She attended North Toronto Collegiate Institute, where she excelled in Environmental Science and Drama. However, when she finished in 1984, she decided to focus her attention on Drama, attending the University of Windsor School of Dramatic Arts in Windsor, Ontario.
She is best known for portraying Samantha Carter in the Canadian–American military science fiction television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis. She also starred as Helen Magnus in the Syfy Channel series Sanctuary. Born in Rochford, Essex, England, she moved with her family to Ontario, Canada, when she was three years old.
After graduation, Tapping continued to study Theatrical Arts while performing in several stage productions.
She appeared in several television commercials and played a variety of roles in television and film productions, such as The Outer Limits and The X-Files. She also formed a comedy troupe, the "Random Acts", with collaborators Katherine Jackson and Anne Marie Kerr, in Toronto in the early 1990s.
Tapping is best known for her portrayal of Samantha Carter in the science fiction television series Stargate SG-1, which debuted in 1997. After SG-1 aired its final episode, Tapping reprised the role of Samantha Carter on Stargate Atlantis as the new commander of the Atlantis expedition.
In Season 5, however, Tapping"s role on the show was reduced to that of "special guest-star" with only occasional appearances because she chose to focus her attention on the development of a new series for Syfy called Sanctuary.
The show expanded on an original series of eight webisodes released on the internet in 2007. The bulk of the scenery and characters were entirely green screen and Consultants to Government and Industry creations. Tapping served as both star and Executive Producer of the show.
Tapping was reportedly working with William Shatner on a 2011 animated webisode series "The Zenoids", written by Alan Dean Foster.
Tapping and Shatner voice characters, and Tapping is Executive Producer. On 18 September 2012, she was cast as an angel named Naomi on Season 8 of the television series Supernatural.
She was a recurring character who appeared in seven episodes. Directing experience Tapping"s first directing experience was during the seventh season of Stargate SG-1 on an episode titled "Resurrection", written by co-star Michael Shanks.
She directed the seventh episode of Sanctuary season two titled "Veritas".
She has directed three episodes (6, 8 and 10) of Primeval: New World and three episodes (212. 306; 307) of Continuum. Also, she is directing several episodes (5, 6, 9 and 10, until now) of Olympus.
