From the runway to the resurrection ship, statuesque model/actress/activist Tricia Helfer (who most fans will know as Six or Caprica Six), keeps busy when not in front of the camera.  As I said in my previous interview with fellow BSG Alum Katee Sackhoff, Tricia is also an avid humanitarian; spending most of her free time organizing fundraisers in the form of calendars, motorcycle ride-alongs and appearances to raise money for various worthy causes.  Their Acting Outlaws website is a great way to keep up with the myriad of things the ladies do to help those in need.  This weekend (April 26th, 2014), the ladies are doing a charity ride (The Tulip Ride), screening their 2010 LaLa Ride documentary 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 BSG screening event is the pre-kickoff to Seattle Cinerama’s Sci-Fi Film Festival, running May 1st through May 12th.

Tricia was kind enough to let us have a few minutes of her jampacked schedule:

Aggressive:  Hi there Tricia!  So this weekend, you’re doing not one, but THREE different fundraising events in Seattle.  This is your second year doing the Tulip Ride, isn’t it?

Tricia:  Yes, we came up last year for it as well, and we wanted to return this year.  And hopefully, we’ll have a little better weather.  It started out good last year, but then it started raining on us.  I think I heard it’s going to rain all weekend, but it’ll be fun.  We’re gonna bring our rain gear, and go riding through the Tulip Fields.

AG:  Always better to plan for rain and then not have to use anything for it.

Tricia:  True, I mean last year, I didn’t have any rain gear, and on the trip back Jeff Henshaw gave me his rain pants, which were…..a little bit big on me, but it made for some funny photos.  (laughs)

AG:  Oh goodness, I can only imagine.  I mean I know you’re QUITE tall, I actually ran into you in an elevator my first year at DragonCon in Atlanta, it was you and Tahmoh Penikett.  I’m really short, I’m five foot even, and standing between the two of you was one of the funniest things (Tricia is laughing), just going “Ok then, so, you’re both giants.”

Tricia:  (MORE laughing)  Well yeah, we’re uh, both very tall.

AG:  So aside from the Tulip Ride, you guys/gals/ladies are also going to be screening your 2010 charity ride documentary film.

Tricia:  Yes, the LaLa Ride.  And that started because we were looking at ways we could bring in some people who didn’t ride motorcycles, but wanted to be involved, partake and donate to the Seattle Humane Society and Red Cross which are the two charities the Tulip Ride benefits.   And obviously the region up there has had a really tough spring, with the mudslide and everything, so Jeff brought up the idea.  He had seen the LaLa Ride film before, we sell it as a digital download on our website, and he brought up “Well, what about screening the LaLa Ride?” and we both jumped at the chance, because not only will it be the first time Katee and I will be able to see our documentary on the big screen, but it’ll also be a great way to have those people who wanted to come in and donate who don’t ride be a part of it too.  So yeah, we’re really excited about that, the people who ARE coming out are quite dedicated, you know it’s 8 or 9am on a Saturday morning, so that’s dedication!  And we certainly appreciate it and hope they enjoy it.  And then the Cinerama event later on Saturday, too!  We’re screening an episode, maybe it’s two, I’m not sure which ones, with a Q & A and signing afterwards.   So we’ll get to meet a bunch of Battlestar fans too, and hopefully some of them come out for the other things too, but that’s a looooong day of Katee and Tricia if they do.  (laughs)

AG:  I dunno, I know some fans of both of yours who would totally love the chance to spend that much time in a single day with the two of you.  (both laugh)  And for the episode for the screening, Cinerama actually did fan voting to see which one the audience wanted to see, I never saw which one won, but the two in the top running were “33” and “Someone To Watch Over Me”.

Tricia:  (laughs nervously) Oh man, I can’t remember which ones those are!

AG:  So “33” is the second regular season 1 episode, it comes right after the mini series two part pilot, and it’s when-

Tricia:  Oh!  Yes, yes yes, I know which one that is.  Where they have to jump every 33 minutes because something happens.  Yeah, that’s a good episode.

AG:  It’s usually the episode most trepidatious fans go “Yup, THAT’S when I knew I loved the show.”   And then “Someone To Watch Over Me” is the one when Katee’s character Starbuck has her moments with her father in the bar over the piano.  (There is a long pause.  I get nervous.)  What?  I’m a totally BSG fan, I’ll admit it.

Tricia:  (laughs)  Oh it’s ok.  What’s funny is when we would shoot, or at least in the way my mind works, when you’re filming it, it’s more like “Ok, this is episode one, or episode 3, season 1, episode 5,” so I don’t remember the names of the individual episodes, but you could say “Season 1 episode 2”, and i’d be like ok yeah THAT one!

AG:  Well I mean after 10 years, I can only imagine things would sort of blur together.

Tricia:  Yeah, and I mean there are the ones you remember really well, like I remember the Pegasus ones well, because it was the first time I had multiple characters, and I had a big story arc with the tortured Six and everything, so I remember the name of that because it’s also catchy and it’s easy to remember, (both laugh)  right?!  But I don’t know what to say, (jokingly) I’m kinda light in both those episodes, what’re the fans trying to tell me?  (both laugh)  I mean I might have to take it out on Katee!

AG:  Oh you should!  I bet everyone would love that and find it hilarious!  I was hoping to make it up to Seattle for the screenings, but it doesn’t look that’ll happen.  So I’ll just have to live vicariously through your and Katee’s twitter posts, like you do.

Tricia:  Yeah, we’ll definitely be active this weekend with tweets and that type of thing, that’s for sure.

AG:  I mean how in the world do you find time to be as proactive with your fundraising and charity work?  You’re a busy lady, you just finished Killer Women and I bet there’s more things going on that we don’t know about as well.

Tricia:  I took a little bit of time off, Killer Women was an easy experience it was also physically gruelling.  I was in practically every scene, we were shooting in New Mexico with crazy climate changes, it was extremely dry.  And then we pretty much finished the show, the holidays happened, and then the show premiered.  It was certainly busy, so yeah, I took a little time off and did some more video game stuff, working on doing voice work for a new installment of the Starcraft franchise, and another game which I can’t announce yet.  And uh, yeah just tried to take a little bit of time for me, but I’m in negotiations for something right now, but I’m literally right in the middle of the negotiations, so I can’t really talk about it yet, we’ll see if that comes about. But it would bring me back into the genre that Battlestar was in.

AG:  Well we do love you in the Sci Fi genre.  And you and Katee seem to fit really really well, aside from just the Sci Fi stuff.

Tricia:  (laughs)  Well, you know it’s our business, with Katee and I, we work well together with Acting Outlaws because sometimes it’s really hard for us to do the obligations we’ve set for ourselves.  But then other times, like in the fall when I was extremely busy, she would take up the slack and do some of the meetings and that type of thing.  And now she’s filming, and I’ve got a little time, so now I’m the one doing more of the things.  So for us it works really well trying to balance everything.

AG:  It’s awesome you guys have that friendship that translates into all these different things, it’s fun to watch from the outside.  I know you have your busy schedule to get back to, thank you so much for your time Tricia, and I wish you guys the best of luck with all the fundraising events this weekend!

Tricia:  Not a problem, thank you, wish you were gonna be there in Seattle, but another time for sure.  Thank you!