Claudia Black

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Claudia Black
Black in 2013
Born
Claudia Lee Black

(1972-10-11) 11 October 1972 (age 51)
Sydney, Australia
OccupationActress
Years active1992–present
Spouse
Jamie Oddie
(m. 2004; div. 2016)
Children2

Claudia Lee Black[1] (born 11 October 1972) is an Australian actress, 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 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 Tess Everis in Destiny and Samantha Byrne in Gears of War 3, Gears of War 4, and Gears 5.[2] She also had a recurring role as Dahlia in The Originals and starred as Dr. Sabine Lommers in TV series Containment.

Early life[edit]

Black was born and raised in a Jewish family[3] in Sydney, New South Wales. She studied at the Anglican Kambala School in Sydney.[1] She has lived in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States.[1] Her parents are medical academics based in Australia, Jules and Judy Black.[4]

Career[edit]

Black has acted in Australia and New Zealand in television and movies. She portrayed a transgender woman named Jill Mayhew in the Australian television series Good Guys, Bad Guys.[1] She had a leading role in the New Zealand soap opera City Life playing the role of Greek lawyer Angela Kostapas.[1]

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 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 her role in the show's ninth season when series regular Amanda Tapping 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 in both series.[citation needed]

In the NBC TV show Life (2007), Black was cast in the supporting role of Jennifer Conover for the initial pilot.[5] 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.[citation needed]

Popular at science fiction conventions, 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.[1]

Black has also performed in theater. She played Portia in a tour of the Merchant of Venice.[1] She has had parts in Spotlight on Women, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Loose Ends and Pick Ups for the Belvoir Street Theatre and Little Women and The World Knot for the Bicentennial Opera.[1]

Claudia Black with Ben Browder at the San Diego Comic-Con in 2004

Since 2007, Black has been a prolific video game voice actress. She has gained particular attention for her work with BioWare's Dragon Age and Mass Effect series. Her son Odin Black voiced her Dragon Age character's son in Dragon Age: Inquisition. She also played Chloe Frazer in the Uncharted series.[6] In 2008, she narrated the audiobook "Swallowing Darkness" by Laurell K. Hamilton.[7] In 2014, Black had a voice-over role in Rick and Morty as Ma-Sha in the episode "Raising Gazorpazorp".[8] In 2016, she appeared in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare as Engineer Audrey "Mac" MaCallum.[citation needed]

Filmography[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2000 Pitch Black Sharon "Shazza" Montgomery
2002 Queen of the Damned Pandora
2007 Stolen Life Kieru
(voice)
2008 Stargate: The Ark of Truth Vala Mal Doran Direct-to-video
2008 WarGames: The Dead Code R.I.P.L.E.Y.
(voice)
2008 Stargate: Continuum Vala Mal Doran / Qetesh
2011 Rango Angelique
(voice)
2012 Justice League: Doom Cheetah
(voice)
Direct-to-video
2012 Strange Frame Parker C. Boyd
(voice)
2012 The Alchemist Agenda Ariel
2013 Rain from Stars Donna
2021 Time Now Aunt Joan
2022 DEUS Karla Grey

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
1992 Home and Away Sandra 2 episodes
1993 Seven Deadly Sins Extra Miniseries
1993 G.P. Joanna Episode: "A Thousand Flowers"
1993 Police Rescue Julia Episode: "Double Illusion"
1993 A Country Practice Claire Bonacci 30 episodes
1996–98 City Life Angela Kostapas 26 episodes
1997 Amazon High Karina Television film
1997 Water Rats Beth Williams Episode: "All at Sea"
1997–98 Hercules: The Legendary Journeys Cassandra 2 episodes
1998 Good Guys, Bad Guys Jill Mayhew Episode: "Naughty Bits"
1999 A Twist in the Tale Morgana Episode: "Obsession in August"
1999 Steel Angel Kurumi Steel Angel Mikhail
(voice)
English dub
1999–2003 Farscape Aeryn Sun 88 episodes
2000 Xena: Warrior Princess Karina Episode: "Lifeblood"
2001 BeastMaster Huna Episode: "Wild Child"
2004 Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars Aeryn Sun Miniseries
2004–07 Stargate SG-1 Vala Mal Doran 29 episodes
2007 The Dresden Files Liz Fontaine Episode: "The Other Dick"
2008 Moonlight The Cleaner Episode: "Sonata"
2010 NCIS Velvet Road Episode: "Borderland"
2011 90210 Guru Sona 3 episodes
2012 Haven Moira Episode: "Magic Hour" Part 1 & 2
2014–present Rick and Morty Mar-Sha, Ventriloquiver
(voices)
2 episodes
2015 The Originals Dahlia 6 episodes Season 2 E16, E18, E19, E20, E21, E22
2016 Containment Sabine Lommers 13 episodes
2019–20 Roswell, New Mexico Ann Evans 5 episodes S1 E7, E8 S2 E1 E2 E5
2019–21 Final Space Sheryl Goodspeed
(voice)
26 episodes
2021–22 The Nevers Stripe 4 episodes
2023 Ahsoka Klothow 3 episodes

Video games[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2002 Farscape: The Game Aeryn Sun
2003 Lords of EverQuest Lady Briana
2005 God of War Artemis
2005 Neopets: The Darkest Faerie Fauna
2006 Project Sylpheed Narrator[9]
2007 Conan A'Kanna
2007 Crysis Helena
2009 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Chloe Frazer
2009 Dragon Age: Origins Morrigan
2010 Mass Effect 2 Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh, Matriarch Aethyta, Rachni Envoy
2010 Final Fantasy XIV Narrator
2011 TERA: The Exiled Realm of Arborea Elf Commander Fraya
2011 Gears of War 3 Samantha Byrne
2011 Rage Mel, Sally
2011 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception Chloe Frazer
2012 Mass Effect 3 Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh, Matriarch Aethyta
2012 Diablo III Cydaea, Mistress of Pain
2012 The Amazing Spider-Man Whitney Chang
2014 Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Cydaea, Mistress of Pain
2014 Destiny Tess Everis
2014 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Queen Marwen
2014 Dragon Age: Inquisition Morrigan
2016 Uncharted 4: A Thief's End Chloe Frazer Multiplayer only
2016 Gears of War 4 Samantha Byrne
2016 World of Final Fantasy Leviathan
2016 Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare Audrey "Mac" MaCullum
2017 Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Chloe Frazer
2017 Destiny 2 Tess Everis
2017 Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus Jessica "Silent Death" Valiant The Diaries of Agent Silent Death DLC
2018 Killing Floor 2 Mrs Foster Mrs Foster Content Pack DLC
2023 Forspoken Tanta Olas

Awards[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Claudia Black Online: Biography. Archived 31 January 2011 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved on 7 January 2013.
  2. ^ Ogilvie, Tristan (2 September 2011). "The Ten Commandments of Gears of War 3". IGN.
  3. ^ Wills, Adam (22 July 2009). "Jews Get Geek on at Comic-Con". Jewish Journal.
  4. ^ "Claudia L. Black". Moby Games.
  5. ^ "Claudia Black was scheduled to be on the new NBC TV Show pilot called Life". Archived from the original on 14 October 2007. Retrieved 28 October 2007.
  6. ^ "Claudia Black". metacritic.
  7. ^ Hamilton, Laurell K. (2008). Swallowing Darkness. Black, Claudia (narrator). Penguin. ISBN 9780739370452.
  8. ^ "IMDb Full Cast and Crew for Raising Gazorpazorp". IMDb.
  9. ^ Game Arts, SETA Corporation, Anima. Project Sylpheed. Microsoft Game Studios. Scene: Ending credits, 44:58 in, Main English Cast.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

External links[edit]