Tricia Helfer
Tricia Helfer at the 2007 Scream Awards
Born	Tricia Janine Helfer April 11, 1974 (1974-04-11) (age 35) Donalda, Alberta, Canada
Occupation	Supermodel (1992–2002) Actress (2000–present) February 2007 Playboy
Years active	1992-present
Spouse(s)	Johnathan Marshall (2003-present)
Official website

Tricia Janine Helfer (born April 11, 1974) is a Canadian actress and former model, best known for her role as Number Six in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica miniseries and television series, her role as "Carla" on Burn Notice, and for hosting the first season of Canada's Next Top Model.

Early life

Helfer was born and raised in the rural community of Donalda in Stettler County, Alberta. She was raised on her family's grain farm and at the age of 17, while standing in line at a local movie theatre, she was discovered by modeling agency scout Kelly Streit. She is of German, English, Swedish and Norwegian descent.¹

Career

Fashion modeling

In 1992, she won Ford Models' Supermodel of the World Contest and was subsequently signed to the Elite Model Management and later to Trump Model Management. Tricia retired from fashion modeling in 2002 and states that all her shoots since then are related to projects or product endorsements². She has appeared in ad campaigns, including Ralph Lauren, Versace, Chanel, and Giorgio Armani. Helfer has walked for top fashion shows such as Carolina Herrera, Christian Dior, Claude Montana, Givenchy, John Galliano, and Dolce & Gabbana. Helfer has graced the covers of Flare, Amica, ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, and Vogue, among others. She also regularly appeared in photo shoots by Maxim magazine, was the magazine's wall calendar girl for 2005, and was ranked #57 on the Maxim's Hot 100 Women of 2007.³ She also posed nude for the February 2007 issue of Playboy.

Acting

Tricia Helfer arriving at the gala showing of her film Walk All Over Me at the 2007 Calgary International Film Festival

While working in New York as a model, Helfer hosted a Canadian television fashion program Ooh La La. She relocated to Los Angeles in 2002 to pursue a full-time film career. Her first acting assignment was a co-starring role as Sarah on the television series Jeremiah. Thereafter she played the role of a model, Ashleigh James, in the May 16, 2002 episode "The Hunger Artist" on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In 2002, Helfer played the female lead, Eva, in the independent film White Rush. In 2003, Helfer was chosen to play Number Six on Battlestar Galactica (see section below).

In 2004, Helfer played Farrah Fawcett in the NBC telemovie Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels'.⁴ Concurrent with her role in Battlestar Galactica, Helfer began producing and hosting Canada's Next Top Model on May 31, 2006. In 2006, Helfer appeared in the motion pictures Spiral and The Green Chain.

In October 2006, it was announced that Helfer would not return to host the second season of Canada's Next Top Model in order to concentrate on her work on Battlestar Galactica.⁵ Helfer also played a major role in Electronic Arts Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, as the high-level Nod general Kilian Qatar, along with her Battlestar Galactica co-star, Grace Park.⁶ She also starred in the episode "Roadkill" on the second season of the American paranormal drama TV series Supernatural.

Tricia will make an appearance on the CBS' Two and a Half Men, TVGuide.com has confirmed. As first reported by Entertainment Weekly, Helfer will play a pal of Charlie's (Charlie Sheen) fiancé Chelsea (Jennifer Bini Taylor). When Chelsea finds out that her friend is recovering from a breakup, she says she should do so at the boys' house.⁷

Battlestar Galactica

In 2003, the television series Battlestar Galactica was used as the basis for a three hour miniseries on the Sci Fi channel. The project was written and produced by Ronald D. Moore and directed by Michael Rymer. Helfer played the role of Number Six, a humanoid Cylon operative. She continued that role as a regular cast member in the TV series, which completed its fourth and final season on March 20, 2009. Due to the unique nature of the Number Six character - there are in fact many different "copies" of Number Six with distinct and separate personalities - Helfer has actually played numerous different, if related, roles on the series. In 2009 she reprised her role as Number Six in Battlestar Galactica The Plan - a television movie that tells the story of the series from the Cylons' point of view.

Other appearances

In August 2008, Helfer appeared on the stage of NVISION 08, an event sponsored by NVIDIA, where she discussed her role in Battlestar Galactica as well as the use of computer graphics on the show⁸.

Helfer appears as Chuck’s new season 2 secret agent "handler" in the NBC (NBC Universal) series Chuck⁹ and as Michael Westen's new season 2 secret agent "handler" in the USA Network (NBC Universal) series Burn Notice as "Carla."

Helfer appears as herself in Old 97's music video for Dance with Me. In the video she is sought through an exclusive nightclub, via fantasy, by an imaginative fan.

She guest stars in "Resonance," the second episode of Warehouse 13 as FBI Agent Bonnie Belski on Syfy.

She also voices Veronica Dare in Halo 3: ODST and will also voice Sarah Kerrigan in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. She will also appear as the Queen of Blades in the game's expansion sets, Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void.

She voices EDI, the ship-borne artificial intelligence aboard the Normandy SR-2, in Mass Effect 2.

Helfer appeared as a special guest star in the pilot episode of Fox's 2009 mid-season series Human Target in which she plays the key female role in the episode.

Black Cat

Helfer plays the Black Cat vocally in The Spectacular Spider-Man. She reprises her role as Black Cat in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.

Personal life

Helfer is married to Johnathan Marshall, a lawyer whom she met at a mutual friend's birthday party.¹

Filmography

Helfer at a 2008 pre-Emmy party

• Eventual Wife (2000)
• Jeremiah (2002)
• CSI episode - "The Hunger Artist" (2003)
• White Rush (2003)
• Battlestar Galactica (2003) mini-series
• Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels (2004)
• Battlestar Galactica (2004 - 2009) television series
• Mem-o-re (2005)
• The Genius Club (2006)
• Canada's Next Top Model, Cycle 1 (2006) television series
• The Green Chain (2007)
• Supernatural episode - "Roadkill" (2007) television series
• Battlestar Galactica: Razor (2007) TV movie
• Spiral (2007)
• Walk All Over Me (2007)
• Burn Notice (2008-2009), 8 episodes as Carla
• Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (2009) TV movie
• Green Lantern: First Flight (2009) Boodikka
• Chuck (2009) 1 episode as Alex Forrest
• Two and a Half Men (2009) 1 episode as Chelsea's college roommate
• Human Target (2010) TV pilot¹⁰
• The Dealership (2009) TV pilot¹⁰
• Warehouse 13 (2009) television series

Video Games

• Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (2007) as Kilian Qatar
• Spider-Man: Web of Shadows (2008) as the voice of Felicia Hardy/Black Cat
• Halo 3: ODST (2009) as the voice of Captain Veronica Dare.
• Mass Effect 2 (2010) as the Normandy Virtual Intelligence, "EDI".
• StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (TBA) as Sarah Kerrigan

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Tricia Helfer

• Official website
• Tricia Helfer at Fashion Model Directory
• Tricia Helfer at the Internet Movie Database
• Tricia Helfer at TV Guide
• Tricia Helfer interview About Galactica & Burn Notice