Congratulations to my beautiful client Tricia Helfer! I was so excited when she e-mailed me on the first of April that she had signed a talent holding deal with the FOX network. As you can see, that turned out to be no April Fool’s prank!
Peter Liguori, the president of Fox Entertainment, made a special note of Tricia when she was cast last year, along with client Rachel Nichols, in the FOX drama pilot Them for director Jonathan Mostow; there she played a member of an alien scouting group living on Earth. The pilot was rolled over to this development season and ultimately terminated. She currently appears in the fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica on Sci Fi and will be seen on the big screen in the upcoming indie Walk All Over Me.
Clearly, Tricia will be in good hands once her run with Battlestar Galactica is over (filming will in all likelihood wrap up this month, either on Jul 10 or 12.) As part of her talent deal with Fox, Tricia will be appearing on USA’s terrific show, Burn Notice (with client China Chow) when it returns to the air this July (Fox produces the show). Tricia will return to Miami to shoot more Season 2 material for Burn Notice until October ‘08. She will be playing Michael's handler Carla, in the first 2 episodes of the season. Tricia will then return as Carla again in the series’ mid-season finale, episode 9. Carla will also be featured in some of the post-hiatus episodes, but which these episodes are is yet to be revealed. Since Carla is after Michael, it is unclear if she is good or bad. She may be the one who burned him, but then again, the show’s writers are clever.
Just as exciting is the news that another part of the FOX deal has Tricia soon be appearing in an exciting new show by producer J.J. Abrams with Lost writer/executive producer Jeff Pinkner as show-runner. Pinkner is, of course, no stranger to the Bad Robot family of series. In addition to writing and producing duties on Lost, he also worked with Abrams on seminal ABC series Alias.
The new show is called Fringe and has a real spooky, high intensity suspense feel to it. The shows' topic involves paranormal investigators looking into the mysterious landing of a jetliner with dead passengers and blood on the windows.
Interestingly, there will first be comic books put out on the market (the first hitting the stands on Aug. 27) by DC Comics, to be followed two weeks later by the premier of the highly anticipated TV series on Fox, Fringe - the two-hour premiere airs on Sept. 9.
And YES, I have saved the best for last...Tricia has been tapped to co-star on Fox's drama pilot, Inseparable, as Mason Wicks, a psychiatrist who evaluates suspects for the police department.
Inseparable, from ABC Studios and writer/exec producer Shaun Cassidy, is a modern-day Jekyll and Hyde tale about Justin/Clyde (Lloyd Owen), a partially paralyzed forensic psychiatrist with a split personality whose alter ego is a charismatic criminal.
I am so happy for you Tricia!! This could not have happened to a more hard-working, sweet, or talented actress. I hope you are enjoying this tiny break because after filming on Inseparable begins in August, it is only going to get bigger and better!
