Name: Claudia Lee Black
Date of Birth: October 11, 1972
Main Sci-Fi Credit: Aeryn Sun - Farscape
Years Attended: 2009
IMDB Page

Claudia Black is an Australian actress, known for her portrayals of Aeryn Sun in the television series Farscape and as Vala Mal Doran in the SF series Stargate SG-1.

Black was born and raised in Sydney, Australia. She was educated at the Kambala Girls School, in Sydney.

Black has spent most of her life in Australia, New Zealand, and North America.

Claudia has acted in Australian and New Zealander 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 Zealander 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 movie spin-offs, Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum respectively, but will not return for a third installment. In 2004, she was voted "#7 Hottest Scifi Babe" by Scifi WorldNet.

In the NBC TV show Life, Black was cast in the supporting role of Jennifer Conover for the initial pilot. Due to Claudia'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. Interestingly, 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, Portrait 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.