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Persis Khambatta (2 October 1948 – 18 August 1998) was an Indian model, actress and author. She was best known for her role as Lieutenant Ilia in the 1979 feature film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Persis Khambatta was born into a middle-class Parsee home in Bombay in 1948. She first gained fame when a set of her pictures casually taken by a well-known Bombay photographer were used for a successful campaign for a popular soap brand and eventually to Khambatta's becoming a model. She entered and won the Miss India contest in 1965. At age 17, as Femina Miss India, Khambatta entered Miss... MORE

Persis Khambatta (2 October 1948 – 18 August 1998) was an Indian model, actress and author. She was best known for her role as Lieutenant Ilia in the 1979 feature film Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Persis Khambatta was born into a middle-class Parsee home in Bombay in 1948. She first gained fame when a set of her pictures casually taken by a well-known Bombay photographer were used for a successful campaign for a popular soap brand and eventually to Khambatta's becoming a model. She entered and won the Miss India contest in 1965. At age 17, as Femina Miss India, Khambatta entered Miss Universe 1965, dressed in off-the-rack clothes she bought at the last minute. Khambatta became a model for companies such as Revlon. In 1975, she had small roles in Conduct Unbecoming and The Wilby Conspiracy. She went on to a brief movie career that included the role for which she is most recognized, as bald navigator Lieutenant Ilia, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). This led to roles in Nighthawks (1981), Megaforce (1982) and Warrior of the Lost World (1983). She was considered for the title role in the James Bond film Octopussy (1983), but was passed over for Maud Adams. Khambatta made her LESS