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Summer Lyn Glau ( /ˈɡlaʊ/; born July 24, 1981) is an American actress, known for playing River Tam in the science fiction series Firefly and follow-up film Serenity, and for playing Cameron in the series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Glau was born in San Antonio, Texas, where she grew up with her two younger sisters (Kaitlin and Christie). She is of Scots-Irish and German descent. Her mother is a school teacher and her father a general contractor. Glau received a scholarship to a ballet company and was home-schooled from grades 3 to 12 to accommodate her ballet training.... MORE

Summer Lyn Glau ( /ˈɡlaʊ/; born July 24, 1981) is an American actress, known for playing River Tam in the science fiction series Firefly and follow-up film Serenity, and for playing Cameron in the series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Glau was born in San Antonio, Texas, where she grew up with her two younger sisters (Kaitlin and Christie). She is of Scots-Irish and German descent. Her mother is a school teacher and her father a general contractor. Glau received a scholarship to a ballet company and was home-schooled from grades 3 to 12 to accommodate her ballet training. Glau was classically trained as a ballet dancer and also studied tango and flamenco. After a serious ankle injury ended her dancing career, Glau later moved to Los Angeles in 2002 to pursue a more active acting career. Glau's first television credit was a guest role as a ballerina on the 2002 episode "Waiting in the Wings" of the television series Angel. There she caught the eye of director Joss Whedon, who later cast her in his critically acclaimed but short-lived TV series Firefly as River Tam, a role she reprised for the show's feature film sequel, Serenity. Glau previously auditioned for the role as LESS