Star Trek: Picard’s Michelle Hurd has made a difference in Hollywood

Michelle Hurd plays a challenging role on Star Trek: Picard

Michelle Hurd is no stranger to tough roles. She played a detective on Law and Order: SVU, a cop’s wife in a very dangerous situation on Hawaii Five-0, and now, former Starfleet Intelligence officer,  Raffaela “Raffi” Musiker, who joined Admiral Picard’s fight for the independence of synths in season one of the Star Trek spin-off, Star Trek: Picard. She has a complicated relationship with the admiral, Saurian brandy, and her estranged son.

"“My whole life for the last fourteen years has been one long slide into humiliation and rage. Also a fair amount of snakeleaf-induced paranoia, so some things never change.”—Raffi in “The End is the Beginning.”"

But at the end of season one of the series, after making a difference in the synths’ fight, Raffi had started working toward a different life and potentially a relationship with Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that it’s not only Hurd’s characters that are making a difference in the world.

Michelle Hurd was honored by SAG-AFTRA because of her extraordinary service

Every year, SAG-AFTRA hands out the President’s Award to an individual for their “extraordinary service, dedication and commitment to the membership of SAG-AFTRA and the American labor movement.” This year, Hurd received that award and rightfully so.

As reported by Daily Star Trek News, Hurd is a member of the SAG-AFTRA President’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Safety where the position of Intimacy Coordinator was developed. That position helped to establish safer working conditions when intimate scenes are being filmed. In addition, Hurd influenced the creation of SAG-AFTRA’s Safe Place which is “a discreet reporting platform that allows members to safely report sexual harassment in the workplace.”

SAG-AFTRA’s president, Gabrielle Carteris said the actress had “led from the frontlines in our efforts to ensure the safety and protection of SAG-AFTRA members and to help eradicate sexual harassment from the entertainment industry. Because of her efforts, Hollywood is a safer and better place. Our members are forever indebted to Michelle for her selfless commitment to the SAG-AFTRA mission and we look forward to continuing our partnership in the years ahead.”

It’s one thing to be an incredible actress; it’s quite another to be an incredible human being. Michelle Hurd is both, and she is making a difference in more than just the fictional worlds her characters inhabit.