Breaking necks and riding hogs with Tricia Helfer — you up for it?

Spend your days trying to wipe out the human race, as Tricia Helfer did as the murderous Number Six on Battlestar Galactica, and you’re likely to take a few lumps yourself. Helfer’s penchant for doing her own stunts as BSG’s sexiest Cylon led to two busted ribs — in a battle royale with Lucy Lawless, no less — and one severely jacked-up spine. “I had four discs replaced with artificial ones, two in my neck and two in my lumbar,” she says. “I had them done at the same time, which they normally don’t do because it’s such a difficult surgery. [Former NFL player] Brian Bosworth did both locations at once too.”

After four years on BSG, and a role as a knife-wielding home buyer in the upcoming film Open House, Helfer is now on the side of the righteous, as FBI special agent Alex Rice on the series Dark Blue. “Playing a villain is fun, but I’ve always wanted to play FBI or police,” says the Alberta, Canada, native. “I still get to kill people, but now it’s part of my job.”

7 Questions For… Tricia Helfer

1. You’re quite the daredevil. I hear you’ve got a Harley Davidson Rocher C, and it’s lavender!
I actually have two bikes. I also have a Sportster 1200, the 105th-anniversary edition in the traditional Harley orange and black. Harley makes great bikes. My husband rides one too. Maybe that’s why I made mine lavender, so that I wouldn’t have to fight him over it!

2. You grew up on a farm. What can you do that someone from the city would never understand?
Discing, rod weeding, harrowing, cultivating…

3. I have no idea what you just said.
[laughs] They’re different ways of digging up the ground.

4. Could you parallel park a grain truck?
There aren’t too many instances where you’d have to parallel park a grain truck, but yes, I could!

5. You’re a big hockey fan, I heard you cried when Wayne Gretzky left Edmonton. Did you ever forgive him?
Yes. I’m certainly not that type of rabid fan where I would hold it against him. It’s business. But I was just watching a documentary about Gretzky on ESPN, and when they showed him leaving Edmonton, I started getting teary-eyed again! I was like What is with you? You’re a 36-year-old woman, and you’re weeping about Gretzky leaving the Oilers.

6. Which one of the commandments do you break most often?
Um, can you remind me of them all again? I don’t steal or murder. I don’t covet my neighbor’s wife. Cursing’s not one of them, right? I suppose I do that. I curse like a trucker.

7. What’s one thing every man should know about women, but most don’t?
That we’re not all into chick flicks. I personally can’t stand them.

Tricia Helfer may have played it all, but she sure hasn’t told it all — until now!

Canadian actress and former model, Tricia Helfer, already has an impressive resume — including her role as Number Six on Battlestar Galactica, her role as Carla on the popular USA show Burn Notice, and being host to season one of Canada’s Next Top Model. What’s next for this beautiful blonde? She’ll be playing FBI Special Agent Alex Rice on TNT’s drama series Dark Blue, which premieres TONIGHT, August 4 at 10pm/9pm CT! The series, which was new to TNT last season, is based in L.A. and centers on an undercover unit solving crime.

Check out these six things you never knew about Tricia Helfer!

1. I know how to weld. Not good, mind you, but I know how.

2.I have 4 artificial discs in my back.

3. I have never skied or snowboarded. I know, shocking for someone who grew up near the Canadian Rockies!

4. When I get home from set after a night shoot, I have a bourbon before going to bed.

5. After a good day’s ride on my motorbike, I absolutely crave and must have … chips and salsa.

6. I quite often swear like a trucker.

Tricia Helfer joins Dark Blue, and we talked about leaving Battlestar Galactica behind, whether she’ll show up on Sons of Anarchy, and more.

Getting It On The Regular
“I’ve done recurring appearances on Burn Notice and some guest roles, but this is the first series regular since [Battlestar Galactica]… I was certainly looking before that and have done a pilot or two before that, but to me, Dark Blue was kind of a no-brainer. It’s got an amazing producer line up with Jerry Bruckheimer, and there’s Warner Horizon. I think cable is where it’s at with drama, so I was certainly excited to be joining a cable network and TNT. It was an easy decision to be part of it once I was offered the role. And, I always wanted to play a cop or FBI agent. It was a great opportunity.”

Coming In On Season 2
“It’s definitely hard coming in the second season as a season regular because the cast and crew are already part of a team. Everybody knows everyone’s quirks and everything all works in a way. So when you come in, and you often come in as a role that is an equal, or you have the final say, coming in as an FBI role dealing with LAPD. It’s like okay, how am I going to fit in? But everyone was great and it takes awhile to get to know everyone, obviously. It’s a really good group of actors.”

“I went on a motorbike ride with Omari [Hardwick] over one of the weekends, early, so you get to know each other a little bit outside of work. It’s just a great bunch of actors to be able to work off of.”

Sons of Anarchy?
“I want to! I definitely told my manager last year that I wanted to be in Sons of Anarchy! I would think I would be a good fit for that because I actually do ride, but hopefully in the future.”

Favorite Guest Appearance
“It’s hard to say because like you just said, they are varying. I think I could have a favorite if they were all the same type of show, but since they all have different tones, it’s hard to pick a favorite. You like them for different reasons. If I had to pick… It would be Two and a Half Men, strictly because I never did comedy before. I never did a sitcom, a three camera half hour show; it was definitely a challenge and something new. I’d certainly like to do more of that and it’s obviously great to have the number one sitcom comedy show on your resume. That was definitely something I was glad to do.”

Trapped In SciFi
“It depends… There’s a couple reasons that I don’t feel like I’m going to get trapped into it because one, I don’t look like my character. I don’t look like Number 6. Maybe during the first two seasons I did, but when my hair fell out, from all the dye they put in my hair, I had to wear a wig from that point on. People don’t recognize me.”

“Even last night, I was doing a screening at a panel in the SAG building and I had a huge Battlestar Galactica fan come up to me and say he didn’t even know it was me until they announced my name on stage. So people say I’m a bit of a chameleon. I don’t walk into a room and someone says, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s Number 6.’ I’m not that recognizable and I think that’s what can keep you in a box is when you look so much like the sci-fi character you play.”

“After Battlestar Galactica, I was offered a lot of science fiction roles but you turn them down because you’re building a career. Unless they were up to the level of quality that Battlestar was, you don’t want to go down this slippery slope where you might get stuck into a bad sci-fi world. In the stage of your career where you are building… I’ve only been doing it since 2002; you have to be really careful not to be put in that box.”

Would You Play Black Cat in a Spider-Man Movie?
“Absolutely, because I’m literally a crazy cat person. I have tons of rescue cats at my house and I work with animal shelters, and help them with fundraising. My Chinese sign is a tiger so I am a bit of a cat, I think. I would definitely tune in to their movements and the way they think.”

Craziest Fan Question
“I actually had one, I didn’t even see it. My sister is my website manager and she sort of gets the questions. She didn’t even send this question to me, but I found out about it. I had dinner with my back doctor, I had back surgery last December, and he told me that I never answered a question. He went on my website with his daughter and saw that I did a PETA ad. He went on saying something about changing the letters around along the lines of people eating something, I can’t really remember. He was upset that I hadn’t responded to it. He did it as a joke, but I don’t see most of them because my sister filters them.”

Dark Blue Teases
“I think it’s a great show and this year is a little bit lighter than last year. Last year it was quite dark and brooding, which was fun, but this year… Even in hard times and certain tough situations there can be some humor. I think my character definitely lightens things up. Carter Shaw has been dealing with the death of his wife from last year and so while there will be some business tension because I come in as a superior role… There’s going to be some conflicts, but there will also be some chemistry between the two characters. It’s kind of hard to stay mad at someone when you want to go out to dinner with them. There’s going to be a lot of ‘will they or won’t they,’ mixed in working on the cases together. Dark Blue will be a little shade lighter this season.”

‘Dark Blue’ premieres August 4th at 9pm EST on TNT.

“So you used peroxide, needle-nosed pliers, and they dyed your hair every ten days. You and I have just met, but I wanna make you an Honorary Latina… Número Seis, welcome to the club.”
- George Lopez, to Tricia on Number Six’s platinum blonde hair

Hope you were able to tune in last night to Tricia Helfer looking absolutely stunning on the TBS late night talk show, Lopez Tonight, as hosted by George Lopez. On the show, Tricia talked about among other things Battlestar Galactica’s Number Six, her recent back injury and surgery (and how someone dropped a suitcase on her head on an airplane), Dark Blue and traveling around the world as a model. She also mentions that she is, in fact, a vegetarian (except for the occasional fish)!

If you happened to miss Tricia’s great segment or were unable to tune in, here is the video embedded for your viewing. You can also check it out in fabulous 720p HD on YouTube:

Update: 264 720p HD screen caps of Tricia’s appearance on the show at our gallery!

New Photo Albums:

• Talk Show Appearances > ‘Lopez Tonight’ Aug 2 2010 Screen Captures

Question: How did you get your role in Dark Blue?

Tricia Helfer: I got involved through the normal audition process. It was pilot season in Los Angeles and I auditioned for the show and was offered it after auditioning. So I didn’t have a script to work off of. There was just four pages written for the audition. So after I was offered the role, then I spoke with the producers and writers about what they saw for the character for the season and I liked what they had to say and they held up their end of the bargain.

They definitely said she was going to be involved with the team and be a smart, fun, strong character and not just the FBI finger-pointer or that kind of thing.

Question: What drew you to this particular character?

Tricia Helfer: I’ve always had a desire to play a cop or FBI agent. I’m a bit of a tomboy so it’s fun and I think there’s a lot of challenges — emotionally and mentally — playing a role like that and trying to get into the character. This role is fun because there’s also going to be some undercover roles — so roles within the roles so to speak — which as an actor are a lot of fun to play. And then of course just the team that’s behind it — the Bruckheimer camp and Warner Horizon and TNT it’s a great group of people and companies to work with.

Question: Did you know from the beginning that you’d have good on-screen chemistry with Dylan?

Tricia Helfer: I think you never know. Chemistry is a hard thing. I don’t think you can force it and it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have great chemistry outside or whatever. It’s just something that kind of sparks on screen or doesn’t. And so when you’re kind of playing it you don’t really see what other people are seeing obviously behind the monitors.

But Dylan’s a great actor. During the scenes and working with him, it was great to work off of him and he gives you a lot as an actor and hopefully it was reciprocated.

It’s always hard stepping into the second season of a show because everybody else is already a team and working together and they know each other already so it takes a little bit of time to kind of settle in and get to know everybody personally. But it kind of worked for the first episode anyway because Alex was sort of just thrown in there, they meet undercover and the characters have chemistry but don’t really know each other.

And so what I was going through personally — and them as well getting to know me — kind of worked for the first episode because it was a bit what the characters were going through. Obviously without the one-night stand at the end — or what they thought was going to be a one-night stand.

But Dylan’s just a great actor and is somebody that offers a lot to be able to work off of. And I think that’s the most important thing when playing characters with chemistry is being able to work off the other actor and be supported in that way.

Question: How has the rest of your experience with Dark Blue been so far?

Tricia Helfer: I had a great experience on the show. I really like the character. I really like Alex. I really like playing her.

And it’s already done. We’re already done filming. We’ve been done for about a month now so it happens quickly. Ten episodes goes by really quickly, especially when you’ve got a really tough shooting schedule of seven-day episodes. For the three months you’re filming, you’re so immersed in it that you just eat, sleep and breathe it and then it’s done. So hopefully people enjoy what we did.

Question: How is your character going to challenge Carter?

Tricia Helfer: Alex is challenging Carter because he’s used to being the boss. I mean he’s headed the team in a joint task force between the FBI and LAPD that the FBI has the final say. And so Alex comes in and essentially is the boss but she’s smart enough to know that that’s not going to work with this team to just come in and say, “This is the way we’re doing things.” And so she knows and she wants to be part of the team and work with them, not just be their boss.

There’s definitely going to be moments of tension when they disagree on something or disagree how a case should be handled, and that’s a definite challenge for somebody as a strong character like Carter to be able to take an order to stand down or something like that.

But generally they have a pretty good working relationship. They respect each other and I think that’s the key to successfully working with each other is that they respect each other and their abilities.

Question: What did you find challenging about the role?

Tricia Helfer: What I find challenging is just trying to bring a truthfulness and a realism to it. Obviously not having been undercover FBI myself — you obviously want to bring a truth to it — it’s great to have a consultant on set. We have a consultant that was an undercover cop for many years. And aside from doing reading myself and reading on the role — the type of job you really obviously haven’t done the job yourself. So you just want to bring a truth to it and you kind of always challenge yourself that way.

Physically, I guess it was fairly recent after I had gone through massive back surgery a couple of months before and so I was still in recovery. I had four discs replaced with artificial discs. So I could do some stunts, but luckily for me it just worked out that the ten episodes there wasn’t that much. I could pretty much do everything except for a fall down the stairs. I couldn’t do that but I wouldn’t have done that anyway even without back surgery. So physically I just had some challenges going in. But it’s been a fun character to play.

Question: How did you hurt your back?

Tricia Helfer: How I hurt my back is a mixture of things. I think being very tall and thin growing up and being very athletic and kind of abusing my body in some ways, crashing into walls, diving on floors to hit that volleyball and things like that. And then just a mixture of a car accident that got whiplash and doing all my own stunts on Battlestar really helped kind of solidify needing surgery.

So, yeah, it was just a mixture of a few things. And then somebody dropped a suitcase on my head on an airplane and that didn’t really do my neck any good. So unfortunately just a series of things that resulted in four discs being replaced.

Question: Can you tell us about your future plans and whether they include another season of Dark Blue?

Tricia Helfer: If Dark Blue comes back, fingers crossed, yes, you’ll be seeing more of me. Unless something happens or stuff I don’t know about, I will be back and glad to be back.

What I have coming up next? I have a couple of independent movies coming out — one with Brian Geraghty from the Hurt Locker and Stephen Moyer called Open House. It’s coming out on DVD in I think August. And I’ve got another film that we’re waiting to hear if it gets into Toronto with Harvey Keitel and J.K. Simmons and Scott Caan called A Beginner’s Guide to Endings that I shot last Fall and so I’m looking to shoot a few more independents this Fall.

Question: Did you get to wear any wigs in Season 2 of Dark Blue?

Tricia Helfer: No, I didn’t have to wear any wigs. A couple of different hairstyles mostly in the first episode but no wigs, which I’m not too upset about it. It’s quite an ordeal putting a wig on.

Question: What drives you to succeed?

Tricia Helfer: I want to be challenged. I want to be proud of what I do and I want to learn. I want to learn new things and keep learning and growing. I kind of am a bit of a workaholic and I like to keep busy and active so I think that’s what drives me.

[An excerpt from co-star Dylan McDermott's interview in the same article, on Alex Rice and working with Tricia:]

Question: How does Tricia Helfer’s character challenge Carter this season?

Dylan McDermott: This is exactly what I thought this show should have — a love interest for Carter. I think it’s just much more dynamic to have him in a relationship. I think Tricia is a beautiful woman, and she’s really talented, and she can stand toe to toe with Carter, which is not an easy thing because he is brooding at times. He is difficult and you need someone who can come in and go toe to toe with him.

So I think that she’s going to challenge him in ways that I don’t think he was actually prepared for. In season one, he was sort of closed down and not willing, and we find him in season two in a garden, which is really a metaphor for him that he is attempting to change, and he is attempting grow, and she is a big part of that. You know she is going to open him up. I think that something had died in him long ago and he had given up on himself somewhere, and I think that she brings all of that back to life.

As many of you have probably already noticed, Tricia Helfer’s official site was recently redesigned, and with the new look the site was updated with a second Q & A video clip, in which Tricia answers questions sent in by her fans via her official site / asktricia[@]triciahelfer.com.

In this clip, Tricia talks about how she got into modeling and acting and whether or not she’d be interested in appearing in any Bollywood productions. She also briefly mentions her recent back injury, due to which she’s been mostly out of the limelight this spring. Courtesy of Tricia’s official site:

Still more to come (we hope)!

To begin with, Tricia is getting interactive. According to her latest blog post, she now has an official Twitter account @trutriciahelfer, a Facebook page and MySpace. Although e.g. her Twitter account is as of yet not “Verified”, these account details come straight from the source and therefore should all be legit. Be sure to follow her doings if you’re registered at any of the networks! She furthermore talks about her official site undergoing behind-the-scenes changes in the hopes of being more frequently updated in the future. Cool!

Some may also have been wondering at how quiet it’s been on the newsfront in general this winter and spring. Tricia explains:

Now for a little personal news: The beginning of the year had me pretty low key as I went through extensive back surgery Dec. 14th. I spent my holidays recovering and now 4 1/2 months later, I’m filming but still in the recovery phase. I had 4 discs replaced with artificial discs (2 cervical and 2 lumbar) so now, all you BSG fans…I’m part robot!!! If I get up the courage one of these days, I’ll post my new back x-rays to show you all my new parts. And no…they don’t glow red

Get well soon, Tricia!