a cardiac arrest in Santa Monica, California, leaving many of his works unfinished. As a tribute to his greatness, some of his ashes sent up in a rocket, launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base. But not even death could stop this legendary writer. Majel discovered what became known as ‘The Lost Manuscript’ – Gene’s plans and concepts for various projects, including one entitled “Battleground: Earth”, which Gene was particularly interested in producing.

Remembering the devotion Gene had for the Battleground project, Majel set herself the task of having his dream become a reality. In the late nineteen nineties, “Battleground: Earth” went into production thanks to Majel, becoming known as “Gene Roddenberry’s EARTH: Final Conflict”. Majel once again contributed to the series by making guest appearances as Doctor Belman, an expert in various alien medical procedures, including one central to the story of the series - cyber viral implants. Its success soon led the way to developing other Roddenberry related projects, including “Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda” (which was an amalgamation of multiple concepts).

Sadly, Majel died of lleukemia on Dec. 18, 2009 at aged 76.

For more information about the Roddenberry Creations and the Roddenberry family, please visit Roddenberry.com.