Summer Glau

Summer Glau is an American actress and dancer best known for her television roles as River Tam in Firefly and the terminatrix Cameron in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Biography

Summer Glau was born on 24 July 1981 in San Antonio, Texas. Her parents were of Scots-Irish and German descent and Glau has two younger sisters,

In her youth, Summer was a professional ballet dancer, which meant that she was home-schooled from Grades 3 – 12. A foot injury put her ballet career on hold and she did some work on television commercials before deciding to pursue acting work instead.

Firefly

Summer got her first break in the Angel episode, Waiting In The Wings, in which she played a ballerina. Impressed with her performance, show creator Joss Whedon cast her as the eccentric character River Tam in Firefly - a series about a rag-tag bunch of passengers aboard a spaceship on the outer reaches of the galaxy. Although the show became a cult hit, the viewing figures were low and Fox cancelled the series after only 11 episodes had been aired.

Glau's character was on the run from the Federation, helped by her brother Simon. The two managed to become passengers of the Serenity and River's erratic behaviour saw her attacking her fellow crew members and rescuing them from a bounty hunter. It was revealed that the school she had been sent had conducted brain experiments on the pupils.

Even though the series was cancelled, Glau reprised her role as River Tam in the movie spin-off from the series, Serenity.

After Firefly, Glau made a number of guest appearance on shows such as Cold Case and CSI, and had recurring roles in The Unit and The 4400.

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

In 2008, Glau took on the role of Cameron in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. The character was a female terminator, sent back from the future by John Connor to protect his younger self.

The show debuted on 13 January 2008, but due to the writer's strike only 9 episodes of the first season were produced. The show was recommissioned for a second series, but lost viewers over the season, resulting in its cancellation.

In the aftermath of the series cancellation, Joss Whedon has suggested that there may be a role for Glau on his new show, Dollhouse.