- She played LeVar Burton's mother in four different productions: Almos' a Man (1977), One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story (1978), Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980) and Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). She also played his character's wife in Roots (1977), though by that time the role of Kunta Kinte had been assumed by John Amos.
- Co-starred with James Earl Jones five times, twice playing Queen to his King -- in Coming to America (1988), then in The Lion King (1994).
- Sinclair, having died in 1995 at Los Angeles' Good Samaritan Hospital following a 13 year battle with leukemia, could not reprise her role as Queen Sarabi in The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998). The directors felt that replacing her voice could be seen as disrespectful and inappropriate. Sinclair was survived by her second husband, Dean Compton; her two sons; her mother; and her sister.
- She appeared as the unnamed Captain of the USS Saratoga in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), marking the first appearance, in any Star Trek series or movie, of a female starship Captain. She later guest starred on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) as Captain Silva La Forge, the mother of Geordi La Forge, played by LeVar Burton, one of her co-stars on the miniseries Roots (1977) -- in which Burton played the younger version Kunta Kinte and Sinclair played Bell Reynolds, wife of the older version of Kunta Kinte, played by John Amos (who was Sinclair's junior by 20 months).
- She played Ben Vereen's grandmother in Roots (1977) and his wife on Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).
- Is one of only 32 actors and actresses to have starred in both the original Star Trek (1966) (up to and including Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)) and then in one of the spin-offs.
- She was cast as a relative of characters played by Ben Vereen and LeVar Burton in two completely different revolutions. In Roots (1977), she played Bell Reynolds, Kunta Kinte's wife and Chicken George's grandmother. Kunta Kinte as a youth was played by LeVar Burton. Kunta Kinte as an adult married to Bell was played by John Amos. Chicken George was played by Ben Vereen. In Interface (1993), Sinclair played Captain Silvia La Forge, mother of Geordi La Forge, played by Burton, and wife of Commander Edward M. La Forge, M.D., played by Vereen.
- She had two sons with her first husband Royston Sinclair: Wayne and Garry Sinclair.
- Although she played Leslie Uggams' mother in Roots (1977), she was only five years her senior in real life.
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