Kara Thrace “Starbuck” from Ronald D. Moore’s reimagined SyFy series Battlestar Galactica is arguably one of the strongest women on tv in the last decade.  Katee Sackhoff has been carving out a piece of the predominantly male centric world of Science Fiction action since we first met her character 10 years ago during a card game aboard the Galactica.  Since then she’s been side by side with Vin Diesel in the Riddick sequel, voicing the character Bo-Katan in Star Wars: The Clone Wars as well as the Black Cat in Spider-Man: The Edge of Time video game and Detective Essen in Batman: Year One, voice talent in Seth Green’s Robot Chicken and lead actress in his film Sexy Evil Genius (which was awesome), A & E’s Longmire, and currently can be seen in the horror/thriller feature film Oculus alongside Karen Gillan in theaters now.

Katee is also an avid humanitarian; spending most of her free time organizing fund raisers in the form of calendars, motorcycle ride alongs and appearances with another BSG alum, Tricia Helfer.  Their Acting Outlaws website is a great way to keep up with the myriad of things the ladies do to help those in need.  Coming up next week, the ladies are doing both a charity ride (The Tulip Ride) and appearing at an event in Seattle, WA put on by Cinerama and Subspace Comics where they will be the guests of honor at a special screening of a fan-chosen episode of Battlestar Galactica.  The voting is STILL open until Tuesday, April 22nd at 5pm PST.  

But on to the interview, shall we?

Aggressive: So this is actually my second time interviewing you, the last time was just as you were launching your 2013 Acting Outlaws Calendar.

Katee:  Oh awesome!  Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me.  Again.  *laughs*

AG:  Let’s see, what’s going on lately?  Oh, Oculus!  Yeah, Oculus JUST opened.  Are we terribly excited it’s finally out?

Katee:  Yeah!  I mean for me, I love the movie, it’s fantastic.  We shot it a year and a half ago, so it’s nice when something finally comes out like this and people  can see the fruits of your labors and where your passion has been for the last year and a half.  It really is a great movie, and I’m really proud of it.

AG:  How’s Longmire been going?  You guys just started shooting again, didn’t you?

Katee:  Oh GOOD!  The hours are crazy, and the locations are crazy, but we all love the show and I think that’s one of the main reasons we all work so hard on it is because we love it so much.  I mean EVERYBODY is pretty passionate about it, from the crew to the cast.

AG:  So NEXT weekend, you and Tricia have a bunch of things lined up in Seattle.

Katee:  So what Tricia and I are doing is coming to Seattle for the Tulip Ride.  It’s a motorcylce ride that’s been done every year to raise money for the Seattle Humane Society and the Seattle Red Cross.  This will be our second year participating in it, and Jeff Henshaw who organizes it asked us if we wanted to show the LaLa Ride to raise even MORE money, and we said absolutely.  So we’re doing the Tulip Ride, and screening the LaLa Ride which will be really great.  It’s the ride Tricia and I did in 2010 to raise money for the restoration network from Los Angeles to Louisiana after the BP Oil spill disaster in the Gulf.  And we ended up with some free time, so we have the dinner that’s happening to help again, raise even MORE money.   So with that free time, a publicist contacted us and asked if we’d be interested in a screening of an episode of Battlestar Galactica to raise money, and we said absolutely.  So that’s kind of how THAT came around, it’s just by chance that we’re there to have the chance to show an episode of Battlestar, because we’re actually there for something else.

AG:  That is so cool.  You guys are just crazy awesome with your fundraising.  I love that you spend so much of your time and effort doing it.  It’s admirable that you do it so often, not many people do.

Katee:  Thank you.  Yeah, it’s, I dunno, it’s number one when you feel like you’ve been blessed, you try to give back as much as possible.  That’s humanity at work, you’re supposed to do.  It seems pretty easy for Tricia and I to do it, so we will continue to do it for sure.

AG:  And I don’t know if you’ve had a chance to see what the fan voting is on the episode of BSG that’ll be screened in Seattle, but it looks like the two front runners are “Someone To Watch Over Me” with 25% and “33” with 22% of the votes.

Katee:  Wow, well, both are good episodes.  And you know it was so long ago for me that I don’t even remember what happened in them.  I remember “33” because it was the first one we did when we came back.  I mean I wish I could tell you I remembered what they were, but I haven’t seen the show for about 6 years.

AG:  And it looks like voting is still going until next Tuesday, the 22nd.

Katee:  Yeah, voting is still going and THERE ARE SEATS AVAILABLE STILL.  It’s a massive theater.

AG:  I’m gonna try to get my butt up there for it!  I love BSG, and was going to come up and sort of do my part to rep the GalactiCon guys, that show will be in Seattle in 2015, and I’m just hoping one of our guys makes it up there, because I personally think this screening would be amazing to get to go to.

Katee:  Yeah, it’s really cool, I think it’s only happened maybe a handful of times where Battlestar has been on the big screen.  I’ve seen it that way once, and it’s one of the coolest things ever.  It’s a show that translates to the big screen extremely well.  It’s a good show.

AG:  Hell yeah, it’s a damn good show!  And I understand I’ll get to see you later this year at the Evolution Expo in Oakland in June.

Katee:  Yeah!  I tend to not do a ton of conventions, but when one comes along that to me is different and comes with an educational aspect to it, I find that to be pretty awesome.  I mean I think one of the reasons science fiction exists is because of the education of science.  So to kind of marry both of them is a really great idea and I think it’ll be a really great convention.

AG:  Most of the Bay Area locals are pretty excited about it, we lost our big convention when WonderCon moved down to LA, and to have an event with this much of the science-centric thing going on is pretty awesome.

Katee:  Yeah, I’m really excited for it, and with the group of people who are going, it’s great.

AG:  When they announced the big media guests, you and Jason Momoa, I got attacked and bombarded with messages from everyone freaking out and making sure I was going.

Katee:  *laughs*  Well, yeah, well, Jason is REALLY good looking.  So, that kind of makes it easy to want to go, right?

AG:  Right!  Well, also, you!  I mean you said yourself you don’t do many conventions, and you RARELY make it to this neck of the woods, so I think you’ll be surprised by the amount of “OMG KATEE SACKHOFF IS HERE!!” you’re gonna get with that event.

Katee:  Oh, well, it’s going to be really nice to come so close to home as well.

AG:  Ok, so there has been A LOT of talk lately about Captain/Ms. Marvel, and inevitably your name comes up within a sentence of the character being mentioned as far as a movie.  Is there anything new maybe, on your side, or is it still just really excited fans who want to see you play this part?

Katee:  I think it’s just people excited and they want me to play the role.  But as far as I know, the role doesn’t even exist in some form right now.

AG:  ….damnit.  *both laugh*  I’ve been one of those drum beaters who would LOVE for you to play this character.

Katee:  Well, SO WOULD I!  I mean I don’t know if THEY know which direction they’re going to go with a female superhero movie right now.  So I think they’re working that out, and then time will tell.

AG:  And in that same vein, there was that interview were you mentioned your interest in playing DC character Harley Quinn.  Which was totally unexpected and awesome, and something YOU could pull off, the playing a character in each comic dynasty.  It would be a thing.  An awesome thing.  But why Harley?

Katee:  Because villains are more fun than heroes?  *both laugh*  It’s as simple as that.  And I think she’s a fantastic character, and I like to play crazy, so it all kind of works out.

AG:  What, YOU liking to play crazy?  Get right out of town.

Katee:  *laughs*  Well yeah, it’s FUN for me.  As an actor.

AG:  Well you do it well, as strange of a compliment as that is.  You play crazy REALLY well.

Katee:  Oh, THANK you.  No, that’s a fantastic compliment.  Because I like to think it’s the farthest away from myself.  And I think it’s fun.

AG:  So what’s next on your schedule, what else can we look forward to seeing from you in the next year or so?

Katee:  Well I’m shooting Longmire right now which comes out in June, there is another job I’m doing that I’m doing in the beginning of July that I can’t talk about that’s really cool, then other than that staring at a pile of five scripts trying to decide what movie I want to do in July and August.  So, I’ll let you know.

AG:  Ooo, movies.  I like hearing that you’re doing more movies!  Because, well, you should.  Not that I don’t love seeing you on TV, but yeah.  Movies.  You.  Awesome.

Katee:  I enjoy film more than television, for me they are two completely different mediums, and television came sooner.  So, hopefully after Longmire television is done, and that means more movies.

AG:  I will totally keep my fingers crossed for more movies then!  And thank you so much for your time, always awesome to talk to you Katee, whether it’s while you’re NOT buying towels in Bed Bath & Beyond or elsewhere.

Katee:  Oh hey you too!  And hopefully I’ll see you up in Seattle!  If not, definitely in Oakland.

ABOUT >> Mary Anne Butler
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  • BIO >> Mary Anne Butler (Mab) is a reporter and photographer from San Francisco California. She is a lifelong geek, huge music nerd, occasionally cosplays at conventions, does Renaissance Faires, and in general lives the life of a True Believer. She may be short, but she makes up for it with a loud voice.
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