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

Vala Mal Doran Vala Mal Doran is a fictional character in the American military science fiction television series ''Stargate SG-1'', a science fiction show about a military team exploring the galaxy via a network of alien transportation devices. Played by former ...

in ''

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

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

Chloe Frazer Chloe Frazer is a fictional character in the ''Uncharted'' series, developed by Naughty Dog. Chloe, like series protagonist Nathan Drake, is a treasure hunter. Introduced in '' Uncharted 2: Among Thieves'', where she has a romantic history wi ...

in ''

Uncharted ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game 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 travel across th ...

'', 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, and Xbox One. The fra ...

'', Admiral Daro'Xen and Matriarch Aethyta in ''

Mass Effect ''Mass Effect'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn and Preston Watamaniuk. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the known unive ...

'' and Tess Everis in ''

Destiny Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, 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 ...

'' and Samantha Byrne in ''

Gears of War 3 ''Gears of War 3'' is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Xbox Game Studios, Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the third installment of the Gears of War, ''Gears of War'' series. Originally due for re ...

'', ''

Gears of War 4 ''Gears of War 4'' is a 2016 third-person shooter video game developed by The Coalition and published by Microsoft Studios for Windows and Xbox One. It is the fourth main installment in the ''Gears of War'' series, and the first mainline entry n ...

'', and ''

Gears 5 ''Gears 5'' is a 2019 third-person shooter video game developed by The Coalition and published by Xbox Game Studios for Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X, Xbox Series X/S. It is the fifth main installment of the ''Gears of War'' series and t ...

''. She also had a recurring role as Dahlia in '' The Originals'' and starred as Dr. Sabine Lommers in

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

's ''

Containment Containment was a 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'', which wa ...

''.

Early life

Black was born and raised in a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in Sydney,

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. She studied at the Anglican

Kambala School , motto_translation = Let the Sun be your Witness , established = , type = Independent single-sex early learning, primary, and secondary day and boarding school , denomination = Anglican , gender ...

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 are medical academics based in Australia, Jules and Judy Black.

Career

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

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through ...

woman named Jill Mayhew in the Australian television series ''

Good Guys, Bad Guys ''Good Guys, Bad Guys'' was an Australian comedy/drama TV series that screened on the Nine Network between 1997 and 1998, with a telemovie and twenty-six episodes produced. The crime-themed show was set in Melbourne. The program and its lead ch ...

''. 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 '' Farscape'', 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 ''Queen of the Damned'' is a 2002 vampire film directed by Michael Rymer, loosely based on the third novel of Anne Rice's '' The Vampire Chronicles'' series, ''The Queen of the Damned'' (1988), although the film contains many plot elements from t ...

'' and '' Pitch Black''. After ''Farscape'' ended, Black appeared as

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 which 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 The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

TV show ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

'' (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 Jennifer or Jenifer may refer to: People *Jennifer (given name) * Jenifer (singer), French pop singer * Jennifer Warnes, American singer who formerly used the stage name Jennifer * Daniel of St. Thomas Jenifer * Daniel Jenifer Film and televis ...

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 genre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of expre ...

s, Black showed her talent at singing and playing the guitar at the '' Farscape'' 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 provided by a Jewish moneylender, Shylock. Although classified as a ...

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

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical '' Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''The Picture of Dorian G ...

'', ''Loose Ends'' and ''Pick Ups'' for the

Belvoir street theatre Belvoir is an Australian theatre company based at the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney, Australia, originally known as Company B. Since 2016 and its artistic director is Eamon Flack. The theatre contains a 330-seat Upstairs Theatre and a 80-seat ...

; '' Little Women'' and ''The World Knot'' for the Bicentennial Opera. Claudia Black, Ben Browder

Since 2007, Black has been a prolific video game voice actress. She has gained particular attention for her work with

BioWare BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zeschuk. Since 2007, ...

'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 ''Swallowing Darkness'' (2008) is the seventh novel in the Merry Gentry series written by Laurell K. Hamilton. Plot ''Swallowing Darkness'' follows the further adventures of Princess Meredith "Merry Gentry" NicEssus. Merry has finally succeeded ...

" by

Laurell K. Hamilton Laurell Kaye Hamilton (born February 19, 1963) is an American fantasy and romance writer. She is best known as the author of two series of stories. Her The New York Times Best Seller list, ''New York Times''-bestselling ''Anita Blake: Vampire H ...

. In 2014, Black had a voice-over role in ''

Rick and Morty {{Infobox television , image = Rick and Morty title card (cropped).png , alt = , caption = , genre = {{Plainlist, * Animated sitcom * Adult animation * Science fiction * Black comedy * ...

'' 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" * 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