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Michael Shanks
Michael Shanks has appeared in four different productions with the late Don S. Davis: A Family Divided (1995) (TV), "Stargate SG-1" (1997), The Artist's Circle (2000) and Suspicious River (2000).
[about his character Daniel's relationship with his love interest Janet began] "There seems to be this funny beat that they seemed to have this off-camera familiarity with each other. So we started playing with it. And it became an ongoing thread throughout the show. So whenever we did a scene together, we'd throw in an extra look or an extra glance. I'll let you guys fill in the blank of where it went from there."
Michael Shanks
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Michael Garrett Shanks
15 December 1970, Vancouver,
British Columbia, Canada
After graduating from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. in Fine Arts in 1994, Shanks played in several stage productions, serving a two year apprenticeship with the prestigious Stratford Festival in Ontario. He made guest appearances on TV series like Highlander, University Hospital, and The Outer Limits. He also played in the TV movie A Family Divided and The Call of the Wild before accepting his role in Stargate SG-1.
Shanks played Daniel Jackson throughout the first five seasons of the series before leaving the show, apparently citing creative differences concerning the underuse of his character. He made several guest appearances throughout the sixth season (also working with wife Lexa Doig on Andromeda), playing his own character and voicing the Asgard character Thor. A fan campaign (Save Daniel Jackson) followed. Shanks won a Leo Award for Best Lead Performance By A Male in a Dramatic Series in 2004 for the Stargate SG-1 episode "Lifeboat".
He returned for the seventh and subsequent seasons. He only signed up for 16 of the 20 episodes in the tenth season, taking some time off in late March 2006 for the birth of his third child (second with fellow actress and occasional co-star Lexa Doig).
In 2002, he starred in the German/UK/South African co-production Sumuru, a science fiction movie, as the astronaut Adam Wade. He also auditioned for the role of Shinzon in Star Trek Nemesis and was a fan favorite to play the role of Tobin Dax on Star Trek: Enterprise (although it is unknown if he was ever actually approached for the role). He made a crossover appearance in the Stargate Atlantis pilot.
On March 12 2007, it was announced that he had joined the Fox Network show 24 as Mark Bishop in a 3 episode arc for season 6.
On August 2 2003, Shanks married actress Lexa Doig, who plays Dr. Carolyn Lam, a recurring character of Stargate SG-1, of which Shanks is in the main cast. They have two children: daughter Mia Tabitha Shanks (b. September 13 2004) and son Samuel David Shanks (b. March 19 2006). Shanks' eldest child is his daughter, Tatiana, (born in 1998) from his relationship with model and actress Vaitiare Bandera.
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Lived with Vaitiare Bandera
Daughter, Tatiana (born late 1998) with Vaitiare Bandera.
Bears an uncanny resemblance to his Stargate (1994) feature film counterpart James Spader, whose character, Dr. Daniel Jackson, he portrays on "Stargate SG-1" (1997).
Favorite hockey team is the Vancouver Canucks.
He was born in Vancouver and grew up in Kamloops, BC, Canada.
His best friend is "Stargate SG-1" (1997) co-star Christopher Judge.
Played hockey (defense) and rugby (flyhalf then wing) in high school.
Vaitiare Bandera, the mother of his child, played his character's wife on "Stargate SG-1" (1997).
Was inspired to pursue an acting career while watching future "Stargate SG-1" (1997) co-star Richard Dean Anderson film an episode of "MacGyver" (1985).
Daughter, Mia Tabitha Shanks, with Lexa Doig, born 13 September 2004.
Played three different characters in a single episode of "Stargate SG-1" (1997): Dr. Daniel Jackson, Thor and Penegal in the second half of the Season Eight premiere 'New Order Part II'.
His character, Remiel, killed Hector, played by Christopher Judge, in the "Andromeda" (2000) episode "Day of Judgement, Day of Wrath". In the "Stargate SG-1" (1997) episode "Moebius Part 2", his character, Dr. Daniel Jackson, was killed by Judge's character, Teal'c.
Met his wife, Lexa Doig when he guest starred in the "Andromeda" (2000) Season One episode "Star-Crossed".
His character, Dr. Daniel Jackson (and various versions of him), was killed in four different episodes during the eighth season of "Stargate SG-1" (1997) alone: "Avatar", "Reckoning Part 2" and "Moebius Part 2", He was also shot several times, severely injured and tortured during the season.
Appeared with Torri Higginson in "Stargate SG-1" (1997) and "Stargate: Atlantis" (2004) who co-starred with his wife Lexa Doig in TekWar (1994) (TV), _"TekWar" (1994)_, TekWar: TekLords (1994) (TV) and Jungleground (1995).
Wife Lexa Doig gave birth to their second child together, a son named Samuel David on March 19, 2006. Michael announced it at a Vancouver Convention on March 25th.
Had an emergency appendectomy when his appendix ruptured the day before filming was to begin on Stargate SG-1 Season 3 episode "Nemesis". The script had to be rewritten to explain his character's reduced role. The writers decided to have the character recovering from an appendectomy as well.
Coincidentally enough, there is another Michael Shanks (no relation) who is a real life archaeologist, while Michael Shanks the actor portrays an archaeologist on the television show Stargate SG-1.
Grew up as a huge Star Wars and Star Trek fan. Michael was also a fan of the cult television series, Xena: Warrior Princess.
His "Stargate SG-1" (1997) character Daniel Jackson is close to six years older than he actually is.
Auditioned for the part of Praetor Shinzon in Star Trek: Nemesis (2002).
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