Winning her breaktrough role as the tough-talking Starbuck on the Sci-Fi Channel miniseries “Battlestar Galactica” (2003) wasn’t exactly easy at the start for Katee Sackhoff. With relatively few screen credits under her belt, the young blond actress had to win over die-hard fans who were incensed that a girl would be taking over the cult favorite role played by Dirk Benedict in the original 1978 series. Even if she was a babe. But even the faithful were quickly silenced, as Sackhoff made the character of the cigar-smoking, card-playing space pilot her own– albeit reinvented as a curvaceous tomboy.
Born in Portland, Ore., two years after the original series debuted on ABC, Sackhoff started performing in dance and drama classes by the time she was six. She also pursued athletics as a swimmer throughout high school, developing a competitive edge that would inform her portrayal as the tough, back-talking Colonial Warrior.
Sackhoff moved down to Los Angeles after high school, and in short order landed a role in the Kirsten Dunst TV movie “Fifteen & Pregnant,” (1998). She followed that with the lead role of Claire on the MTV pilot “Locust Valley” (1999). From there, it was a steady stream of television work, including parts in “Hefner: Unauthorized” (1999) and “The Fearing Mind,” (2000). After a recurring role on the sexy MTV series “Undressed” (2000), she won her first regular part on a major network comedy-drama, CBS’ “The Education of Max Bickford,” (2001) opposite Richard Dreyfuss and Marcia Gay Harden.
Sackhoff made her big screen debut with “My First Mister” (2001) with Christine Lahti, and then made her genre splash with “Halloween: Resurrection” (2002). Between silver screen gigs, she’s had stints on “ER,” “Zoe Duncan Jack and Jane," “Boomtown" and “Cold Case."
Although the new incarnation of “Battlestar” and its subsequent series (Sci-Fi, 2005 - ) was met with a fair amount of skepticism when it debuted, new and old fans alike have come to embrace the show as one of the best sci-fi shows to grace the airwaves, thanks in no small part to Sackhoff, who managed to be both tough and vulnerable, bringing an extra dimension to a critical character in the thrilling space saga.