Claudia Lee Black

Black is best known for her portrayals of Aeryn Sun in Farscape, Vala Mal Doran in Stargate SG-1, and Sharon "Shazza" Montgomery in the film Pitch Black. She has also had prominent roles in video games, such as Chloe Frazer in Uncharted, Morrigan in Dragon Age, Admiral Daro'Xen and Matriarch Aethyta in Mass Effect, and Samantha Byrne in Gears of War 3. Additionally, she had a recurring role as Dahlia in The Originals and starred as Dr. Sabine Lommers in The CW's Containment.

Born and raised in a Jewish family in Sydney, Black was educated at the Anglican Kambala School. Her parents, Jules and Judy Black, are Australian medical academics. She has lived for extensive periods in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States. Black began acting in Australia and New Zealand, portraying an intersex woman named Jill Mayhew in the Australian television series Good Guys, Bad Guys, and playing the leading role of Greek lawyer Angela Kostapas in the New Zealand soap opera City Life.

Black gained international recognition for her role in Farscape, receiving Saturn Award nominations for Best Actress in 2001 and 2002, and winning the award in 2005. She appeared in the feature films Queen of the Damned and Pitch Black. After Farscape ended, Black appeared as Vala Mal Doran in the Stargate SG-1 episode "Prometheus Unbound"; her performance was well-received, and she was invited to reprise the role in the show's ninth season when series regular Amanda Tapping went on maternity leave. Black returned as a regular cast member for the tenth and final season, and also starred in the films Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum. She co-starred with Ben Browder in both series.

In the NBC show Life (2007), Black was cast as Jennifer Conover in the pilot, but due to her second pregnancy, the part was recast with Jennifer Siebel. NBC still used footage of Black when promoting the series' debut. In 2004, she was voted "#7 Hottest Scifi Babe" by Scifi WorldNet. Popular at science fiction conventions, Black showed her talent at singing and playing guitar at Farscape conventions, and in 2007 sang on the debut album of musician and fellow Farscape actor Paul Goddard.

She has also performed in theater, playing Portia in a tour of The Merchant of Venice, and appearing in productions like Spotlight on Women, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Loose Ends, and Pick Ups for the Belvoir Street Theatre, as well as Little Women and The World Knot for the Bicentennial Opera. Since 2007, Black has been a prolific video game voice actress, particularly with BioWare's Dragon Age and Mass Effect series. Her son Odin Black voiced her Dragon Age character's son in Dragon Age: Inquisition.