AMANDA TAPPING: Trivia

General

trivia photo scifiworld — Photo by Chris Lehm

Amanda has both British and Canadian citizenship.
Her favourite colour is orange.
Her favourite food is sushi.
She has a twin brother.
If she could have any superpower she would choose invisibility.
She has a fear of heights that she keeps trying to conquer. She has, for example, jumped out of a plane, but she still has her phobia.
In her off-time, she likes hiking in the woods with her family, camping, kayaking and playing guitar. Her family is her sanctuary.
She loves writing short stories, as well as poetry. She has been asked several times about whether she would write something and publish it or whether she would write a script and is considering it.
The best moment of her life was on the night Olivia was born, right after the birth. Aside from being a parent, going to the Arctic to shoot the movie Stargate Continuum is one of her top 10 life experiences, along with visiting Nepal, the people of Nepal and the children at the Nepal Orphan’s Home, one of the charities supported by Sanctuary for Kids
Riley is her third dog since she started working on Stargate. The first one was Abbie, which she had during the time on Stargate SG-1. Next came George, a 120 pounds Bouvier des Flandres.
Her biggest inspirations, next to her fans, are her mother, her grandmother and her husband’s grandmother – Olivia was given the middle name B after both grandmothers. The children at the Nepali charities Sanctuary for Kids supported and Cynthia, a friend who died of cancer, have also been inspiring.
In 2014, she received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Windsor.
She used to watch Little House on the Prairie when she was a child.
While she did not really watch sci-fi as a child, a friend got her into Star Trek: Next Generation, which she loved. She later started reading Stephen Hawking because of Stargate and truly appreciates the genre now.
Amanda wanted to become a marine biologist when she was a child. If she had not become an actor, she would have liked to be a doctor, working for an organization like Doctors Without Borders or a photo journalist, travel to conflict zones and capture them on film. Becoming an aid worker in third world countries would also have been a possibility.

Acting

As a huge fan of the BBC series Doctor Who, she would really love to play the Doctor or the companion. She would also love to have a role on Prime Suspect or Coronation Street, both British series. The role of her lifetime would however be in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
Actors she would like to work with are Dawn French, Helen Mirren, Meryl Streep and Daniel Craig among others. Actors who have influenced her include Carol Burnett and Lucille Ball.
The most challenging scenes as an actor for her are the crying scenes since it is hard to keep that level of intensity and emotion.
Amanda has mentioned several times that she would like to return to the stage.
Her favourite play is The Lion in Winter. She would like to do a remake on Broadway and play Eleanor of Aquitaine when she is in her 60s.

Directing

The most challenging episode to direct so far has been the episode “17 Minutes” of Travelers where she had to film several scenes with people skydiving.
Besides Martin Wood, there are a number of other people who have inspired her as a director, for instance Amy Wheeler, Helen Shaver, Rachel Talalay and Stanley Kubrick.
The best part about directing for her is having the complete overview of an entire episode.
She is on the Directors Guild of Canada mailing list.
She uses a lot of moving shots and has been named “Techno Tapping” by some crew members due to her love for the techno crane.
If she could shoot anywhere in the world she would like to shoot in Kathmandu or the Arctic.

To learn more interesting facts and frequently asked questions related to specific series such as Stargate or Sanctuary go and check the subpages of her projects in front and behind the camera.