Rachel Luttrell

Rachel Zawadi Luttrell (born 19 January 1971) is a Tanzanian-Canadian actress best known for her role as Teyla Emmagan, an Athosian warrior leader on Stargate Atlantis. Luttrell was born 19 January 1971, in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, the daughter of Veronica Makihio Shenkunde Luttrell of the Washambala tribe of the Usambara Mountains, and Dr. William Leon Luttrell from Bossier City, Louisiana. She is one of four daughters. Her family emigrated to Canada when she was five years old, and she was raised in Toronto. Her family has several musical roots; her father, a former member of the critically acclaimed Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, trained Luttrell's soprano voice. She studied ballet at the Russian Academy of Classical Ballet School and also studied piano at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. Luttrell made her professional debuts in Canada's premier production of Miss Saigon in Toronto, and as "The Enchantress" in the Canadian production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. She would go on to appear in many other stage productions, such as Once On This Island, Goblin Market, and the premier performance of Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Lynn Nottage's Las Meninas.