Tricia Helfer gets graphic with visual computing

Author: Tim Smalley
Published: 26th August 2008

Battlestar Galactica star Tricia Helfer talks about how visual computing affects her role as an actor. Cardboard cutouts and tennis balls help her to visualise things.

Actress Tricia Helfer, famous for her role as Cylon Number Six in Battlestar Galactica joined Jen-Hsun Huang on stage during his keynote to talk about how visual computing affects her role in the entertainment industry.

Helfer waltzed onto stage in a tight and rather revealing red dress and towered over Huang. A few corny Tom Cruise jokes later and we were talking about how her role in Battlestar Galactica is influenced by visual computing.

Unsurprisingly, she didn’t have much to say and looked rather blank when Jen-Hsun asked her to talk about technology. Helfer decided to talk about the challenges of acting with virtual characters and explained how some of the scenes for Sci-Fi Channel’s hit show were filmed.

She apparently gets through these often difficult to film scenes by talking to tennis balls or cardboard cutouts of yet-to-be computer generated characters. Helfer added that acting with multiple versions of yourself is also pretty hard too – I’ll take her word for it.

Interestingly, Helfer admitted that she was scared of virtual worlds in general and felt uncomfortable with the idea of being modelled in 3D.

“The idea that you’re just being created and your soul isn’t there. What you put into the character isn’t coming out. It’s a scary thought, it’s a threatening thought in fact,” she said. “But the advantages and uses of it are amazing and I guess we’ll have to get used to it.”

To finish off, Helfer revealed that she had “control issues” – I’m not sure what to make of that, but I’ll leave you with some pictures.

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