Original is here.

EXPRESS: Has "Battlestar" finally made sci fi cool?
SACKHOFF: I don't think it's ever going to be completely accepted. It's always been a weird genre. But it's nice that "Battlestar" remains a little secret. It's nice to feel that our viewership is manageable. I wouldn't want it to become too mainstream.

EXPRESS: You've become a tough-girl icon with this role. Who inspired you?
SACKHOFF: Well, I never met a woman who beat up a man or met a woman in a profession like Starbuck's. So I based this character on my brother. He's brilliant — he works building houses, he builds cars and blows glass. He's a creative tough guy.

EXPRESS: In Season 3, we get to see a gentler, long-haired Starbuck. Do the locks stay on?
SACKHOFF: Nobody was more excited than me to have Kara with longer hair! It's a way to show she's let the military go. She's allowed herself to be happy. This character, I keep telling everyone, is not kicking herself down. The world and people she knows keep kicking her back. It's a horrible thing. I feel bad for her.

EXPRESS: You play a soldier, so you have to wear work clothes on "Galactica," while the women portraying the robots [Cylons] wear heels and cocktail frocks. Do you mind?
SACKHOFF: I look at them walking around in their stilettos, and I thank God I'm not a Cylon. But I try to make Kara's uniform different — I wear shorts with military boots and different clothes I've stolen from men.

EXPRESS: What do you wear in real life?
SACKHOFF: I like to dress up. When I leave my house, it's in a dress or really short jean-shorts — the kind that, if you bend over, your grandmother would be embarrassed.

EXPRESS: Any fashion obsessions?
SACKHOFF: I own so many pairs of shoes that it's ridiculous, all of them high heels. I just bought the most beautiful pair of gold Gucci stilettos.

EXPRESS: What do you wear on the red carpet?
SACKHOFF: I don't really like the red carpet. It's a side of this business that I get very nervous with. I'm comfortable behind the camera, but the red carpet is scary. But I have one cut of dress I wear, a kind that ties around the waist and is cut really low, that works on me.

EXPRESS: Starbuck is such a buff character. How do you stay in shape?
SACKHOFF: I run four miles a day, and on the weekends I keep running until it hurts — about 12 miles.

EXPRESS: You own a house in Washington state near the "BG" set in British Columbia. How'd you decorate?
SACKHOFF: I went with a lot of neutral — dark wood, big cushy sofas and an antique door converted into a table. When I get home, I don't want to see anything but a view of the ocean and a glass of wine.

EXPRESS: What kind of wine is in that glass?
SACKHOFF: I love white wines like pinot grigio, but I'm learning my reds. They're daunting.

EXPRESS: How's it different from what Starbuck slurps?
SACKHOFF: Starbuck pretty much drinks anything if it's liquor.

EXPRESS: You also own a house in LA. Is it different from the Washington State place?
SACKHOFF: My house in LA is very extreme. My master bedroom is a chocolaty-purple color, it looks black! And my guest bedroom is blood red. My Peabody is on the mantel there.

EXPRESS: Any prize possession at either spread?
SACKHOFF: My dogs. I have one, Meatball, who is 14. He's part pug and part Chihuahua. He's the cutest thing. I've also got Nelly, who's a 7-month-old pug. She runs the entire house.

EXPRESS: Do you whip up anything good in the kitchen?
SACKHOFF: I bake really well — peach dumplings, cheesecake and lots of cookies. I bake, like, 100 cookies, and bring them to the border guards when I cross into Canada for work.

EXPRESS: What do you drive on your cross-border commute?
SACKHOFF: A Mercedes with crazy rims and tinted windows, and I'm buying a motorcycle. If I'm going to be stereotyped as a sci-fi actress, I'd like to have "rides motorcycle" on my resume.