Teryl Rothery was born on November 9th, 1962, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She is a Canadian actress who has been active since 1992. She is best known for her role as Dr. Janet Fraiser on ‘Stargate: SG-1’
As a 5’ 2” (1.57 m), blond-haired actress, Teryl Rothery gained many roles when she turned her attention to acting for the screen.
Early Life
Teryl was raised as an only child by her grandparents. She was painfully shy as a child and her grandma put her in dance class to break her out of her shell. Teryl mentions that she loved dance and loved the magic of being able to perform and be somebody else and through dance she found her love for being on stage in movies and televison.
Rothery said she knew she wanted to be an actor ever since she was 4 years old, saying she wanted to be a “movie star.” She started performing in community theater productions like The Sound of Music. She found the experience of being on stage “magical” and it’s where she felt she could truly be herself.
She began acting in her early teens. She began taking dance lessons at nine and was a performer in Bye Bye Birdie and The Sound of Music. By 18, she made her first appearance on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for a Halloween special. By 19, she would spend a few years on the radio, with stations such as CJAZ-FM, KISS-FM, and CKWX.
Teryl mentions in interviews that she was a huge Star Trek fan as a kid. She had a huge crush on James T. Kirk and would often use a pez dispenser to emulate a communicator.
Early Career
With over 190 acting credits, Teryl Rothery has had an extensive career that shows no signs of slowing down. Though her career initially began with voice acting roles for anime dubs, many of those series were produced before the 1990s when she started. For example, Teryl Rothery was one of the voice actresses for the anime Ranma ½ which began airing in 1989; her dubbing work was not until the series was localized for English audiences in 1993. Her role in Ranma ½ was the character Kodachi Kuno.
Other early voice acting work for Teryl Rothery was anime such as Project A-Ko – dubbing various OVAs in 1994, in addition to dubbing episodes of Dragon Ball starting in 1995. However, both Dragon Ball and Project A-Ko were produced and released in the 1980s. Teryl Rothery’s voice acting is part of what allowed such anime series to find a larger audience in the United States.
However, Teryl Rothery’s first live-acting roles for the screen began just before her voice acting work. In 1992 she was the character Lena Falcone in the USA Network movie Mortal Sins. This TV film was a thriller that starred Christopher Reeve. That same year she would make another direct to TV film with The Man Upstairs with a small role as a TV newscaster.
Acting Career
Teryl Rothery has had an extensive career on television, particularly in genre shows. She is one of the few performers to appear in the three longest-running science fiction series on TV: The X-Files, Stargate SG-1, and Smallville.
Stargate SG-1
She was a regular on Stargate SG-1 as the character Dr. Janet Fraiser, the chief medical officer in the Stargate program below Cheyenne Mountain, from 1997 to 2004.
Fans liked her character, and there was an outcry when the show runners killed off her character.
Teryl mention she learned of her character being killed off by executive producer, Robert C. Cooper, who phoned her and told her of the decision. Although she was sad about the decision to kill of her character, she like the way they would handle the story about her character being killed off.
However, the decision was not made lightly and was meant to introduce further stakes as Stargate SG-1 approached cancellation. However, the show was saved and ran for an additional three seasons, taking out a popular character for little gain. She would appear as a guest star in season 9, however.
When speaking about her favorite episodes of Stargate, Teryl mentions ‘The Broca Divide’, the first episode she appeared on Stargate SG-1. She also mentioned was ‘Lifeboat’, ‘Hathor’, ‘Urgo’ and ‘Rite of Passage’ as some of her favorite episodes.
Teryl Rothery is a little like a secret Canadian weapon for many genre television series, and she pops up in surprising places. She had three appearances in the television series Dead Like Me in 2004. She would also appear in The Dead Zone in 2005, Eureka in 2007, Kyle XY from 2006 to 2009, and eight episodes of Caprica in 2010.
She continued voice acting, dubbing anime, and American and Canadian animation projects. One significant project was Martin Mystery, where she recorded over 60 episodes from 2003 to 2006. She also contributed to the dub of the highly popular anime Inuyasha in 2004.
What is Teryl Rothery doing now?
Teryl Rothery is as busy as she has ever been with several ongoing and recurring roles in television series. She had a recurring role as Muriel in the drama series Virgin River from 2019-2022.
In 2023 she starred in the Hallmark TV movie Made for Each Other as Judith. Rothery was interviewed about her role and explains that she was immediately drawn to the project based on knowing the director Jeff Beasley and executive producer Joey Plager, even before reading the script. Once she did read it, Rothery loved the character of Judith, describing her as an energetic, busy body mom that many people are familiar with.
She also had roles in the short film Never Broken (2022), the animated kids series Chip and Potato (2018-2022), and the TV movie Francesca Quinn, PI (2022).
Some of her other notable recent credits include recurring roles on the hit medical drama The Good Doctor (2017-2022) as Dr. Jen Lancaster, the sci-fi comedy Upload (2020-2022) as Dawn Kannerman, and the family drama When Calls the Heart (2021) as Helen Bouchard. She also appeared in the TV movies The Christmas House 2 (2021), Sweet Carolina (2021), and Christmas with a Crown (2020).
Rothery also offers services as an Intuitive Coach. She uses her sensitivity, which she once considered a weakness, to service others. Rothery receives messages from her Guides through sight, sound, and feelings. In addition to her intuitive coaching, she is also a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist.
Her coaching is aimed at helping people navigate through the upheavals of life, assisting them in shifting their goals and embracing the “new” – whether that’s a new career, a new love, a new outlook, new dreams, or a new way to continue to grow.
She offers a free introductory 20-minute session, and clients can book a 1-hour Intuitive Coaching session with her through her website.
It’s important to note that while she is an Intuitive Coach, her work does not replace professional psychiatric, psychological, or any type of specialized therapy.
Teryl Rothery is also grateful for her time on Stargate SG-1 and frequently makes convention appearances to reach out to fans, in addition to the fans of her other work in genre television and anime dubs.
Personal Life
On December 19, 2003, Teryl Rothery posted a tweet showing her engagement ring. She was in a relationship with Carl Kumpera, an international real estate agent. They never shared information about a wedding. Some sources suggest that the couple split. However, given Teryl Rothery does not post much about her relationships, this is hard to confirm.
Teryl Rother’s daughter, Londyn Jean Alana Abrahams-Rothery, was born on October 3rd, 2008. She was likely born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, but no official statements have confirmed the birth location.
Londyn Jean isn’t well known but does play hockey, however.
Her beloved Labrador Retriever, Spinee, underwent a risky surgery and is now in the process of recovery. Rothery has been keeping her fans updated on Spinee’s status via Twitter.
Teryl Rothery is available on social media. She can be found as a user on Instagram and Twitter.
Her advice to aspiring actors is to follow your passion, but also have a fallback plan. Prepare for a lot of rejection before that one yes. Let the nos bounce off and don’t take it personally. But if acting is truly your calling, keep pursuing it.
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