An exotic Asian beauty who has frequently found roles in sci-fi and fantasy fare, Grace Park’s cult fan base expanded dramatically with her breakout role as Boomer in the Sci-Fi Channel’s refurbished franchise “Battlestar Galactica” (miniseries 2003; series 2005 - ).
Born in Los Angeles, Park, who started her career as a model, initially made her mark on genre television, beginning with a guest shot of the Showtime sci-fi series “Stargate SG-1” in 1997. She then raised eyebrows with her provocative scene as a stripper in the action feature “Romeo Must Die” (2000)--small part or not, she left an indelible impression with fans. Her acting career heated up with a guest role in UPN’s short-lived action series “Secret Agent Man,” (2000-2001), which led to her first regular series role, playing Shannon Ng in the Fox Family Channel’s teen drama “Edgemont” (2000-2001). That led to a recurring role in the cult series “The Immortal” (syndicated, 2000-2001), and guest appearances on “The Outer Limits,” “Dark Angel” and “Jake 2.0.” Among her non-genre credits, she appeared in the reunion telepic “L.A. Law: The Movie” (NBC, 2002).
The actress next took on a tour of duty aboard “Galactica." Like her co-star Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck, Park was cast in a role played in the original 1978 series by a man (Herb Jefferson Jr.), and an African American man at that. Even though the first Boomer was a minor supporting player, the character’s transition to an Asian woman was the source of much debate by die-hard purists devoted to the original prior to the miniseries debut in 2003.
Park was generally spared fan invective once the show aired, in part because her character was so radically different—indeed, once the follow-up series debuted, Park became one of the only actresses on television playing two intertwining roles, each with a split personality: first, as the rookie Colonial Warrior Lt. Sharon “Boomer” Valerii, and second, as the evil mechanical Cylon’s identical replacement for Boomer, a deep cover mole within Galactica who is unaware that she’s actually a Cylon construct. Park’s evocative portrayal of her character’s struggles with her true nature helped raise the bar for above and beyond the sci-fi opus’ pop culture origins into one of TV’s weightier series, genre or otherwise.