Claudia Black

Claudia Lee Black (born October 11, 1972[citation needed] in Sydney) is an Australian actress, best known for her portrayals of Aeryn Sun and Vala Mal Doran in the science fiction ("sci-fi") television series Farscape and Stargate SG-1 respectively.

There has been much debate on the various sci-fi bulletin boards concerning Black's actual birth year. She herself has consistently declined to give an answer as to her birth year - when asked about her birth date she simply replies, "October 11" leaving the year of her birth open for debate.

For her role in Farscape, Black was nominated Best Actress by Saturn Award in 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 appears as Vala Mal Doran in Stargate SG-1 as a regular cast member starting in season ten; she portrayed the same character in one season eight episode ("Prometheus Unbound") and eight season nine episodes. In 2004, she was voted "#7 Hottest Scifi Babe" by Scifi WorldNet.

In the fall 2007 NBC TV show "Life" Black was cast in the supporting role of Jennifer Conover for the initial pilot.[1] Due to Claudia's second pregnancy, the part was recast and the role was given to actress Jennifer Siebel when the series was picked up. Interestingly, NBC still used footage of Black, and none of Siebel, when promoting the show's debut.

Popular at sci-fi conventions, Black showed her talent at singing and playing the guitar at the Farscape conventions.