Rachel Luttrell

Rachel Zawadi Luttrell is a Tanzanian-Canadian-American actress born on January 19, 1971, in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. She is best known for her role as Teyla Emmagan, an Athosian warrior leader on Stargate Atlantis. Luttrell's family emigrated to Canada when she was five years old, and she was raised in Toronto. She has a background in music and trained her soprano voice under her father, who was a former member of the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir. Luttrell also studied ballet at the Russian Academy of Classical Ballet School and piano at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She made her professional debut in Canada's premier production of Miss Saigon in Toronto.