Cliff Simon

Cliff Simon is a South African athlete and actor, best known for his portrayal of Baal in Stargate SG1.

Simon was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the fourth child of Emmanuelle and Phylis Simon. Both of his parents are of Ashkenazi Jewish descent from Poland and Lithuania. From a very young age, Cliff aspired to be the first South African swimmer to win an Olympic Gold medal. His mother, a swimming teacher, taught him from a very young age, and at agehe began to show talent as a gymnast. By age 15, Cliff had reached a national level in South Africa in both swimming and gymnastics, but he decided to discontinue training in gymnastics to better focus on swimming.

Source: Wikipedia