Holly Hunter proud to join ‘Star Trek’ universe

Going boldly is nothing new for Holly Hunter.

But doing so as part of a “Star Trek” mission, now that’s different.

And the role? Oh, portraying a 422-year-old woman.

“It’s fun to imagine the information you might gather over 422 years in a life. Isn’t it interesting to just think about it?” Hunter muses. “Imagine the amount of patience you would manifest toward life and the empathy toward other human beings that you would gather from those years.”

And what does this Oscar winner — actual age 67 — want from her newfound Trek existence?

“A Phaser,” she says with a laugh. “Using a Phaser is on my own bucket list.”

It just might happen as the actor, known for her work in “Broadcast News,” “Raising Arizona” and “The Piano,” stars opposite Paul Giamatti in new Paramount+ series “Star Trek: Starfleet Academy,” which debuted this week with two episodes.

Set in the 32nd century, it marks the 12th “Star Trek” series. Hunter plays the captain of the USS Athena, Nahla Ake, who is not only a force on her own, but serves as chancellor of the Starfleet Academy. Fierce and no-nonsense Ake must turn young cadets into Starfleet officers while also recovering from a cataclysmic event. Amid alliances, rivalries and romances, they face a mysterious threat to the Academy and the Federation.

Hunter shared her good life advice:

‘It’s extraordinary’

Was Hunter a lifelong Trekkie? “I did watch the original series with Shatner and Nimoy with my father when I was 8 years old. It’s extraordinary that this franchise, this story, is still being told,” she says. “And people have such a hunger for it for all of these generations.” As for being cast now, “It was a real surprise, a delightful one,” says the Conyers, Georgia, native who also saves the world as the voice of Elastigirl in “The Incredibles” animated films.

A youthful 422

“I see this character as incredibly young in a way,” Hunter says. “She’s confronted with cadets who are younger and truly starting out. It’s a new chapter for them, but for her as well.”

Final frontier

“My favorite thing was the bridge,” she says of Star Trek. “That bridge is just beautiful to me. It’s a metaphor that leads to so many new adventures. And then there is the captain’s chair. That chair has a sacred quality to it. It’s almost daunting the first time you sit in it. I was aware of the weight of it, but thrilled to fulfill a dream.”

‘A fun ride’

What makes Hunter’s Ake a great female captain and chancellor of the Academy? “I think the captain/chancellor needs to be an exceptional listener,” she says. “She also needs to be an exceptionally decisive person. Those two things in real life can operate individually, but it’s a great one-two punch and makes it a fun ride to take.”

Break the rules

Hunter grew up as the youngest of seven children, with five brothers and a sister. Her mother was a homemaker and her father farmed a 250-acre piece of land. “It was a heavily male influenced childhood, but my mother was quite strong. The female thing was potent,” she says. “I wasn’t a rebellious kid. I was never a major rule breaker. … My brothers did the chores and farm work. I made up stories and started doing plays in high school. It was quite freeing.

“I wasn’t considered cool, but I loved playing trumpet. I had to express myself creatively. Acting was the ultimate jackpot for me.”

Letting go

“There are certain things you just let go of at this age. The difference is that, at this age, you put them out there,” Hunter says. “Honestly, there are a lot of things that don’t clutter up my life in the way they used to when I was younger. I also know myself well enough now to be sure of things.”

Living with fear

Hunter’s filmography is full of strong women, but she says the reality behind the on-screen personas is a bit more complex. “Acting is an incredibly insecure profession. I always feel insecure, and I always feel confident,” she says. “Both of those things sort of slam up against each other, which is fine. … Fear is something you live with as a performer. I can be filled with doubts, but everyone is pretty complicated. I have my own complications, my own complexities.”

Baby steps

One of her first roles was simply delivering an answering machine message in Joel and Ethan Coen’s film “Blood Simple” (1984). “I didn’t get paid, but you can hear my voice. Small steps,” says Hunter, who was roommates in her early acting days with Frances McDormand in the Bronx. McDormand went on to marry Joel Coen. That blip on film paid off as the Coens hired Hunter to star in 1987’s “Raising Arizona,” which she calls “a really whacked-out film I love so much.”

Room to work

You have to say what you need, Hunter says. “Actors need their head space. They need their room. They need their eccentricities,” she says. “This is what fuels us. How you get to that fuel remains mysterious.” She also tries to be mindful of what others need to do their best. “I respect what other people do and who they are. It helps me respect who I am. It’s as simple — and as complex — as that.”

Full-circle moment

What would that little girl who watched “Star Trek” make of the woman who now runs the ship and the school? “When I stepped on the bridge for the first time,” Hunter shares, “there was that whistle and I thought, ‘Wow, this is incredible. My father wouldn’t believe it.’ ”