# Vaitiare Bandera
**Vaitiare Bandera** is the professional name of Vaitiaré Eugenie Hirshon, a Tahitian-born actress and former model known for playing Sha're, the wife of Daniel Jackson, in the television series *Stargate SG-1* (born 1964 in Tahiti, French Polynesia).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) She has also worked as a fashion designer and business owner in Los Angeles, and she is sometimes credited as Vaitiare Hirshon, Vaitiare, or Vaitiare Hirshon-Asars.[2](https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Vaitiare_Bandera)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Birth name and origin | Vaitiaré Eugenie Hirshon, born 1964 in Tahiti, French Polynesia[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) |
| Best-known role | Sha're and the Goa'uld Amaunet in *Stargate SG-1* (1997–2003), wife of Daniel Jackson[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/bandera-vaitiare-1964) |
| Name meaning | "Water flower" in Tahitian[4](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/vaitiare-bandera/umc.cpc.663quf0rbxbyeo7n0y6p5o2bw) |
| Early screen break | Host of the Spanish-language game show *Bellezas al agua* and Hispanic spokesperson for Miller Beer, both 1993[4](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/vaitiare-bandera/umc.cpc.663quf0rbxbyeo7n0y6p5o2bw) |
| Marriages | Producer Peter Bandera (1994–1997); fashion designer Edgars Asars (married September 2004; divorced 2016)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) |
| Children | Tatiana Shanks (born 1998, with actor Michael Shanks) and Kenta Asars (with Edgars Asars)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) |
| Businesses | Ken Ta Designs, Royal Hip, and RoyalMocc[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/bandera-vaitiare-1964) |
## Early life and family background
Bandera was born in Tahiti under the name Vaitiaré Eugenie Hirshon. Her father, Charles Heimata Hirshon, was of half American German-Jewish and half Tahitian-Maori descent and started movie theaters in the South Pacific; her mother, Georgina Toomaru, came from a French, English, and Polynesian/Cook Island background and was a young model and the first airline stewardess in Tahiti.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) Through her mother she traces her ancestry to the Royal House of Makea in [Rarotonga](https://www.edgepedia.org/rarotonga), in the [Cook Islands](https://www.edgepedia.org/cook-islands).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/)
She left Tahiti with her mother and brother at the age of 8 and was raised in the United States, graduating high school at 16 and signing with a modeling agency in Los Angeles.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) Her Tahitian name means "water flower"; in Tahitian it is pronounced with a trilled "r".[4](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/vaitiare-bandera/umc.cpc.663quf0rbxbyeo7n0y6p5o2bw) • [2](https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Vaitiare_Bandera)
## Early career
Her screen career began with the Spanish comedy film *Tahiti's Girl* (*La chica de Tahití*, 1990), made with the Spanish director Mariano Ozores, who she says told her she should go to Hollywood; she then moved to Los Angeles to study acting with the coach Larry Moss.[5](https://www.revistavanityfair.es/sociedad/celebrities/articulos/vaitiare-banderas-entrevista-marbella/32622) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) She hosted an award-winning 13-episode documentary, *Tahiti and her Island*, for TVE in Spain, and appeared in commercials for Toyota, Coors Dry, J.C. Penney, Sears, and other brands.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) • [4](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/vaitiare-bandera/umc.cpc.663quf0rbxbyeo7n0y6p5o2bw)
In 1993 she was named the Hispanic spokesperson for Miller Beer; IMDb places the role from 1993 through 1995, while Apple TV's profile dates it to 1993.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) • [4](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/vaitiare-bandera/umc.cpc.663quf0rbxbyeo7n0y6p5o2bw) The same year she became one of the hosts of the Spanish-language game show *Bellezas al agua*.[4](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/vaitiare-bandera/umc.cpc.663quf0rbxbyeo7n0y6p5o2bw) She also recorded singles in Spain in the late 1980s and performed the song "Desesperada", which Marta Sánchez later popularized, but she left music to pursue acting.[5](https://www.revistavanityfair.es/sociedad/celebrities/articulos/vaitiare-banderas-entrevista-marbella/32622)
Her American television work in the 1990s included guest roles as Sonya in "No Chicken, No Check" on *Married... with Children* (Fox, 1993), Carmen in *Acapulco H.E.A.T.* (1993), and Luisa in the *Murder, She Wrote* episode "Track of a Soldier" (CBS, 1996), along with the recurring role of Linda Dominguez on *Pacific Blue* between 1996 and 1998.[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/bandera-vaitiare-1964) She appeared in the Spanish-language series *Agujetas de color de rosa* (1994), which was seen in 45 countries, and in the films *The Final Goal* (1995) and *[U.S. Marshals](https://www.edgepedia.org/u-s-marshals-film)* (1998), in which she played Stacia Vela alongside [Tommy Lee Jones](https://www.edgepedia.org/tommy-lee-jones).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) • [3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/bandera-vaitiare-1964)
## Stargate SG-1
Bandera's most prominent role is Sha're, the Abydonian wife of Dr. Daniel Jackson, in *Stargate SG-1*, and the Goa'uld Amaunet who possesses her body. She had first auditioned for the same character, called Sha'uri in the 1994 feature film, but the role went to [Mili Avital](https://www.edgepedia.org/mili-avital); when the television series went into production she auditioned again and was cast.[2](https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Vaitiare_Bandera) Her credited episodes include "Children of the Gods" (1997), "Secrets" (1998), "Forever in a Day" (1999), "The Devil You Know" (1999), and "Fallen" (2003).[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/bandera-vaitiare-1964)
In the story, Sha're is abducted by the Goa'uld Apophis and made host to his queen Amaunet; she gives birth to Apophis's son Shifu, who is hidden among the Abydonians, and she dies when Teal'c shoots Amaunet in "Forever in a Day".[6](https://gateworld.net/wiki/Sha%27uri) On set, Bandera and [Michael Shanks](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-shanks), who played Daniel Jackson, became a couple, and their daughter Tatiana was born in 1998.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) • [7](https://stargate-wiki.de/wiki/Vaitiare_Hirshon) In a 2006 magazine interview, Bandera recalled being nervous about her first on-screen nudity in the pilot episode.[8](https://stargate-sg1-solutions.com/interviews/vb/0601vbsg08.shtml) A 2023 interview noted that she had given few interviews since leaving acting more than 20 years earlier.[9](https://www.stargate-fusion.com/actualites/1794-interview-de-vaitiare-hirshon-par-marco-maldini.html)
## Later work
Away from acting, Bandera runs three fashion companies from her home in Los Angeles: Ken Ta Designs, Royal Hip, and RoyalMocc.[3](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/bandera-vaitiare-1964) IMDb credits her as executive producer of the short film *Far Away Places* (2018), in which her children appear, and as producer of the short film *Never Forget* (2025).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) • [10](https://www.imdb.com/es/name/nm0051710/)
Her personal life has drawn public attention in Spain, where she was known in the 1980s as the partner of the singer [Julio Iglesias](https://www.edgepedia.org/julio-iglesias); she has said that in the United States she was credited under her own name or her husband's surname, and only in Spain was her name always linked to his.[5](https://www.revistavanityfair.es/sociedad/celebrities/articulos/vaitiare-banderas-entrevista-marbella/32622) In a 2010 autobiographical book she described the roughly eight-year relationship, which began when she was 17, as abusive.[11](https://madame.lefigaro.fr/societe/actu/qui-est-vaitiare-bandera-ex-compagne-de-julio-iglesias-et-premiere-femme-a-avoir-denonce-ses-abus-publiquement-20260127) She was married to the producer Peter Bandera, whose surname she used professionally, from 1994 to 1997, and to the fashion designer Edgars Asars from September 2004; IMDb gives the date of her divorce from Asars as August 12, 2016.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/) • [2](https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Vaitiare_Bandera)
## References
1. [Vaitiare Hirshon – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051710/bio/)
2. [Vaitiare Bandera, SGCommand (Fandom wiki)](https://stargate.fandom.com/wiki/Vaitiare_Bandera)
3. [Bandera, Vaitiare 1964–, Contemporary Theatre, Film and Television via Encyclopedia.com](https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/bandera-vaitiare-1964)
4. [Vaitiare Bandera Movies and Shows, Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/person/vaitiare-bandera/umc.cpc.663quf0rbxbyeo7n0y6p5o2bw)
5. [Vaitiare: "Miranda y yo podemos ser amigas", Vanity Fair España (2018)](https://www.revistavanityfair.es/sociedad/celebrities/articulos/vaitiare-banderas-entrevista-marbella/32622)
6. [Sha're, GateWorld: The Stargate Omnipedia](https://gateworld.net/wiki/Sha%27uri)
7. [Vaitiare Hirshon, Stargate Wiki (German-language)](https://stargate-wiki.de/wiki/Vaitiare_Hirshon)
8. [Stargate SG-1 Cast Interviews: Vaitiare Bandera, Stargate SG-1 Solutions](https://stargate-sg1-solutions.com/interviews/vb/0601vbsg08.shtml)
9. [Interview de Vaitiare Hirshon par Marco Maldini, Stargate-Fusion.com (2023)](https://www.stargate-fusion.com/actualites/1794-interview-de-vaitiare-hirshon-par-marco-maldini.html)
10. [Vaitiare Hirshon, IMDb (Spanish-language profile)](https://www.imdb.com/es/name/nm0051710/)
11. [Vaitiare Bandera, l'actrice tahitienne qui a partagé la vie de Julio Iglesias, Madame Figaro (2026)](https://madame.lefigaro.fr/societe/actu/qui-est-vaitiare-bandera-ex-compagne-de-julio-iglesias-et-premiere-femme-a-avoir-denonce-ses-abus-publiquement-20260127)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of the Anglosphere and Europe › American actors: 1970s to 1990s › Surnames B to Ba*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license