The Secret Life of Summer Glau: What You Don’t Know About the Star of Firefly and Terminator

 

Who is Summer Glau?

American actress Summer Lyn Glau was born in San Antonio, Texas USA, on 24 July 1981, making Leo her zodiac sign. She’s had roles in nearly 40 TV series and movies, and is perhaps still known best for playing River in the 2005 action science fiction adventure movie “Serenity”, which starred Chiwetel Ejiofor, Gina Torres and Nathan Fillion, and was written and directed by Joss Whedon. It follows the crew of the spaceship Serenity as they’re trying to prevent an assassin from killing telepath River, and the movie won nine of its 19 award nominations.

Education and early life

Summer was raised in San Antonio alongside her sisters Christie and Kaitlin, by their father Mark Glau who’s a general contractor, and mother Mari who’s a high school teacher.

Summer grew up being passionate about dancing, and took ballet lessons; from third through 12th grade, she was homeschooled so that she could focus on training ballet, while she also learned to dance flamenco and tango.

Summer completed her GED tests in 1999; she broke a toe in the following year, which ended her dancing career. She thus moved to Los Angeles, California in 2002, in pursuit of acting roles.

Roles in TV series

Summer’s debut TV series role was playing Prima Ballerina in the 2002 episode “Waiting in the Wings” of the fantasy action “Angel”, and in 2002 and 2003, she starred as River Tam in all the 14 episodes of the science fiction adventure “Firefly”, created by Joss Whedon, and which also starred Nathan Fillion and Gina Torres. It follows the crew of a small spaceship who’ve travelled 500 years into the future, and the series won five of its 13 award nominations.

Summer could then have been seen appearing in an episode of the crime mysteries “Cold Case” and “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation”.

From 2005 through 2007, she played Tess Doerner in eight episodes of the science fiction mystery “The 4400”, created by Rene Echevarria and Scott Peters, and which starred Jacqueline McKenzie, Joel Gretsch and Patrick John Flueger. It follows the reappearance of nearly 4,500 people who had been missing for years, and the series won one of its 14 award nominations. The remainder of the 2000s saw Summer make a guest appearance in the 2009 episode “The Terminator Decoupling” of the romantic comedy “The Big Bang Theory”, starred as Cameron Phillips in all the 31 episodes of the action fantasy “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, and played Bennett Halverson in four episodes of the mystery science fiction “Dollhouse”.

In 2014, she starred as Anna Brandt in the thriller “Sequestered”, created by Aaron Tracy, and which also starred Jesse Bradford and Bruce Davison. It follows the jury of a complicated case as they’re deliberating in a hotel, and the series was nominated for two awards.

Summer’s three most recent TV series roles have been in two episodes of the 2015 comedy “Con Man”, the 2016 episode “G. D. S.” of the crime comedy “Castle”, and two episodes of the 2019 crime action “Wu Assassins”.

Roles in movies

Summer’s debut film role was playing Ticket Girl in the 2004 romantic family comedy “Sleepover”, directed by Joe Nussbaum, and which starred Alexa PenaVega, Mia Boorem and Scout Taylor-Compton. It follows four high school friends who are trying to become popular, and the film won one of its four award nominations.

Some of Summer’s following roles were in the 2006 action adventure comedy “Mammoth”, the 2006 fantasy horror comedy “The Initiation of Sarah” and the 2010 crime mystery “Deadly Honeymoon”; also in 2010 she voiced Kara in the animated action adventure “Superman/Batman: Apocalypse”, directed by Lauren Montgomery, and which starred Andre Braugher, Kevin Conroy and Tim Daly. It follows Batman who’s discovered a girl with superpowers, and who might be related to Superman.

Summer could then have been seen appearing in the historical action adventure “The Legend of Hell’s Gate: An American Conspiracy”, the science fiction mystery “The Human Preservation Project” and the music video “Keith Urban: Long Hot Summer”, all released in 2011.

She stared as Christine in the 2012 family fantasy “Help for the Holidays”, directed by Bradford May, and which also starred Eva LaRue and John Brotherton; it follows Santa’s elf as she’s helping a family during Christmas.

Some of Summer’s most recent film roles have been in 2013 in the action adventure comedy “Knights of Badassdom” and the short thriller “Dear End” ,and the 2022 science fiction “Ctrl-Alt-Destroy”.

Other credits

Summer sang the songs “Jingle Bells” and “Deck the Halls” in the 2012 movie “Help for the Holidays”.

She produced all 12 episodes of the 2014 thriller series “Sequestered”.

Some of Summer’s recent talk-show appearances have been in “Crashing the Fest”, “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” and “Speakeasy: With Paul F. Tompkins”.

Awards and nominations

Summer’s won four of her nine award nominations. Some of her wins include a 2005 SFX Award for Best Actress and a 2006 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress, both for her performance in “Serenity”, and a 2014 Northeast Film Festival Award for Best Actress in a Short Film, for “Inside the Box”.

Love life and marriage

Summer prefers not to speak about her love life in public, but has still allowed her fans a glimpse into it. She and American actor Val Morrison exchanged vows in 2017, but have kept the exact date of the wedding a secret; the ceremony was rather small, with only their closest friends and family members in attendance. Val’s appeared in 12 movies and TV series, and is probably still known best for playing Bouncer in the 2007 romantic comedy movie “Spin”.

Summer gave birth to their first daughter Milena Jo Morrison on 26 January 2015, and their second daughter Sunny Izabo Morrison followed in October 2017.

She’s yet to mention the men whom she had dated prior to meeting Val, Summer’s married to Val Morrison as of May 2023, and they have two daughters together.

Sweet pic of #SummerGlau taking her daughter Milena to the Farmers Market. Wonder who is little Milena cosplaying! pic.twitter.com/6i43LdjxaH

— SummerGlaucom | fan acc (@summerglaucom) March 14, 2016

Interesting facts and hobbies

Summer’s revealed that she didn’t see any “Terminator” movies prior to being cast to star in the series “Terminator: The Sarah Conor Chronicles”.

Her ancestry includes British, German and Swiss.

Summer auditioned for the role of Alyssa in the 2002 action adventure series “Power Rangers Wild Force”, and was nearly cast.

She loves to cook, and is a fan of cooking shows.

The magazine “Wizard” ranked Summer #8 on their 2008 list ‘Sexiest Women of TV”, while the magazine “FHM” ranked her #37 on their 2011 list ‘100 Sexiest Women in the World’; in 2014, “Maxim” ranked Summer #63 on their ‘Hot 100’ list.

She loves attending conventions, and could’ve been seen at the 2006 Armageddon Pulp Expo in Auckland, New Zealand.

Summer’s favorite actor and actress are Benedict Cumberbatch and Zendaya, while some of her favorite movies include “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain”, “Doctor Strange” and “The Grinch”.

Height, eyes and wealth

Summer’s age is 41. She has brown eyes and hair, is 5ft 5ins (1.66m) tall and weighs around 125lbs (57kgs).

Summer’s net worth’s been estimated at over $4 million, as of May 2023.