Claudia Black Biography

Claudia Lee Black (born 11 October 1972) is an Australian actress and voice actress, known for her portrayals of Aeryn Sun in the science fiction television series Farscape, Vala Mal Doran in the science fiction series Stargate SG-1, Chloe Frazer in the Uncharted series, the witch Morrigan in Dragon Age: Origins, Sharon "Shazza" Montgomery in Pitch Black, and squadmate Samantha Byrne in the game Gears of War 3.

Early life

Black was born and raised in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in a Jewish family. She was educated at the Anglican Kambala Girls School, in Sydney, NSW. Black has lived, for extensive periods, in Australia, New Zealand, England, Canada and the United States. Her parents are Australian Medical Academics Doctors Jules and Judy Black.

Acting career

Claudia has acted in Australian and New Zealand television and movies. She portrayed a hermaphrodite named Jill Mayhew in the Australian television series Good Guys Bad Guys. She also had a leading role in the New Zealand soap opera City Life playing the role of Greek lawyer Angela Kostapas.

For her roles in Farscape, Black was nominated for a Saturn Award in the Best Actress category in both 2001 and 2002, and won the award in 2005. She has appeared in the feature films Queen of the Damned and Pitch Black. Black also appeared as Vala Mal Doran in Stargate SG-1 as a regular cast member in the tenth and final season, and previously had a role as a recurring character in season 8 and season 9. Her first appearance was in the episode "Prometheus Unbound". Black has starred in two Stargate SG-1 Direct-to-DVD movies, Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum. In 2004, she was voted "#7 Hottest Scifi Babe" by Scifi WorldNet.

In the NBC TV show Life (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 sci-fi conventions, Black showed her talent at singing and playing the guitar at the Farscape conventions.

Black has also appeared in theater. She once played Portia in a tour of the Merchant of Venice. She has also had parts in Spotlight on Women, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Loose Ends and Pick Ups for the Belvoir street theatre; Little Women and The World Knot for the Bicentennial Opera.

Black is also a professional singer of jazz and classical music.

Filmography

Title	Character	Year	Format	Notes
Haven	Moira	2012	TV	Episodes: "Magic Hour", parts 1 & 2
90210	Guru Sona	2011	TV	Episodes: "It's Getting Hot in Here", "All About a Boy" and "Revenge of the Nerd"
NCIS	Velvet Road	2010	TV	Episode: "Borderland"
Spike Video Game Awards 2009		2009	TV	Award/Promo Announcer
Moonlight	The Cleaner	2008	TV	Episode: "Sonata"
Stargate: Continuum	Vala Mal Doran/Qetesh	2008	Film
Stargate: The Ark of Truth	Vala Mal Doran	2008	Film
The Dresden Files	Liz	2007	TV	Episode: "The Other Dick"
Stargate SG-1	Vala Mal Doran	2004"2006	TV	First appearance: "Prometheus Unbound"
One		2005	Film
Naked in London		2005	Film	Only promo trailer
Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars	Aeryn Sun	2004	TV
Queen of the Damned	Pandora	2002	Film
BeastMaster	Huna	2001	TV
Xena: Warrior Princess	Amazon # 2	2000	TV	Episode: "Lifeblood"
Pitch Black	Sharon Montgomery	2000	Film
Farscape	Aeryn Sun	1999"2003	TV
A Twist in the Tale	Morgana	1999	TV	Episode: "Obsession in August"
Good Guys, Bad Guys	Jill Mayhew	1998	TV	Episode: "Naughty Bits"
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys	Cassandra	1997"1998	TV	Episodes: "Hercules on Trial" and "Atlantis"
Water Rats	Beth Williams	1997	TV	Episode: "All at Sea"
Amazon High	Karina	1997	TV
City Life	Angela Kosapas	1996	TV	series
A Country Practice	Claire Bonacci	1993"1994	TV	Episodes: "Burning Bright", parts 1 & 2
Police Rescue	Julia	1993	TV	Episode: "Double Illusion"
G. P.	Joanna	1993	TV	Episode: "A Thousand Flowers", part 1"
Seven Deadly Sins		1993	TV (mini)

Voice acting

Title	Character	Year	Format	Notes
Dragon Age: Inquisition	Morrigan (voice)	2014	Video game
Diablo III	Cydaea (voice)	2012	Video game
The Amazing Spider-Man	Whitney Chang (voice)	2012	Video game
Mass Effect 3	Admiral Xen (voice), Matriarch Aethyta (voice)	2012	Video game	Video game
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning	Alyn Shir (voice), Narrator (voice)	2012	Video game
Justice League: Doom	Cheetah (voice)	2012	Film
Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception	Chloe Frazer (voice)	2011	Video game	Revealed in the E3 2011 Trailer
Rango	Angelique (voice)	2011	Film
Gears of War 3	Samantha Byrne (voice)	2011	Video game	Announced at Comic Con 2010
Rage	Mel (voice)	2011	Video game
Mass Effect 2	Admiral Xen (voice), Matriarch Aethyta (voice), Rachni Envoy (voice)	2010	Video game
Dragon Age: Origins	Morrigan (voice)	2009	Video game	Also in the Witch Hunt DLC
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves	Chloe Frazer (voice)	2009	Video game
WarGames: The Dead Code	R.I.P.L.E.Y. (voice)	2008	Film
Stolen Life (Machinama Movie)	Kieru (voice)	2007	Film
Conan	A'kanna (voice)	2007	Video game
Crysis	Helena (voice)	2007	Video game
Project Sylpheed	Narrator (voice)	2007	Video game
Neopets: The Darkest Faerie	Fauna (voice)	2005	Video game
God of War	Artemis (voice)	2005	Video game
Farscape: The Game	Aeryn Sun (voice)	2002	Video game
Steel Angel Kurumi	Steel Angel Mikhail	1999	TV	Voice, English version
Swallowing Darkness	Narrator (voice)	2008	Audio Book

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: Stargate SG-1: "Memento Mori"

• 2004 " Saturn Award, Best Actress, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars