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  • Tricia Helfer: Galactica Cylon Vixen Back on SyFy

    When Tricia Helfer first walked onto the screen in the pilot episode of the Battlestar Galactica reboot, and planted one on a startled human emissary, sci-fi geeks took a collective gasp.

    What the hell had happened to the toasters?!

    As Cylon Number Six, Tricia Helfer put the sexy into what used to be the SciFi Channel and was now SyFy. The nomenclature change rankled the hardcore purists, but Helfer made it all better.

    Ever since Galactica ended in 2009 (no spoilers here), Helfer has been busy with other things. But to fans, she has always belonged on SyFy. If you look her up on IMDb, the first thing you will see is that she is “Known For: Battlestar Galactica.” Go ahead; go look.

    But now Helfer is back where she belongs. As Viondra Denninger on Syfy’s Ascension mini-series, Helfer gets six episodes to satiate the hardcores among us.

    The New York Post asked Helfer about her character being described as “beautiful, manipulative and dangerous.”

    “At first you may think it’s not a compliment,” Helfer replied. “I’m pretty opposite of that in terms of my personality. But the manipulative and dangerous parts mean I’m probably going to have fun with the character. And what I consider fun is not jumping around for joy and having giggles, but something you can sink your teeth into.”

    With a subtle nod to Galactica’s premise of a nomadic group of people aboard starships looking for a new world to call home, Ascension is based “in 1963 with a surrounding fear of an impending nuclear war. The U.S. government launched a covert space mission sending hundreds of men, women and children on a century-long voyage aboard the starship Ascension to populate a new world. Nearly 50 years into the journey with no point of return, a mysterious murder of a young woman causes the ship’s population to question the true nature of their mission.”

    The show’s co-creator, Philip Levens, said Helfer was in his head for the part from the start.

    “In the first draft of the script, I put in a parenthetical next to Viondra’s character description that read, ‘Think Tricia Helfer,’” he said.

    Asked why she ends up playing femme fatale parts so much, rather than willowy girl-next-door rom-com types, Helfer laid it out.

    “Probably the reason is that I’m really tall, and most male actors are not really tall,” Helfer said. “There’s not many romantic comedies for a girl who’s 5-foot-11.”

  • Tricia Helfer Dishes on Playing the ‘Beautiful, Manipulative and Dangerous’ Viondra in SyFy’s ‘Ascension’

    Tricia Helfer debuted her new lead role in SyFy’s six-part space mini-series, Ascension, on Monday.

    The Battlestar Galactica alum plays the spacecraft captain’s wife, Viondra Denninger, a woman described as “beautiful, manipulative and dangerous.” Helfer said she has no beef with that description.

    “At first you may think it’s not a compliment,” Helfer told the New York Post. “I’m pretty opposite of that in terms of my personality. But the manipulative and dangerous parts mean I’m probably going to have fun with the character. And what I consider fun is not jumping around for joy and having giggles, but something you can sink your teeth into.”

    The premise of the mini-series, according to Business 2 Community is “that in 1963 with a surrounding fear of an impending nuclear war. The U.S. government launched a covert space mission sending hundreds of men, women and children on a century-long voyage aboard the starship Ascension to populate a new world. Nearly 50 years into the journey with no point of return, a mysterious murder of a young woman causes the ship’s population to question the true nature of their mission.”

    The show’s co-creator, Philip Levens, said the part was made for Tricia Helfer.

    “In the first draft of the script, I put in a parenthetical next to Viondra’s character description that read, ‘Think Tricia Helfer,’” he said.

    The two, who share a talent agency, met up at a coffee shop to discuss the role and the deal was struck, just like that.

    Helfer, 40, is best known as Cylon Number Six in Battlestar Galactica, which ended in 2009. She went on to star in a slew of television guest roles, always playing a strong female, which isn’t necessarily a stretch for the Canadian.

    “I like to think I’m a strong female myself, so I’m more drawn to that than to someone meek,” Helfer told the Post. “I grew up one of four daughters on a farm [in Donalda, Alberta], so I was driving tractors and fixing machinery. I certainly appreciate a nice pair of high heels and a pretty dress, but I have no problem getting down and dirty.”

    The former model concedes that one of the reasons she seems to be more suited to kick-ass roles is her 5-foot-11-in frame.

    “Probably the reason is that I’m really tall, and most male actors are not really tall,” Helfer said. “There’s not many romantic comedies for a girl who’s 5-foot-11.”

    Part two of the three-night event airs 9 p.m. ET Tuesday on the SyFy Network

  • Former Cylon Tricia Helfer Talks ‘Killer Women’

    Former Cylon model “Number 6” Tricia Helfer of Battlestar Galactica fame recently opened up about her new role as Texas Ranger Molly Parker on ABC’s new drama Killer Women, which premieres on Tuesday.

    Former human supermodel Helfer, 39, who grew up on a grain farm outside of Donalda, east of Ponoka, near Alberta, Canada, tells the Edmonton Journal, “There is a lot of action,” regarding Killer Women, adding, “I grew up a tomboy and I love doing all that stuff. It’s 95 percent me. All the driving stuff – I love doing it. We just had a motorcycle chase in the finale episode and that’s not all me because insurance wasn’t going to allow me to do it.”

    Killer Women is loosely based on the Argentine true-crime series Mujeres Asesinas, and is produced by Modern Family’s Sophia Vergara. It combines a typical police procedural, modern-western elements and family drama. The series also delves into the psychological makeup of ladykillers. Or, killers who are ladies.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLdPeUeA2KU

    Helfer comments on her Killer Woman protagonist Parker, “Quite often, when strong female characters are written, especially if they are in law enforcement, they tend to be very one- or two-dimensional. But Molly isn’t. She definitely has a fun and quirky side. She is dealing with vulnerability, going through a divorce with an abusive ex-husband and is hiding some shame. It was a very well-rounded character that drew me from the first script.”

    The new series which is presently filmed in Albuquerque has a lot of action, and Helfer does her own stunts, sometimes to her detriment – she underwent back surgery to correct injuries received on the Battlestar set years ago.

    “We’ve been building a barbed wire fence. We’ve been enclosing a section the last couple of years. We’ve built a lean-to, a hay shed, a pumphouse and tons of stuff. So we all descend on the farm and help. I have 30 acres there that my husband and I will eventually be building a vacation house on. So we often put up a camper and motorhome and park it on the ridge. That’s where we spent our ninth anniversary last year, parked up on our land. Alberta is still very close to my heart.”

    Image via YouTube.