Australian actress (1952–2014) who played Lieutenant Commander Nella Daren, the stellar cartographer and pianist who becomes involved with Picard, in the Next Generation episode Lessons.
Wendy Hughes was one of the leading actresses of the Australian film revival, starring in My Brilliant Career, Lonely Hearts and Careful, He Might Hear You.
In the sixth-season episode Lessons she plays Nella Daren, the new head of stellar cartography aboard the Enterprise-D. She and Picard are drawn together through music, her roll-up piano accompanying his Ressikan flute in a Jefferies tube with fine acoustics.
When Daren leads a team fighting firestorms on Bersallis III and is nearly lost, Picard finds he cannot command someone he loves, and she requests a transfer. Hughes gives the romance an adult ease unusual for the series.