In the original television series, the character was portrayed by Nichelle Nichols, who reprised the role for the first six Star Trek feature films.

[1] Herb Solow pointed out how similar this was to "Zulu" and thought it might act against the plan for racial diversity in the show, so the name Sulu remained with George Takei's character.

When producer Robert Justman explained to Roddenberry what the word uhuru meant, he changed it to Uhura and adopted that as the character's name.

[2] Coincidentally, the end credits of the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country incorrectly refer to Uhura as "Uhuru".

The mystery regarding Uhura's first name is the subject of a running joke in the film, as Captain Kirk repeatedly tries to find out what it is, before finally hearing Spock call her "Nyota" in a moment of intimacy.

[5] Soon after the first scripts for Star Trek were being written, Roddenberry spoke of a new character, a female communications officer and introduced Herb Solow and Robert Justman to Nichols, who had worked for him on The Lieutenant.

Uhura first appears in the episode "The Man Trap", joining the crew of the USS Enterprise as a lieutenant, and serves as chief communications officer under Captain Kirk.

Uhura was also a talented singer, and enjoyed serenading her shipmates when off-duty; Spock occasionally accompanied her on the Vulcan lyre in episodes "Charlie X" and "The Conscience of the King".

In "The Lorelei Signal", a 1973 episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series, Uhura assumes command of the Enterprise when the male officers fall victim to a species of sirens and leads an all-female rescue party.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock sees Uhura take an assignment in the transporter room as part of a plot to steal the Enterprise.

After locking a colleague in a closet, Uhura uses the transporter station to beam Kirk, Leonard McCoy and Hikaru Sulu to the Enterprise so they can use it to rescue Spock from the Genesis Planet.

[15] Following these events and the destruction of the Enterprise, Uhura joins her crewmates on a stolen Klingon ship amid a crisis on Earth in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

In the 2009 film Star Trek, Zoe Saldana plays a young Uhura who is introduced as a cadet at the academy, but is promoted to a communications officer as the movie unfolds.

Uhura is called upon several times to act as a field officer, attempting to use her fluency in Klingon to assist in the hunt for the fugitive John Harrison.

In a 2012 poll conducted by SFX Magazine to find the 100 sexiest female characters in science fiction and fantasy, Uhura, as portrayed by Saldana in the 2009 film, was voted number one.

[20] In Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, the character is featured as a Cadet serving on the Enterprise as part of an advanced placement.

The series reveals Uhura's backstory: she is from Kenya and her parents, both university professors, and older brother died when she was younger - possibly in an explosion or shuttle crash (STSNW Subspace Rhapsody).

"[citation needed] Whoopi Goldberg describes Uhura as an inspiration for her acting career and status as a Star Trek fan.

Goldberg later recalled watching Star Trek as a teenager and telling family members: "I just saw a Black woman on television; and she ain't no maid!

Mae Jemison, the first Black woman to fly aboard the Space Shuttle, cited Star Trek as an influence in her decision to join.

Jemison herself had a minor role on an episode of The Next Generation called "Second Chances", playing a transporter operator named Lieutenant Palmer.

[33] In 2016, Uhura was ranked as the 14th most important character of Starfleet within the Star Trek science fiction universe by Wired magazine.

[34] In 2017, Screen Rant ranked Uhura the second most attractive person in the Star Trek universe, in between Benjamin Sisko and Jean-Luc Picard.

[35] In 2017, Comic Book Resources ranked the performance of Mirror Uhura the 14th "fiercest" female character of the Star Trek universe.