Claudia Lee Black (born on 11 October 1972 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian actress best known for her Science Fiction roles, most notably as Aeryn Sun in Farscape (for which she won a Saturn Award) and Vala Mal Doran in Stargate SG-1. A familiar face from Australian TV, she had breakthrough roles in both Queen of the Damned and Pitch Black (dying messily in each). Until late in her career, spotting Black's screen credit was a telltale sign of Australia Doubling.
Since then, Black has popped up in numerous American productions — usually as a Fake American — including NCIS and The Dresden Files.
Though her natural accent (switching effortlessly between Australian, British, and New Zealander) is rather underused on network TV, it should be immediately recognizable to nerds of all stripes. Black has a formidable résumé of voice credits, including Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Uncharted, God of War, and Diablo III. Basically, if the game contains a female Brit, she's either voiced by Black or Jennifer Hale.
She is also Jewish and proud of her heritage.
She also plays a mean guitar.
Film Roles
- 2000 Pitch Black as Sharon 'Shazza' Montgomery
- 2002 Queen of the Damned as Pandora
- 2004 Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars as Officer Aeryn Sun
- 2008 WarGames: The Dead Code as R.I.P.L.E.Y.
- 2010 Fuzzy Connections as Clarence's Mom
- 2011 Rango as Angelique
- 2012 Justice League: Doom as Cheetah
- 2012 Strange Frame as Parker C. Boyd
- 2021 Time Now as Joan
- 2022 DEUS: The Dark Sphere as Karla Grey
Television Roles
- 1992 Home and Away as Sandra
- 1993-1994 A Country Practice as Claire Bonacci
- 1997-1998 Hercules: The Legendary Journeys as Cassandra
- 1998 Good Guys, Bad Guys as Jill Mayhew
- 1999 A Twist in the Tale as Morgana
- 1999 Steel Angel Kurumi as Steel Angel Mikhail
- 1999-2003 Farscape as Officer Aeryn Sun / Chiana / Dr. Batina Fairchild
- 2000 Xena: Warrior Princess as Karina
- 2001 Beast Master as Huna
- 2004-2007 Stargate SG-1 as Vala Mal Doran
- 2007 The Dresden Files as Liz Fontaine
- 2008 Moonlight as The Cleaner
- 2010 NCIS as Velvet Road
- 2011 Beverly Hills, 90210 as Guru Sona
- 2012 Haven as Moira
- 2014-2019 Rick and Morty as Ma-Sha
- 2015 The Originals as Dahlia
- 2016 Containment as Sabine Lommers
- 2019-2020 Roswell, New Mexico as Ann Evans
- 2019-2021 Final Space as Sheryl Goodspeed
- 2021 The Nevers as Zephyr Alexis Navine
- 2023 Ahsoka as Klothow
Web Animation
- 2023 Godspeed as June
Videogame Roles
- 2002 Farscape: The Game as Aeryn Sun
- 2003 Lords of EverQuest as Lady Briana
- 2005 God of War as Artemis
- 2005 Neopets: The Darkest Faerie as Fauna
- 2006 Project Sylpheed as Narrator
- 2007 Conan as A'Kanna
- 2007 Crysis as Helena
- 2009 Uncharted 2: Among Thieves as Chloe Frazer
- 2009 Dragon Age: Origins as Morrigan
- 2010 Mass Effect 2 as Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh / Matriarch Aethyta / Rachni Envoy
- 2010 Final Fantasy XIV as Narrator
- 2011 TERA as Elf Commander Fraya
- 2011 Gears of War 3 as Sam Byrne
- 2011 Rage as Mel / Sally / Alison
- 2011 Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception as Chloe Frazer
- 2012 Mass Effect 3 as Admiral Daro'Xen vas Moreh / Matriarch Aethyta
- 2012 Diablo III as Cydaea, Mistress of Pain
- 2012 The Amazing Spider-Man as Whitney Chang
- 2014 Destiny as Tess Everis, Special Orders
- 2014 Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor as Queen Marwen
- 2014 Dragon Age: Inquisition as Morrigan
- 2016 Gears of War 4 as Sam Byrne
- 2016 World of Final Fantasy as Leviathan
- 2016 Call Of Duty Infinite Warfare as Audrey 'Mac' Ma Callum
- 2017 Uncharted: The Lost Legacy as Chloe Frazer
- 2017 Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus as Jessica 'Silent Death' Valiant
- 2017-2022 Destiny 2 as Tess Everis, Special Orders
- 2018 Killing Floor 2 as Mrs. Foster
- 2023 Forspoken as Tanta Olas
Tropes Applying to Claudia Black:
- Action Girl: Her roles, voiced or in-person, are usually this.
- Awesome Aussie: She's Australian and plays a lot of very tough, capable characters.
- The Cast Show Off:
- The lizard tongue trick from "Won't Get Fooled Again".
- Even though the Sebacean language sounds like someone playing dialogue in reverse, it's actually Claudia speaking backwards.
- It only comes up occasionally in her roles, (such as Crichton's dream sequence in "Revenging Angel") but she has quite the singing voice as well.
- She can roller-skate, which is a skill that came in handy during a particular episode on Stargate SG1
- Evil Sounds Deep: Given her naturally deep, husky voice, this happens by default whenever she plays a villain.
- Fake American: A few of her roles in American TV series utilize this.
- Fake Brit: So often used that many viewers usually don't know that she's an Aussie.
- The Gunslinger: Typifies most of her on-screen characters.
- Hellbent For Leather: Quite a few of her roles.
- Hidden Depths: She is a survivor of C-PTSD and PTSD and is a Trauma Coach.
- Real-Life Relative: In Dragon Age: Inquisition her character Morrigan's son Kieran is voiced by her actual son, Odin.
- Statuesque Stunner: She's 5'8 and very attractive.
