Amanda Tapping is probably best known for her role in the MGM sci-fi television series Stargate SG-1 as Captain/Major Samantha Carter. Born in Rochford, Essex in England on August 28, she spent a short time in South Benfleet, Essex, was relocated to Ontario, Canada, at the age of 3. She is blonde, the colour of her eyes is blue, and is 5' 9'' (175 cm) tall.
Amanda is married to Mr. Alan Kovacs. She has three brothers (Richard, Christopher and Stephen), of whom two are older than herself and one is her twin brother. One of her elder brothers is a biochemist, and her twin brother is a computer programmer. Amanda has a dog named Abbie. She prefers to keep her private life private.
Since she can remember, she says, her parents always begged her to go into science. At the same time, however, Amanda adds, according to her mother, she always wanted to be an actress. She excelled in math when she was younger but then got to high school and became more interested in arts. At high school (North Toronto High) she won the Dramatic Arts Award and Environmental Science Award. She says, "I always had this sort of inkling I'd like to be a doctor when I was younger, and then, of course, like everyone else, wanted to be a marine biologist, but acting was always in the forefront." As a child, Amanda liked to watch Little House on a Prairie and also, with her mother, Coronation Street. She confesses she got totally hooked on it during her university days and she would love to have a guest appearance on the series. Her father was a huge Monty Python fan.
Amanda studied drama at the University of Windsor School of Dramatic Arts in Windsor, Ontario. After graduation she spent four more years studying theater and appearing in several stage productions At this time she was still vowing never to do television. After 6 more months she secured an agent and got her first commercial (Tim Horton's Oat Bran Muffins). A couple more commercials followed, and the payment Amanda received for them allowed her to help finance the existance of Random Acts, an improvisational comedy troupe, which she formed in the early 90s in Toronto with two other women (Katherine Jackson and Anne Marie Kerr). The group performed sketch comedy in small venues around Toronto including The New Ideas Festival and Tarragon Spring Arts Fair. Its existance ceased when all members of the group relocated elsewhere. However, quite recently, the group has been revived and has been working on a documentary.
For the part of Samantha Carter she auditioned initially in Toronto and was put on tape for a casting director there. She was short-listed and so she sent the producers her demo tape containing a selection of what she feels is some of her best work in films and on television. She ended up being one of three finalists and attended a screen-test in Los Angeles. Then the waiting came. It eventually came down to two finalists - herself and another person, so she auditioned again. About two weeks before the start of filming the pilot of Stargate SG-1 she received a phone call telling her to pack her bags and move to Vancouver.
Amanda Tapping has been playing Samantha Carter for 4 years now. Her typical day of work on the show lasts 14 hours. To appear as realistic as possible as Samantha Carter, a soldier and a scientist, she talked to an ex-Navy-SEAL and was learning specifically about astrophysics.
Currently, she is filming Stargate SG-1's seventh season. Of late, she has finished shooting a motion picture drama The Void, also starring Malcolm McDowell and Adrian Paul. Random Acts is currently editing the documentary mentioned above, called Miss Blind River Pageant. Amanda says live theater is still her passion.
Amanda relishes camping, skiing, hiking, reading and riding horses and supports Multiple Sclerosis Society, Pollution Probe and Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Amanda Tapping has talked many times about her views on her Stargate SG-1 character and on women in today's world. She counts one of her own heroes feminist author Gloria Steinem. She says, "The last time I heard her speak, it was all about doing it yourself. We can sit here in this society and say, 'People treating us this way is wrong.' But so much of the responsibility is on us to make it right. That's a huge amount of pressure for women, but it's also the way it has to be. We're always going to run across bigots in this world and we're always going to run across misogynists who are threatened by female power, but I think if I were to describe myself in pure feminist forms, I would say I want equality. We want respect not because we're women, but simply because we're human beings. I feel very strongly about equality and I also feel, as Steinem said, we have to take responsibility for ourselves."