Madge Sinclair married young, and had two sons. She worked as a teacher in Jamaica until she was 30. Madge left her two boys with their father and went to New York to be an actress. She began modelling and later acted with the New York Shakespearean Festival and at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre. In 1974 Madge made her film debut in 1974, playing Mrs. Scott in Conrack. Madge was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance as Belle in the miniseries _"Roots" (1977)_ . In the early 1980s, shortly after joining the cast of Trapper John, M.D. she was diagnosed with leukaemia. She continued to work outliving the doctors' predictions by several years. On December 20, 1995, at the age of 57, Madge Sinclair died in Los Angeles.
Her appearance as the unnamed captain of the U.S.S. Saratoga in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home marked the first appearance, in any Star Trek show or movie, of a female starship captain. Is one of only 32 actors or actresses to have starred in both the original Star Trek (up to and including Star Trek VI:The Undiscovered Country) and then in one of the spin offs. Co-starred with James Earl Jones five times. Twice played Queen to James Earl Jones' King, first in Coming to America in 1988, then in Lion King in 1995. Played Ben Vereen's and LeVar Burton's relatives in two different productions: Roots, where she played Bell, Ben Vereen's (Chicken George's) grandmother and LeVar Burton's (Kunta Kinte's) wife and Star Trek: The Next Generation, where she played Capt. Silvia LaForge, LeVar Burton's (Geordi LaForge's) mother and Ben Vereen's (Commander Edward M. LaForge, M.D's) wife (in the episode <i>Interface</i>.)