Claudia Lee Black (born 11 October 1972) is an Australian actress, best known for her portrayals of Aeryn Sun in ''

Farscape ''Farscape'' is an Australian-American Science fiction on television, science fiction television series conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon and produced by The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment, originally for the Nine Network. It prem ...

'', Vala Mal Doran in ''

Stargate SG-1 ''Stargate SG-1'' (often stylized in all caps, or abbreviated ''SG-1'') is a military science fiction Adventure fiction, adventure television series within Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Stargate, ''Stargate'' franchise. The show, created by Brad Wrig ...

'' and Sharon "Shazza" Montgomery in the film '' Pitch Black''. She has had prominent roles in video games, such as Admiral Daro'Xen and Matriarch Aethyta in ''

Mass Effect ''Mass Effect'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the galaxy using technology left behind by Elder race, a ...

'', Chloe Frazer in ''

Uncharted ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game series and media franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who trav ...

'', Morrigan in ''

Dragon Age ''Dragon Age'' is a media franchise centered on a series of fantasy role-playing video games created and developed by BioWare, which have seen releases on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation ...

'', Whitney Chang in ''

The Amazing Spider-Man ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American superhero American comic book, comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its title character and main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of t ...

'', Tess Everis in ''

Destiny Destiny, sometimes also called fate (), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often used interchangeably, the words ''fate'' and ''destiny'' ...

'', and Samantha Byrne in '' Gears of War 3'', '' Gears of War 4'', and '' Gears 5''. She also had a recurring role as Dahlia in '' The Originals'' and starred as Dr. Sabine Lommers in TV series ''

Containment Containment was a Geopolitics, geopolitical strategic foreign policy pursued by the United States during the Cold War to prevent the spread of communism after the end of World War II. The name was loosely related to the term ''Cordon sanitaire ...

''.

Early life

Black was born and raised in a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. She studied at the Anglican

Kambala School Kambala is a private school, private Pre-school education, early learning, primary school, primary, and Secondary school, secondary day school, day and Boarding school, boarding school for girls, located in Rose Bay, New South Wales, Australia. ...

in Sydney.Claudia Black Online: Biography.
Retrieved on 7 January 2013. She has lived in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. Her parents, Jules and Judy Black, are medical academics based in Australia.

Career

Black has acted in Australia and New Zealand in television and movies. She portrayed a

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

woman named Jill Mayhew in the Australian television series '' Good Guys, Bad Guys''. She had a leading role in the New Zealand soap opera '' City Life'' playing the role of Greek lawyer Angela Kostapas. Black gained international recognition for her role in ''

'' and was nominated for a Saturn Award in the Best Actress category in 2001, 2002 and 2005, winning in the latter. She has appeared in the feature films '' Queen of the Damned'' and '' Pitch Black''. After ''Farscape'' ended, Black appeared as Vala Mal Doran in the ''

'' episode " Prometheus Unbound"; her performance was well-received and she was invited to reprise her role in the show's ninth season when series regular

Amanda Tapping Amanda Tapping (born 28 August 1965) is a British-Canadian actress and director. She is best known for portraying Samantha Carter in the Canadian–American military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1,'' ''Stargate Atlantis,'' an ...

went on maternity leave. Black returned to the series as a regular cast member for the tenth and final season and also starred in '' Stargate: The Ark of Truth'' and '' Stargate: Continuum'' films that wrapped up the series' story lines. Black co-starred with

Ben Browder Robert Benedict Browder (born December 11, 1962) is an American actor, writer and film director, known for his roles as John Crichton in '' Farscape'' and Cameron Mitchell in '' Stargate SG-1''. Early life Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Browder ...

in both series. In the NBC TV show ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' (2007), Black was cast in the supporting role of Jennifer Conover for the initial pilot. Due to Black's second pregnancy, the part was recast and the role was given to the actress Jennifer Siebel when the series was bought by the TV network. NBC still used footage of Black and none of Siebel when promoting the TV series' debut. Popular at

science fiction convention Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction subgenre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of ex ...

s, Black showed her talent at singing and playing the guitar at the ''

'' conventions and in 2007 sang on the debut album of musician and fellow ''Farscape'' actor Paul Goddard. Black has also performed in theater. She played Portia in a tour of the ''

Merchant of Venice ''The Merchant of Venice'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. A merchant in Venice named Antonio defaults on a large loan taken out on behalf of his dear friend, Bassanio, and provided by a ...

''. She has had parts in ''Spotlight on Women'', ''

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is an 1890 philosophical fiction and Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American period ...

'', ''Loose Ends'' and ''Pick Ups'' for the Belvoir Street Theatre and '' Little Women'' and ''The World Knot'' for the Bicentennial Opera. Since 2007, Black has been a prolific video game voice actress. She has gained particular attention for her work with BioWare's ''

'' and ''

'' series. Her son Odin Black voiced her ''Dragon Age'' character's son in ''Dragon Age: Inquisition''. She also played Chloe Frazer in the ''

'' series. In 2008, she narrated the audiobook " Swallowing Darkness" by Laurell K. Hamilton. In 2014, Black had a voice-over role in ''

Rick and Morty ''Rick and Morty'' is an American Adult animation, adult animated science fiction Animated sitcom, sitcom created by Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. The series follows the misadvent ...

'' as Ma-Sha in the episode "Raising Gazorpazorp". In 2016, she appeared in '' Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare'' as Engineer Audrey "Mac" MaCallum.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Awards

* 2009 – The Constellation Awards, Best Female Performance in a 2008 Science Fiction Film, TV Movie, or Mini-Series: '' Stargate: Continuum'' * 2007 – The Constellation Awards, Best Female Performance in a 2006 Science Fiction Television Episode: ''

'': "

Memento Mori (Latin for "remember (that you have) to die")

" * 2004 – Saturn Award, Best Actress, '' Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Claudia 1972 births Living people Actresses from Sydney Australian film actresses Australian television actresses Australian video game actresses Australian voice actresses Jewish Australian actresses 20th-century Australian actresses 21st-century Australian actresses People educated at Kambala School