Denise Crosby is an American actress and model who was born on November 24, 1957, in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in the United States. She was born to Marilyn Scott and Dennis Crosby. Her father is the son of famous singer and actor Bing Crosby. She attended LeConte Junior High School as well as Hollywood High School. Crosby went on to study theater at Cabrillo College but dropped out when her famous lineage was revealed by a local paper. Crosby decided to pursue a career in modeling but she did not want to be given a free ride on her family's name. In 1979, Crosby posed nude for Playboy magazine. She went on to land a role on the soap opera "Days of Our Lives" where she played Lisa Davis.

She went on to appear as Dr. Gretchen Kelly in "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman". In 1987, Crosby would land her most famous role as Security Chief Tasha Yar on the television series "Star Trek: The Next Generation". Crosby has also appeared in AMC's "The Walking Dead" as well as the series "Bones". She married Geoffrey Edwards in 1983 but got divorced in 1990. Crosby married again in 1995 to Ken Sylk and had a son together named August William Sylk.