Amanda Tapping Bio

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Amanda Tapping Pictures

Amanda Tapping (born August 28, 1965 in Rochford, Essex) is an English-born Canadian actress, producer and director. She is best known for portraying Samantha Carter in the Canadian-American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. She currently stars as Helen Magnus in the Syfy Channel series Sanctuary.

Amanda Tapping: Early life and education

Born in Rochford, Essex, England, she moved with her family to Ontario, Canada when she was three years old. She attended North Toronto Collegiate Institute where she excelled in environmental science and drama. However, when she finished in 1984, she decided to focus her attention on drama, attending the University of Windsor School of Dramatic Arts in Windsor, Ontario.

Amanda Tapping: Personal life

As of 2004, Tapping lives with her husband, Alan Kovacs, in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has one daughter born on 22 March 2005. Tapping has two living brothers, Richard and Christopher. Chris is her fraternal twin, who works in Toronto as a database administrator. A third brother, Steven, died in December 2006.

Amanda Tapping: Acting career

In costume as Samantha Carter, during filming for Stargate: Continuum.

After graduation Tapping continued to study theatrical arts while performing in several stage productions. She appeared in several television commercials and played a variety of roles in television and film productions, such as The Outer Limits and The X-Files. She also formed a comedy troupe, the "Random Acts", with collaborators Katherine Jackson and Anne Marie Kerr, in Toronto in the early 1990s.

Tapping is best known for her portrayal of Samantha Carter in the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, which debuted in 1997. After SG-1 aired its final episode, Tapping reprised the role of Samantha Carter on Stargate Atlantis as the new commander of the Atlantis expedition. In season five however, Tapping's role on the show was reduced to that of "special guest-star" with only occasional appearances due to her choosing to focus attention on the development of a new series for Syfy called Sanctuary. The show, now in its fourth season, expanded on an original series of eight webisodes released on the internet in 2007. The bulk of the scenery and characters are entirely green screen and CGI creations. Tapping serves as both star and executive producer of the show.

Tapping is also working with William Shatner on a 2011 animated webisode series "The Zenoids", written by Alan Dean Foster. Tapping and Shatner voice characters and Tapping is executive producer.

In 2007, she won a Canadian Comedy Award for Best Actress for her role in the short film Breakdown.

Amanda Tapping: Directing experience

Tapping's first directing experience was during the seventh season of Stargate SG-1 on an episode titled "Resurrection", written by co-star Michael Shanks. She directed the seventh episode of Sanctuary season two titled "Veritas".

Amanda Tapping: Selected filmography

Amanda Tapping: Theatre

Tapping has won 6 awards, out of 13 nominations.