Early life

Helfer was born in rural Donalda, Alberta, to Dennis and Elaine Helfer.She studied at William E Hay Composite High School in Stettler, Alberta. She lived and worked on the family's grain farm with her three sisters - Trina, Tammy, and Tara. She was discovered at age 17 by a modeling agency scout while standing in line at a local movie theatre. She is of German, English, Swedish, and Norwegian descent.

Career

Modeling

In 1992 she won Ford Models' Supermodel of the World contest. She subsequently was signed to Elite Model Management and later to Trump Model Management. Helfer retired from fashion modelling in 2002 and claimed all her shoots since then are related to projects or product endorsements. She has appeared in ad campaigns for 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 appeared on 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. Helfer was also featured as the cover model for the February 2007 issue of Playboy.

Acting

Helfer relocated to Los Angeles in 2002 to pursue a full-time acting career. Her first acting assignment was a co-starring role as Sarah on the television series Jeremiah. She later played a model named Ashleigh James on the May 16, 2002 episode of CSI ("The Hunger Artist"). In 2002, she played "Eva" in the independent film White Rush.

In 2003, she played Number Six on Battlestar Galactica. In 2004, she portrayed Farrah Fawcett in the telemovie The Unauthorized Story of 'Charlie's Angels'. Concurrent with her role in Battlestar Galactica, Helfer began producing and hosting Canada's Next Top Model on May 31, 2006. She appeared in Spiral and The Green Chain later the same year.

In October 2006, it was announced that Helfer would not return to host the second season of Canada's Next Top Model so she could concentrate on Battlestar Galactica. 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, actress Grace Park. She also starred in the episode "Roadkill" on the second season of Supernatural.

Helfer had a recurring role on CBS' Two and a Half Men. She played Gail, best friend of Charlie's (Charlie Sheen) fiancé Chelsea (Jennifer Taylor). When Chelsea finds out that her friend is recovering from a breakup, she says she should do so at Charlie's house. Shortly after Chelsea and Charlie begin a trial separation, Gail begins a sexual relationship with Charlie.

Battlestar Galactica

Main article: Number Six (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 special nature of the Number Six character - there are many "copies" of Number Six with distinct personalities - Helfer has, in effect, played numerous 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. In 2012, she voiced a prototype Cylon in the prequel Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome.

Awards:

• Leo Awards, Best Lead Performance By A Female in a Dramatic Series, Tricia Helfer ("Pegasus")

Nominations:

• Scream Awards, Breakout Performance, Tricia Helfer as Number Six
• Scream Awards, Best Television Actress, Tricia Helfer

2008-present

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 show. Helfer appeared as Chuck’s Season 2 secret agent "handler" in the NBC series Chuck, and as Michael Westen's Season 2 nemesis in the USA Network series Burn Notice as "Carla". She appears as herself in Old 97's music video for their song, "Dance with Me".

She guest starred in "Resonance", the second episode of Warehouse 13 as FBI Agent Bonnie Belski on Syfy. She made a guest appearance in the pilot episode of Fox's 2009 mid-season series Human Target. She has played several prominent video game roles in recent years; including Kilian Quatar in Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Veronica Dare in Halo 3: ODST and EDI, the ship-borne artificial intelligence aboard the Normandy SR-2 in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3. She voices Sarah Kerrigan in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty as well as the expansion sets Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm and Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void. Helfer voices the Black Cat in The Spectacular Spider-Man and she reprises the role in Spider-Man: Web of Shadows and Ultimate Spider-Man.

Helfer joined the cast of Jerry Bruckheimer's TNT drama, Dark Blue, as FBI Special Agent Alex Rice. The show was cancelled in November 2010 because of its very low ratings. In October 2010 she made a guest appearance on Lie to Me.

In 2011 she starred in The Black Keys' music video for "Howlin' for You". She made guest appearances in No Ordinary Family (2011), and Franklin & Bash (2011). In 2011, Helfer starred as Morgana, a necromancer, in the TV series pilot 17th Precinct from Ron Moore with Galactica's co-stars James Callis and Jamie Bamber. In October 2011 she got the lead role in the TV Pilot Scent of the Missing as Susannah, a K-9 Search and Rescue Volunteer. In November 2011, she appeared in the Hallmark TV Movie Mistletoe Over Manhattan. For 2012, she signed for the recurring role of Alex Clark in the new NBC TV Series The Firm. On May 16, 2012 she appeared in the two-part finale of season 7 of the CBS series Criminal Minds, in which she led a team of bank-robbing serial killers. She guest starred in the second season of the Jane Espenson scripted romantic comedy web series, Husbands.

In 2014 she played Molly Parker on ABC´s Killer Women, a remake of Argentinian drama Mujeres Asesinas, with producer Sofia Vergara. Also in 2014 she played Viondra Denniger, the steward and wife of the captain of the titular starship of the miniseries Ascension on its long journey carrying people to populate a new world. Helfer voiced Sonya Blade in the fighting game, Mortal Kombat X, which was released in April 2015.

In 2015, she appeared in the series finalie of Falling Skies as the Espheni Queen, the leader of the alien race that had invaded Earth and devastated humanity.

Personal life

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

She has four artificial discs in her back and two in her neck, resulting from an incident in which a piece of luggage was dropped on her head while sitting on a commercial airliner, and two in her lower back from mishaps while doing her own stunts.

She co-founded the charity web site "Acting Outlaws" with former Battlestar Galactica co-star Katee Sackhoff, which is open for donations for different causes and charity events. She is also involved in various causes, from animal rescue to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2014, she appeared in a PETA video campaign, encouraging cat owners to keep their pets indoors.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2000	Eventual Wife	Inga	Short film
2003	White Rush	Eva
2006	The Genius Club	Ally Simon
2006	Memory	Stephanie Jacobs
2007	Spiral	Sasha
2007	The Green Chain	Leila Cole
2007	Walk All Over Me	Celene
2008	Inseparable	Rae Wicks
2009	Green Lantern: First Flight	Boodikka (voice)
2009	Open House	Lila
2010	A Beginner's Guide to Endings	Miranda
2011	Bloodwork	Dr. Wilcox
2011	PostHuman	Kali (voice)	Short film
2012	The Forger	Sasha
2012	Scribble	Sigrid Hagenguth
2012	37	Christina
2014	Authors Anonymous	Sigrid Hagenguth
2015	Isolation	Lydia Masterson

Television

Year	Program	Role	Notes
2002	Jeremiah	Sarah	Episode: "The Long Road: Part 1"
2002	CSI	Ashleigh James	Episode: "The Hunger Artist"
2003	Battlestar Galactica	Number Six	Miniseries
2004	Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels	Farrah Fawcett	TV movie
2004-09	Battlestar Galactica	Number Six	Main role, 73 episodes
2006	The Collector	Janis Eisner	Episode: "The V.J."
2006	Canada's Next Top Model	Host, Judge	Cycle 1
2007	Battlestar Galactica: Razor	Number Six	TV movie
2007	Them	Naomi Tyler Moore	TV pilot
2007	Supernatural	Molly McNamara	Episode: "Roadkill"
2007-09	Burn Notice	Carla	Recurring role, 8 episodes
2008-09	The Spectacular Spider-Man	Felicia Hardy/Black Cat (voice)	3 episodes
2009	Battlestar Galactica: The Plan	Number Six	TV movie
2009	Hidden Crimes	Julia Carver	TV movie
2009	The Dealership	Rachel Carson	TV pilot
2009	Chuck	Alex Forrest	Episode: "Chuck Versus the Broken Heart"
2009	Warehouse 13	Bonnie Belski	Episode: "Resonance"
2009-11	Two and a Half Men	Gail	3 episodes
2010	The Super Hero Squad Show	Sif (voice)	Episode: "O, Brother!"
2010	Human Target	Stephanie Dobbs	Episode: "Pilot"
2010	Dark Blue	Alex Rice	Main role (season 2), 10 episodes
2010	Lie to Me	Naomi Russell	Episode: "Double Blind"
2010	The Whole Truth	Bitsie Katz	Episode: "Liars"
2011	No Ordinary Family	Sophie Adler	Episode: "No Ordinary Love"
2011	Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated	Amanda Smyth/Aphrodite (voice)	Episode: "Where Walks Aphrodite"
2011	Franklin & Bash	Brett Caiman	Episode: "Go Tell It on the Mountain"
2011	17th Precinct	Morgana Kurlansky	TV pilot
2011	Mistletoe over Manhattan	Lucy Martel	TV Movie
2012	The Firm	Alex Clark	Recurring role, 12 episodes
2012	Criminal Minds	Izzy Rogers	2 episodes
2012	Husbands	Pillow Girl #2	2 episodes
2012	Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome	Cylon Prototype	Episode: "Pilot"
2012	Scent of the Missing	Susannah	TV movie
2012-13	Tron: Uprising	The Grid (voice)	Main role, 19 episodes
2013	Community	Lauren	Episode: "Conventions of Space and Time"
2013	Finding Christmas	Ryan Harrison	TV movie
2013	Dangerous Intuition	Kate Aldrich	TV movie
2014	Killer Women	Molly Parker	Lead role, 8 episodes
2014	The Librarians	Ms. Willis	Episode: "And the Horns of a Dilemma"
2014	Ascension	Viondra Denninger	Top billing
2014	Spun Out	Dave's Ex - Claudia	Episode: "Parental Indiscretion"
2015	Suits	Harvey's Opposing Counsel - Evan Smith	2 episodes
2015	Key & Peele	Agent Jackson	Episode: "The Job Interview"
2015	Falling Skies	Espheni Queen (voice)	Episode: "Reborn"
2015	Con Man	Louise	4 episodes
2015	Rick and Morty	Donna Gueterman (voice)	Episode: "The Wedding Squanchers"

Video games

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2007	Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars	Kilian Qatar
2007	Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath	Kilian Qatar
2008	Spider-Man: Web of Shadows	Felicia Hardy/Black Cat
2009	Halo 3: ODST	Captain Veronica Dare
2010	Mass Effect 2	EDI
2010	StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty	Sarah Kerrigan
2012	Mass Effect 3	EDI
2013	StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm	Sarah Kerrigan
2013	Marvel Heroes	Black Cat
2015	Mortal Kombat X	Sonya Blade
2015	StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void	Sarah Kerrigan

[ Source: Wikipedia ]