Canadian actress and former model Tricia Helfer was born on April 11, 1974 in Donalda, Alberta. Born to a rural community, she was raised in her family’s grain farm. When she was 17 years old, she was discovered by a modeling agent while standing in line at a movie theater. This triggered her modeling career, appearing in several fashion spreads and ad campaigns for fashion line, and also in shoots for magazines such as Maxim and Playboy. In 1992, she became the winner of Ford Models’ Supermodel of the World contest, and was signed to the prestigious Elite Model Management.
She retired from modeling in 2002, and decided to pursue a career in show business instead. She initially hosted the Canadian fashion magazine show Ooh La La, before moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Her first acting role came in 2002, when she starred in two episodes of the science fiction series Jeremiah. Aside from guest roles on television, she appeared in several films, including White Rush, The Genius Club, Memory, Spiral and Walk All Over Me.
In 2003, Helfer joined the cast of the science fiction miniseries—and eventually regular series—Battlestar Galactica. She played the role of “Number Six,” a series of humanoid Cylons who play numerous functions throughout the series. Among notable versions of her character include Caprica-Six, who was involved in an affair with Gaius Baltar (James Callis); Shelly Godfrey, an antagonistic Cylon who tries to seduce William Adama (Edward James Olmos); and Gina Inviere, who hides in the Pegasus posing as a network administrator. She played the roles until the series’ conclusion in 2008. At the same time, she began hosting the Canadian reality series Canada’s Next Top Model, appearing only in its first season, and leaving in order to focus on her work in BSG.
