Jaime Murray

**Jaime Murray** is an English actress, known for playing Stacie Monroe in the BBC series Hustle and Lila West in the Showtime series Dexter. She is also known for her recurring roles as Gaia in the Starz miniseries Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, as Olivia Charles in The CW series Ringer, as Helena G. Wells in the Syfy series Warehouse 13, as Stahma Tarr in the Syfy series Defiance, and as the Black Fairy in Once Upon a Time.

## Early life and education

Murray was born in London, England, to Elaine and English actor Billy Murray. She was named after Lindsay Wagner's character Jaime Sommers in the 1970s television series The Bionic Woman. Just before taking her A Levels, Murray was diagnosed with dyslexia. She briefly studied philosophy and psychology at the London School of Economics, but dropped out to train at the Drama Centre London, where she graduated in 2000.

## Acting

Murray's first taste of stardom was miming the lyrics in the original video of Stretch & Vern's dance track "I'm Alive"(1996). Some of her early television appearances included minor guest roles in BBC One's *Casualty*, *The Bill*, *Love Soup*, and *ShakespeaRe-Told: The Taming of the Shrew*.

Murray starred as Stacie Monroe in series 1 through series 4 of Hustle. In one episode, Murray so impressed her co-star Robert Vaughn with her modelling of a Wonder Woman costume that, according to several online sources, he showed it to studio executives in Hollywood. On the strength of this, Murray was invited to audition for the title part of the *Wonder Woman* (2009) movie. Later, Murray reprised her role as Stacie Monroe in *Hustle*, series 8.

Relocating to Los Angeles, Murray starred in Dexter as Lila Tourney, Dexter Morgan's Narcotics Anonymous sponsor and the main antagonist in Season 2. Dexter spends one night in a hotel with Lila without any sexual contact, the revelation of which leads to his break-up with his girlfriend Rita Bennett. Lila and Dexter have a brief relationship, but he eventually comes to believe that Lila is in fact a sociopath who hangs out in support groups in an attempt to vicariously experience emotions in a safe environment, by closely observing them in recovering addicts. She becomes obsessed with Dexter, believing that she sees through Dexter's "mask", and he is her soulmate.

In mid-2008, Murray joined the cast of The CW's series Valentine, playing the lead character, Grace Valentine. The show began airing in October 2008 but was cancelled by the end of the month.

Murray was cast in another CW show, The Beautiful Life: TBL, as a wardrobe stylist, but the show was cancelled before she was able to appear.

Murray finished shooting Possessions in 2010 and soon thereafter began shooting The Rapture. She starred in the horror film Devil's Playground(2010), directed by Mark McQueen, and then appeared as Helena G. Wells on the Syfy series Warehouse 13. Murray's portrayal of Helena G. Wells received critical praise. Her portrayal was described as "saucy", "superb", as able to "anchor a series", and "endlessly fascinating". Her absence as the villainess in the season 3 Christmas episode, "The Greatest Gift", was bemoaned with the lamentation "she would have done it better". Murray was nominated for a 2012 Portal Award for her portrayal of Helena G. Wells on Warehouse 13.

Murray also made a guest appearances on the Fox series The Finder, where she played a drug coordinator. Murray starred in the Starz miniseries Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, as Gaia, a longtime friend of Lucretia. Murray also had a guest appearance in 2009 on CBS series NCIS, playing ICE Agent Julia Foster-Yates.

Murray made an appearance on the Partially Examined Life philosophy podcast, playing a part in Sartre's No Exit, alongside Lucy Lawless, Mark Linsenmayer, and Wes Alwan.

Most recently she portrayed the character of Stahma Tarr in the Syfy series Defiance, which aired its final episode in August 2015. Murray will be guest starring in Once Upon a Time as the Black Fairy. She has recently been cast in The Originals final season as Antoinette, a vampire Elijah meets soon after losing his memories.

## Modeling

Murray modelled clothing in television advertisements for Debenhams department store.She is signed to Models 1 in London and has appeared in men's magazines such as GQ, Mayfair, and FHM, as well as women's magazines such as Hello!, Cosmopolitan, and OK!.

## Personal life

Murray married Bernie Cahill, a partner in an entertainment management company, in May 2014.

## Filmography

Web
 2012

Music videos

Video games

## Trivia

* Studied Philosophy and Psychology at the London School of Economics and originally intended on being a Child Psychologist before training at the Drama Centre London in 2000.
* Is named after "Jaime Sommers", the character Lindsay Wagner played in The Bionic Woman (1976); Jaime worked with American actress Lindsay Wagner who played Jaime Sommers the Bionic woman and she explained that the character was originally intended to be named "Jamie", but Wagner misspelled the name during a special effects shot on The Six Million Dollar Man (1974), and the producer decided to retain the new spelling, rather than incur the extra cost of re-shooting.
* Murray is named after the character Jaime Sommers in The Bionic Woman (1976). In Warehouse 13 (2009), Murray appears in several episodes alongside guest star, Lindsay Wagner, who played Jaime Sommers in The Bionic Woman (1976).
* Jaime Murray is the daughter of UK actor Billy Murray and acted in her first job with him in 1982. Paul Annette, the director of the television series 'Grass' was looking for a little boy to play Billy's son and asked Jaime, who was three years old at the time, if she would do the role. She said yes, not knowing the part was for a little boy. She was really annoyed when she found out because she didn't like boys at the time.