The Love Story of Michael Shanks and Vaitiare Bandera: From On-Screen Romance to Real-Life Family

Michael Shanks portrayed Doctor Jackson in Stargate SG-1 for about ten years. He even had a child with the one who embodied the love of his life on screen.

With ten seasons broadcast from 1998 in France, Stargate SG-1 was one of the leading series of the beginning of the 21st century. It was built like the sequel to Roland Emmerich’s film, in which humanity discovered a machine capable of crossing the universe in a few moments. A military group and the archaeologist Daniel Jackson were then sent, finding themselves struggling with an extraterrestrial race and its fearsome king. In the series, years after the first convoy, Colonel Jack O’Neill (Richard Dean Anderson) found Doctor Daniel Jackson, played by Michael Shanks. This one agreed to go back through the stargate, because his wife Sha’re had been kidnapped by another extraterrestrial lord.

A couple on stage and in town

This romance was therefore one of the common threads of the first seasons. And it went beyond the framework of the work for the two actors. Few people know this, but Michael Shanks was in a relationship with Vaitiare Bandera, who played Sha’re in the series. A romance that obviously started quite quickly on the set. From this relationship was indeed born a little girl, Tatiana, just one year after the start of the broadcast of the show in the United States. And somehow Tatiana also took part in the series. The character of Sha’re indeed fell pregnant at that time, and it was therefore without artifice that the actress had been able to sport a round belly in certain episodes.

Michael Shanks also met his wife on a set

However, the couple ended up separating. Michael Shanks married actress Lexa Doig a few years later. She is best known for her role in the series Andromeda. It was on this other shoot, when the Canadian actor appeared as a guest-star, that they met. They have been married since 2003 and have two children. Lexa Doig also made a few appearances in Stargate SG-1. She then played a doctor. The series finally ended in 2007. But it gave way to several sequels and spin-offs.

Article written in collaboration with 6Médias.