Battlestar Galactica - CinemaSpy: Exclusive Interview - Rekha Sharma

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Exclusive Interview: 'Battlestar Galactica's' Rekha Sharma

A candid conversation with one of the 'final five'

By Robert Falconer | Tuesday, January 13, 2009

With only two days left until the final 10 episodes of Battlestar Galactica debut on SCI FI Channel (SPACE in Canada), and 10 webisodes entitled "The Resistance" that have teased viewers during the interim break, anticipation about how this show is going to wrap is building to a fever pitch. By all accounts the series has been fortunate in that the producers had the opportunity to dovetail it's various story threads into a conclusion that satisfied them, something executive producer Ron Moore told TV Guide in the past few days.

"I think we were able to answer most of the questions that we’d raised over the years," Moore said. "And, sort of, to resolve most of the mysteries and at the same time give a resolution to all the character arcs and to wrap it up by the end. And we don’t save everything until the last episode. We sort of start answering questions along the way."

Chief amongst those questions, of course, is 'Who is the final Cylon?', something about which fans have been speculating across the blogosphere since the show ended its fourth season last March, with the fleet arriving at what — on the surface at least — is ostensibly Earth after some sort of apocalypse. Theories abound, but while we wait for the mystery to begin unraveling this Friday, we thought it would be appropriate to sit and chat with one member of the 'final five' for whom mystery and surprise has been a constant companion: Tory Foster, aka Canadian actress Rekha Sharma. As most readers well know, Tory embraced her inner Cylon (piss her off, say hello to an airlock) even while Tigh fluttered about in denial, the Chief cogitated, and Anders just went along with the whole thing, few questions asked.

For Sharma, it's a role that she has thoroughly embraced. The charming Vancouver-born actress — who has been featured on such American shows as Dark Angel, Smallville and John Doe, along with popular Canadian series such as DaVinci's City Hall and The Guard — is intelligent, warm, gracious and very cognizant of the fact that Galactica has offered a level of performance intensity and opportunity that comes along rarely for most actors. (To watch her debut scene on the series, click the Video tab at the top of the article.)

A brief excerpt:

Robert: Let's get right to it and talk about Galactica's final 10 episodes. Are you excited about what happens to Tory?

Rekha Sharma: Yeah...yeah...yeah. But I can't tell you what happens [laughs]. Other than to say it is beautiful, touching, heartbreaking and exciting. When I read the script for the two part ending there were about ten pages where my heart was literally racing as I was reading it. And there was another part where I was crying. I was on a plane and there was a woman next to me looking at me like I was insane as I was reading it and wiping the tears from my eyes.