Tricia Helfer is a busy woman. She wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Canadian-born former supermodel has been able to pull off a leap
which most in her profession never are able to make – she has become a
well-known working actress.
She has spent the past several years as the face of the cult favorite
Sci Fi Channel series Battlestar Galactica. She played Number
Six, the beautiful Cylon android who works to infiltrate the human
survivors searching for the lost planet Earth.
Also during this time, Helfer moonlighted as the host of the reality
series Canada’s Top Model (the Canuck version of the US hit) – a
gig that she eventually had to give up because of her burgeoning acting
career.
Helfer and the Galactica cast have spent the last year completing the
saga and dealing with the series is coming to an end.
Now she is joining the cast of the popular USA Network spy series
Burn Notice. She plays Carla, the glamorous and competent
figurehead for the spy agency which sent agent Michael Westen (Jeffrey
Donovan) out to pasture in sunny Miami. So far she has only filmed two
episodes, but she looks forward to returning to the role in the near
future – maybe even getting more screen time with series stars Gabrielle
Anwar, Bruce Campbell and Sharon Gless.
As if this wasn’t enough on her plate, Helfer has just signed on to
co-star in a potential FOX series called Inseparable – a thriller
loosely based on the idea of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde which was
created by former teen idol Shaun Cassidy. Not only that, but rumors
are bubbling about a series of Battlestar Galactica films.
If all goes according to plan, Tricia Helfer won’t be getting much
vacation time – but she’ll be getting lots of face time on your
widescreen.
Recently Helfer sat down with us and some other websites in a conference
call to discuss her experiences on Burn Notice and Battlestar
Galactica.
Can you start off
telling us what is Carla’s back story and how many of the episodes are
you going to be on in season two?
I’m going to be in, I think, seven episodes of the sixteen being done.
I’m in the first two, and I think the season finale, and then will be in
2009’s episodes as well. To be completely honest, I really don’t know
much of Carla’s back story. Just as she’s mysterious to Michael, she’s
also mysterious to the audience, and I think we’ll learn
more about her as Michael does and the audience does. At this point,
I’ve only filmed the first two episodes, so I have yet to discover a lot
about Carla myself. I do know that she was a spy, and that she is now
the public face of the organization that burns Michael. So she is
definitely in a leadership position, and, at this point, pretty much
ordering Michael around.
Is
it difficult coming into a show that’s already become an established
hit? I know you were the face of
Battlestar Galactica for several months before the
series, but here with Burn Notice it’s already had a season and
is very well known.
It’s always daunting going into a show in a guest role, but with Burn
Notice, I honestly can’t say how wonderful they were and how
welcoming they were to me. When I first signed on, Jeffrey e-mailed me
and welcomed me on, and it’s just nice knowing you’re going down to an
open, warm environment, and that people are looking forward to working
with you. I sat down with Matt Nix before I went down, and we had a
good chat. He gave me a bit of a story arc at that point before they
had started filming. Things are still being written, so I could get a
broad overview, but no specifics really. It’s definitely easier
starting in the beginning with the whole cast and crew, but stepping
into a show that you can see and you can see the tone of the show, it’s
easier to try and fit in, knowing how they’re going and what they’re
looking for. There are pros and cons to both, but they were absolutely
welcoming to me.
When you’re coming
off a hit show like
Battlestar Galactica,
which is so tied into, how difficult is it to find new projects and what
do you look for?
One of the biggest things for me was coming off of a show that is a very
specific genre show that tends to be more what you get offered and the
direction people think of you. So, for me, it was really important to
try and go against that and broaden my range, or people’s perception of
what I can do, so Burn Notice was perfect for that, because it
has nothing to do with outer space, but I find it on par with the level
of writing and the level of acting that’s involved. Battlestar,
I’ve been very lucky, it’s an exceptionally well written show, as well
as Burn Notice. That’s one of the first things I noticed about
it. I really liked the script and then sitting down and watching the
episodes, I thought it was a really well done show. Like Battlestar,
how I feel it has kind of a
unique take on the sci-fi genre, much more of a drama and grittier,
getting away from the soap opera kind of norm for science fiction. I
feel Burn Notice has that with the spy espionage genre. It has a
different elite take and I find it fresh, fun, and exciting and you have
absolutely no qualms that Michael can do what he does and you would
completely trust yourself in Michael’s hands, but, at the same time,
there’s a humor and a tone to the show that is just really fun and
fresh. You’ll see this spy tripping going up the stairs. That kind of
thing I think is just really fun, so for me it was important to try and
find a project that broadens my range and people’s perception of me.
What
is it vibe like on the set of
Burn Notice versus
Battlestar Galactica?
What is the vibe?
Yes.
The biggest thing I actually noticed was the pace. Things move a lot
quicker on Burn Notice. At first, I was trying to put my finger
on it. I’m like wow, one or two takes and we’re moving on, or the
amount of stuff you get done in a day, but then I figured it out that
there’s a lot less cast, just in the size of cast and set, it’s a lot
smaller. On Battlestar there’s about ten lead casts compared to
four on Burn Notice, and just the amount of cast you have and the
amount of extras and the size of the set. Our stages on Battlestar
are huge and when you’re in the CIC, or you’re in the hangar deck, or
things like that, it’s just the scope is so big that things move a
little slower. Tone-wise, I’ve been incredibly lucky. Both shows are
just really fun shows to be on and the crew gets along great and the
cast gets along great, and there’s a mutual respect. Everybody has
respect for one another, so it’s not a bickering show. I’ve heard some
horror stories of some sets where it’s just not very fun to go to work,
and that hasn’t been the case with either Burn Notice or
Battlestar. They’ve been really fun sets to go to.
How different is it
working in Miami compared to Vancouver? It’s quite a difference with
the weather.
Yes, there’s a huge difference with the weather. Vancouver has been
incredibly rainy this spring, so I think we had our first nice hot day
on Friday when I was on set, but the umbrella takes on a whole different
meaning. In Vancouver, you’re being shielded from the rain, and in
Miami, you’re being shielded from the sun, so it’s definitely your body
takes a little bit of getting used to going back and forth and adjusting
and the humidity really gets to you in Miami. They’re both ocean-side
towns, and they both have this vibe of fun and outdoorsy. In that
respect, they’re similar, but obviously, drastically different
temperatures and climates.
Have
you seen season one of
Burn Notice yet,
and, if so, did you watch it before you got the part or after?
I have seen the whole episode, yes, or all the episodes, the whole
season. I hadn’t seen it prior. It was one of those that was on my
list of DVD box sets to buy. I had been definitely intrigued by
commercials I had seen, but I’m definitely a DVD box set kind of
watcher, because of so much of the traveling that I do, it’s hard to
commit to a show when it airs. When I was offered the part, they sent
me the DVDs and I was immediately hooked from the first episode. There
was one scene in the episode, I think it was the first episode, where
Michael is playing an art dealer. You can go in and find this
information, and he sits down in the chair and his arm slides off, and
it’s just something that’s so subtle and simple, but I laughed so hard.
I was watching it with my sister up in Vancouver, and we had to rewind
it five times, because we kept laughing. We were trying to debate if he
had done that on purpose, or if it was a mistake that they kept in. So
I told Jeffrey when I got down there, as odd as it sounds, that was one
of the things that really hooked me, because it was in the first episode
and you’re expecting this spy show to be very serious and very whatever,
and the humor that came out, or just the tone that shows that Michael’s
a normal person, even though he’s this incredibly experienced spy, I
just found it really fun to watch. I was hooked from then on, and I
watched all the episodes and just immediately called my manager and said
I want to be part of this show.
I was wondering how
you became involved in the project. Did they have you in mind with this
role, or did you have to audition, or how did that work?
It was one of the very rare circumstances where I actually got offered
the part and I didn’t have to audition. Yes, that’s definitely a
wonderful thing when you’re an actor. I’m not quite sure exactly how it
came about, but someone in the writing room, when they were discussing.
I think that Matt said that one of his writers came in and they had seen
a press release in Hollywood Reporter that I had just signed a
holding deal with FOX Network, and they said this is who we should get.
They approached me and it was a little bit of working on everybody’s
part, because I had a holding deal at FOX and I was currently shooting
Battlestar Galactica, so there was a lot of roadblocks to get
over, but it was one of those circumstances that everything seemed to
work out. I had just finished a really heavy episode for my character
on Battlestar where I was in every single day, and then the next
episode, I was quite light in. I only had one scene, so they shot me
out in the beginning and FOX let me out to do Burn Notice and
Burn Notice was great by consolidating all of the stuff from my
first episodes into two days and I literally flew down, shot out two
episodes, and then flew back up to Battlestar, so it was
conveniently worked out and I pick back up on Burn Notice
mid-July, a few days after we wrap on Battlestar. Then it turns
out the FOX show that I had signed onto called Inseparable is
going to shoot right in the two week period I’m off between
Burn Notice episodes, so I couldn’t have asked for a more convenient
and lucky situation.
I
was also wondering how you and Fiona’s character are going to handle one
another. Are we going to get see any other action with that?
At this point, I don’t know. I hope so. I hope to work with
Gabrielle. I’ve met her briefly on set. She popped by my trailer and
said hello, but I would love to work with her, and I would imagine it
would definitely be some good interaction. I can’t imagine Fiona taking
too kindly to Carla, even though Michael’s not really a fan of Carla at
this point either, I’m sure Fiona doesn’t really want another woman
coming into Michael’s life, however it may be. But I haven’t read the
future episodes. I’m expecting actually to get my next episode any day,
and then I’m definitely looking forward to reading it.
I have a question
about acting more specifically. I was wondering what the difference is
between playing Carla and playing Number Six is for you.
Actually, they’re more similar than you would imagine with one of the
characters being a robot. I hadn’t actually thought about it, but
somebody pointed it out to me that both characters, I’m kind of going in
with blinders on, so to speak, sort of touching on the first question as
well about Carla’s back story. I don’t really know much about her at
all really, and that was sort of the same with my Number Six character.
When we started Battlestar, she was kind of a known Cylon, but
when we picked up the first season, Ron Moore had written a series Bible
of back stories for all the lead characters and the style of shooting
and everything, just the style of the show that he wanted, and all the
lead characters had two or three page back stories, really in-depth and
something that any actor just wants to gobble up and go oh, my God, yes,
thank you. My character said the machine as woman, and that was it. I
asked Ron about it and he said I haven’t decided everything about the
Cylons yet, so, because you are the known Cylon at this point, I can’t
give you a back story. So I had to go into it just really obviously
putting my own two cents in and putting things in my own mind about the
character, but also, just really going in, trusting the writers and
their vision of the character, and then obviously me bringing it to
life. What is similar with Carla is I’m going in not knowing much about
her. She’s mysterious and illusive and I just have to think of her as
she’s just as equipped as Michael is. She’s incredibly intelligent,
incredibly strong, but I think, in one way, the fixed characters are a
little bit more vulnerable at this point. I see Carla at the top of her
game and she’s also one of the higher-ups in the organization, so a lot
of people to get through to get to her. So I feel she probably feels
she’s pretty invincible at this point. I don’t know, but possibly part
of her storyline is some of that maybe shaking up.
This question is not
really related to the show. You mentioned earlier that you watch a lot
of shows on DVD box sets. What kind of shows do you sit down and
actually watch and love?
I actually am one of those that don’t watch much, but I was a huge
Arrested Development fan, a South Park fan. I have some
24. I got into some 24, although I have not seen all the
seasons. I have Dexter, although I haven’t watched all of it
yet. I got into Six Feet Under when it was on, definitely
Burn Notice, now that’s on my shelf as well, although now I’m a
little biased. I like shows that are a little quirky, a little off. I
would like to get into Madmen and Weeds. I haven’t had
the opportunity yet, but that’s the kind of show I go for.
You
had mentioned that you haven’t worked with Fiona yet. In your first few
episodes are you only working with Michael then?
Pretty much. I have one scene with Michael and with Sam.
The character of
Carla is a bit of a balancing act. She, externally at least, seems very
charming and friendly, and yet, there’s definitely a sense of menace
from her. As an actress, how fun is it to play a duplicitous character
like that?
It’s a lot of fun. It’s also challenging, because you want to make sure
you find the right tone and that was definitely one thing that I was
concerned about going down, and that’s one place that Jeffrey really was
great, because after our first take in the first scene, he’s like you
have the tone. You nailed the tone. That’s exactly our show, now let’s
play. I keep thinking of what Matt said is she’s serious, threatening,
but with a smile, and I just try to keep thinking in that. Again, that
sort of comes back to where I feel like she feels she’s sort of
invincible at this point. She’s so sure of herself that she can be
relaxed and a little playful, because she’s just so sure of herself. If
you’re not as confident, that’s when you’re a little more wary, and if
you’re super-confident about what you’re doing, or your mission, or
whatever it is, you can allow yourself to relax a little bit.
You’ve said that you
haven’t seen some of the things that you’re going to be doing later on
in the season, but just as an actress, what are some things that you
would like to do with the character?
I would definitely like to get into showing some of her skills. So far,
it’s basically been the public face and the connection of the
organization to Michael, but I would certainly enjoy getting into a
little bit of showing her skills and showing that she’s on par with
Michael and just as experienced, or just as dangerous as he is. That
would be a lot of fun. I’m a bit of a tomboy, so I like the stunts
idea, although I know Jeffrey now says that he’s not allowed to do his
own stunts, so I doubt they’d probably let me do mine, but I do all my
own stunts on Battlestar and I get a kick out of it. So
hopefully, I get to do a few.
You
said earlier that you only filmed two episodes so far.
Yes.
I don’t know if you necessarily know the answer to this, but at the end
of that second episode, Carla kind of slips and reveals a foreign accent
of hers.
Yes.
I’m just wondering is
that something that comes back to haunt her? Does she realize her
mistake quickly?
I don’t know yet, because that literally is the last thing I’ve seen,
episode wise. I haven’t even seen what they have shot since, although I
did voice a couple of phone calls. My opinion is she probably doesn’t
kind of realize maybe that she messed up. He certainly does use that to
his advantage, and I think Sam manages to dig up a little bit of
information on me, not near what they need to actually find out who I am
at this point, but its baby steps.
How many total
episodes do we have you for?
I think seven. Seven or eight, but I think seven.
You don’t think
they’re ever going to steer this towards any kind of sexual tension
sparks thing between Carla and Michael, do you?
You know, I don’t know. I certainly wouldn’t rule it out, but I don’t
think Carla is really on Michael’s wish list or action list at this
point, although we know with Fiona, he’s definitely attracted to a
challenge and somebody that challenges him, so that could be down the
road, but I would imagine it would be quite far down the road, because,
at this point, she annoys him pretty much.
I was wondering if
you could just clear up something about
Inseparable. The main character, the forensic pathologist who has
the dual identity type of thing, he’s partially paralyzed in his main
persona, but then what? In his alter ego, he’s not paralyzed anymore?
Right. Yes, he’s a cop and my character is the cop psychologist that
evaluates him and has evaluated him prior to his injury. He was shot
and it is definitely he’s injured. He’s in a wheelchair. One side of
his body he doesn’t really have control over. He can walk on crutches,
but barely, and his alter ego is completely healed. What’s exciting
about that is it’s a psychological injury.
Yes, so all the while
she’s working with him and studying him and I would imagine that, sooner
or later, she’ll start raising an eyebrow.
Yes. My character, Mason, is quite light in the pilot episode because
there’s a lot to set up with Lambro, with the cop and his alter ego,
Clyde. So there’s definitely a huge discovery in that and everything,
but Mason will be the closest thing to him and she’ll know immediately
pretty much.
I was just wondering
if there was any aspect of your character thus far that you identify
with, or that you particularly like or dislike.
With Carla?
Yes.
I like her sense of mischievousness and fun and the fact that she’s so
together and so experienced that she can have that fun, and I like that
she, in one way, doesn’t take herself too seriously, even though she’s
taken herself extremely seriously. Without really knowing too much
about her yet, it’s kind of hard to go more in-depth with her, but I’m
attracted to her intensity and her smarts to be honest.
What’s been your
favorite thing so far during the filming of these two episodes?
I think just really enjoying the tone of the show and coming off of a
show that is very serious all the time. Not that there isn’t some jokes
and laughter on the Battlestar episodes. It’s really heavy
subject matter and you’re talking about world subject matter and
humanity subject matter, not just the subject matter of individual
characters. When you’re talking about the annihilation of the human
race, or suicide bombings, or that kind of thing, it can be really heavy
on set. So I’m enjoying the lightness and the levity of Burn Notice
and just having a lot of fun with that.
I want to ask a
totally different question, which is, as the contracts expire, how is
that affecting you as an actor? Are you following that closely?
I haven’t been following it pretty much at all, near as closely as I
should be since it affects me, but being up in Canada, I’m actually in
Los Angeles right now, but flying up tonight. I’ve been in Canada
mostly because we’re doing the final episodes of Battlestar, so
have been removed from it. I haven’t been down here in any of the
meetings or anything like that, or following too closely. It’s a touchy
situation and we talk about it on set a bit and certainly, even within
the Battlestar set, there’s vastly varying views of what people
think and what they don’t. I’m hoping things are resolved and I
certainly want to keep working and not have things pushed, so we’ll
see. We’ll keep our fingers crossed that everything works out.
Back to
Burn Notice, how
do you go about preparing for a role like this?
My first two episodes were really quite straightforward in terms of
there wasn’t a lot of preparation in terms of physicality or anything
like that. I’m hoping to really dig my heels in a little bit more
coming up, but the first two episodes were really just I was much more
focused on finding the tone of the show and really not knowing much
about the characters. It’s just really sitting in and revealing that
she’s somebody Michael has to take very seriously and she’s not going to
be an easy one for him to deal with, and that to make sure that she had
the upper hand over Michael. That was really where my focus was in the
first two episodes, more so than preparing in a physical way with stunts
or things like that, but really trying to make sure that the audience
understood that she had the upper hand and was somebody to be reckoned
with.
How busy are you
going to be at COMIC CON in a couple of weeks?
I’m sure I’m going to be pretty busy. I think Battlestar is
sending down some Cylon-human couples, so I know I’ll be there with
Baltar and Starbuck will be there with Anders, so it should be a lot of
fun, and I’m looking forward to it.
Are you going to do
anything with
Burn Notice at
COMIC CON?
I don’t know yet actually. I will certainly be willing. I just haven’t
heard yet.
Has
"frack" become a
common term that you use in your daily life now?
To be completely honest, I tend to use the real counterpart bit too
much, and have used it all my life, unfortunately, so it’s kind of a
hard habit to break. I should start using it more instead of the other,
but not as much. I think the people that actually say it on set more,
because Number Six has never really said it that much. I tried to get
it in there once and they didn’t use it. I think the characters that
say it more, it’s become more part of their vocabulary and certainly the
crew uses it quite a bit, but I don’t really use it that often, no.
Here’s another
question for you, which is more related to the finale we just saw of
Battlestar.
Is there hope at all for the humans and the Cylons moving forward now
that they’ve made it to a devastated earth?
There’s certainly, I think, some hope. It’s certainly the idea of the
show is that you have to keep pushing forward and you can’t let things,
even though that massive, knock you down for too long. So they’re going
to keep pushing and keep trying. I can’t tell you if they make it or
they don’t, but I think the humans and Cylons are going to try, at least
the one faction of the Cylons are going to try and work together, but it
hasn’t really worked very well in the past. Unfortunately, you’re going
to have to wait until 2009 to find out. Even though we’re on the last
episode, I could be fired if I give any more information out.
I have to tell you
that I watched the first two episodes last night and I love Carla, even
though I’m not supposed to. I think she’s a great foil for Michael, and
I think you’re doing a great job with her.
Thank you. I haven’t even seen the episodes yet. You have one up on
me.
You’ll love them when
you see them.
Thank you.
You may have answered
this before when you said that you’ve done a couple of phone calls,
you’ve taped a couple of phone calls. Does Carla go out of the picture
for a while, or is she just there, an omniscient presence in the
background, giving him orders via the phone? Do you know, in those
episodes that you’re not in, obviously?
Yes, I think the episodes that I’m not in, there are a couple of phone
calls in there, and I think the idea to get across is that Carla is
always watching. They’ll be talking about her even if she’s not
actually even a voice on the phone, because they’re trying to find out
who she is in order to find out why they burned him, so it may be that
they’re trying to find out more information, or maybe they’ll find a
picture, or whatever it may be. They’re trying to find that
information, so she will have a presence throughout, even if she’s not
physically on-screen.
In the first couple
of scenes where we see Carla interacting with Michael, the tasks they’re
giving Michael don’t seem like that difficult, and I guess I’m just
asking your take on this, whether you think that they’re just testing
him right now, or just getting his feet wet, or if it’s just because
they don’t want to get their hands dirty so they’re making Michael do
the hard work.
I think it might be a mixture of both. I think they’re certainly
testing him and I think maybe if they give him too big of a task, or too
important of a task right in the beginning, it may open them up to be
found out easier, because there may have to be more interaction, or more
fingers may point in their direction. So I think it is a bit of a
sousing out period, so to speak.
I was just wondering,
Carla is described as evil and sexy, or, as Bruce Campbell likes to call
you, “evexy.”
Yes, I read that.
I was just wondering
how you would describe her to somebody that doesn’t know…
Well, I don’t necessarily see her as evil, but then you can’t really see
the character you’re playing as evil, or you fall into the I’m playing
an evil character kind of cliché. Carla thinks what she’s doing is
right, so I don’t see her as evil. I see her as just incredibly
powerful and focused. So I think that’s what I would want to try to get
across is that she’s somebody that you have to take very seriously, and
you wouldn’t sleep too well if you’re on her bad side.
Another quick
Battlestar
question – what’s it going to feel like when you guys finally wrap this
thing and you just leave?
It’s going to feel odd. It’s funny, because this was my first series,
so I haven’t ever had a series ending before, so it’s all new for me
compared to some of the cast members who have been on other series
before. I was talking to Mary McDonnell about it the other day. We’re
incredibly busy right now, and the days are incredibly long and the
crew’s exhausted. It’s funny because I’m like wow, I thought the last
episode everybody would be laughing and chilling out. Instead,
everybody was walking zombies, because we’re so tired, and she says yes,
it’s always that way with series endings, because the last script, you
try to fit so much in there that there’s so much to do, but yet, you’re
really still trying to fit it into a normal script schedule shooting
time. So while we’re in it, we’re just so encapsulated with it that I
think it will be really walking off the lot the last time.
Then it’ll sink in.
Then it will really sink in, or flying home to L.A. after the wrap.
It’s like oh, okay, I’m really done, and that, I think, will hit me
more, but right now, we’re so in the throes of it that it’s like okay, I
need some sleep.
Beyond everything
that you have going on with
Burn Notice and
Inseparable, we’ve heard that there’s going to be three movies
featuring Battlestar after the series ends. Are you retained to
be a part of those yet?
None of the actors really know yet. We obviously know about them, but
we haven’t been in discussions or anything yet. I think they’re waiting
for them to be written and what the story lines are going to be. We’ve
heard rumblings around set and so forth, and I imagine most of us can be
part of it, or at least one of them, or something. But, at this point,
I’m not signed on to anything, no.
With
Inseparable, is
that going to be a pilot for mid-season, or are we talking about 15
months from now in the next TV season?
I think it’s geared towards mid-season. You never really know until
you’ve shot it and things are signed and slotted in, but, at this point,
the pilot would probably be considered for mid-season.
We’ve been hearing
some rumblings about
Them possibly
being re-cut. There’s a pilot being re-cut for a TV movie. Have you
heard anything about that, or can you tell us if you know anything about
that?
I haven’t heard. I was sitting on a plane with David Icke the other day
and he did tell me he was talking to Jonathan Mostow the other day.
That could be what they were talking about. I might have to give David
a call myself and find out, but he didn’t share, no.
You’ll have to let us
know if you find out.
I will.
I’m a huge fan of
Battlestar
Galactica and Burn Notice, but I actually have a modeling
question. How do you think the modeling world has changed? I know
you’re involved, or were involved with Canada’s Next Top Model since you
started…
I haven’t really been involved at all for six years. I quit modeling in
2002 when I started acting, but I did foray into it with Canada’s
Next Top Model, but, to be completely honest, model reality shows
are not like modeling in real. They’re certainly not like the modeling
business. It’s about making a good TV show. To be honest, that’s why
I’m not doing further seasons of it is because I’m not a fan of reality
shows. I’m glad I did the first season and experienced it and was in
the producing end of it, but it wasn’t where I wanted to put my focus
and my time. It was taking pretty much my whole hiatus between the
Battlestar seasons. I couldn’t do film or whatever. Instead, the
next hiatus I did the film Walk All Over Me that went to Toronto
Film Festival and the Weinstein Company bought. So that’s where my
focus was, and I realized it while I was filming it too. This isn’t
where my focus is and I’m not really enjoying it, so I shouldn’t be
doing it. I think the modeling business, when I was in it, it’s
cyclical, just like anything. It goes through cycles. When I started
modeling it was the big supermodel era of Naomi and Christie and Cindy
and Linda and all that. Then they went to this period where it was all
nameless, faceless models walking the runway, and then it got back to
the supermodels where you knew them by their first names – Giselles and
everything. I think now its back in a nameless, faceless, multiple
girls, but again, I could be wrong, because I haven’t picked up a
fashion magazine for about six years, so I could be completely wrong. I
had a great time doing it and I traveled the world and I met a lot of
really wonderful people, so I certainly don’t degrade modeling.
Do you miss it?
No, I don’t. Ten years was enough. I traveled the world and had some
great experiences, but I needed more of a challenge and I needed more to
do with my mind.
You wanted to talk.
I wanted to talk, exactly.
Speaking of more to
do, you had mentioned that you were going to be on
Burn Notice this season and next. If Inseparable
takes off and the Galactica movies come to be, are you going to
have any time to sleep at all?
I’m going to be a very busy camper, yes. There are so many times in
this kind of career that you go through that you’ll have slow periods
that when you do have a really busy period, you have to try to stay
focused on staying healthy. But I just feel so lucky to have the
opportunity to have the opportunities that I have right now. Granted, I
could use a little bit more sleep, but I certainly wouldn’t want to give
up one to do it. Like I said earlier, I’ve been pretty lucky so far
with the scheduling. Things seem to have just slotted in perfectly, and
I kind of expect that to continue with the three shows. Hopefully,
Inseparable ends up getting picked up. I would enjoy being on three
shows at the same time, let me tell you.
Definitely. Also
speaking about opportunities, for so many years, television actors
basically had three networks to get a job with. The two shows that
you’ve done so far have been cable shows. How do you think that cable
television series have opened up the opportunities for actors?
There’s a lot more opportunity, and again, I’ve only been in the
business for six years, so I don’t really have a lot to compare it to,
because my first show was a cable show. I haven’t been in the business
for a long time and have seen the changes in it, but cable has been able
to go to places where network hasn’t, and it’s been able to be a little
bit more cutting edge. So certainly, for actors, it’s been fun and an
opportunity, and I think you see a lot more actors today in television
and on shows that would never touch television before, movie actors. I
think it’s becoming a lot more attractive to actors across the board.
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