Claudia Ann Christian is an American entertainer, spanning multiple media.
Born August 10, 1965 in Glendale, California, she spent most of her early years in England and Connecticut. She has two brothers.
Claudia is best known for her role in Babylon 5 as the tough-as-nails Susan Ivanova. She played the character so well that I use it as an example of a strong woman in fiction. She's not a dude with boobs. She acts like a woman that doesn't take shit from anyone. I sometimes compare her character to John Wayne.
Throughout the series, she is thrown into situations where she either solves it with brilliance or threatens the other person until they back down. The writer for the show, J. Michael Straczynski, did an excellent job writing her character's script.
One of the most famous episodes involves what is known as the Ivanova dance. She is tasked with working out a treaty with an alien race, only to discover they have to have sexual intercourse to conclude the deal. She racks her brain, and comes up with an absolutely hilarious dance that fools the ambassador that they had human-style sex, even though he never touches her. They had to film it in three takes because everyone kept busting up laughing.
Many of her storylines were tough military missions, but two stand out for their character development. She was estranged from her Russian father, and she does reconcile with him just before he dies. She is a Russian Jew, and she ends up holding shiva for him. It was a very touching episode.
The second major storyline is Marcus, a Ranger who falls in love with her. She refuses to go out with him, but he holds a torch for her through the rest of the series. Ivanova ends up mortally wounded, and Marcus transferred the rest of his life energy to restore her. When she found out, the audience really believed she was completely heartbroken. Claudia did an amazing job, and those scenes are still tear-jerkers.
Claudia dabbled in music for a while, releasing several albums and singles. She also did some voice acting for video games.
She wrote a book called Babylon Confidential, about her struggles with alcoholism. She donates time and money to the Sinclair Method of alcohol addition recovery. She also wrote a short story for Forbidden Love 2: Wicked Women.
For television work, she has appeared in dozens of shows, mostly crime dramas or science fiction. She has a convention based in Texas that tries to bring the cast members of Babylon 5 together.