Saturday, September 12, 2015

Dragon Con's Walk of Fame

One of the things about Dragon Con that I look forward to with great anticipation, and check their website regularly for updates, are the attending celebrities. And we get to see them throughout the convention, whether in the Walk of Fame, the Dragon Con Parade, speaking on panels or dining and partying with conventioneers!

This was a banner year for Battlestar Galactica (BSG) fans! It totally was for me. I got to see and meet more BSG celebrities this year than any previous year. Collectively, the attending celebrities represented classic and contemporary television and cinema, as well as other genres. But I'll keep this post brief and talk only about the Battlestar celebrities I got to meet.


Dragon Con 2015 | Walk of Fame | Tricia Helfer
Dragon Con 2015 | Walk of Fame | Tricia Helfer

Tricia Helfer, Number Six on Battlestar Galactica, is as charming as she is beautiful. And what an amazing actress. The range of characters she played on Battlestar was one of the widest ranging in the show...some of them incredibly dramatic.

I loved her in Ascenion, too, when she was described as "beautiful, manipulative and dangerous". I seriously doubt there's a role she couldn't play. If I were an actor, I'd want to be as brilliant as she is. It's undoubtedly too late to be as sexy as she is, but I be on stage one day, yes?  


Dragon Con 2015 | Walk of Fame | Michael Trucco
Dragon Con 2015 | Walk of Fame | Michael Trucco

Michael Trucco, Sam Anders on Battlestar Galactica, is awesome! You never know what a celebrity is like in person. I've met some I thought would be jovial and intriguing, but not so much. Michael, however, is engaging, funny, gracious...he's a FUN guy!


Dragon Con 2015 | Walk of Fame | Grace Park
Dragon Con 2015 | Walk of Fame | Grace Park

Grace Park, "Boomer" on Battlestar Galactica, is gorgeous, humble and refined. She's graceful, too, and has a killer smile. She's also incredibly talented! In her relatively short television career, she's landed two long series: Battlestar Galactica - 73 episodes, and Hawaii Five-O - 122 episodes.

On one of the panels she was asked if she got a lot of flack because her character--Boomer--was wholly different from the classic series. Her humble answer was that it wasn't too bad, that Katee Sackhoff had taken the brunt of that criticism for changing up Starbuck so much. I thought it was pretty awesome of Grace to not use that as a positioning opportunity.    


Dragon Con 2015 | Walk of Fame | Jamie Bamber
Dragon Con 2015 | Walk of Fame | Jamie Bamber

Jamie Bamber, "Apollo" on Battlestar Galactica, was at the top of my must-meet list. And I'm ever grateful that he's a super nice guy and a gentleman.

I was most impressed with Jamie making a point to thank the fans of Battlestar Galactica for making a show approaching a decade since being on television feel like it's totally current. In fact, fans filled the largest ballrooms for BSG cast member panels on multiple occasions (thousands of people!), including the last day of the Con, which is when we conventioneers are exhausted and winding down.  

I keep forgetting that Jamie is British, so the accent surprises me. It's a nice surprise and reminds me of when I returned stateside after two years in Greece. I was surprised at the frequency I heard, "Where are you from?

Somewhere along the way, hanging with British friends and speaking Greek with a put-on British accent (coupled with my authentic Southern accent, it came out sounding Greek...go figure!), I picked up a not-so-Southern accent. Coming from a family of practical jokers, my answer was frequently, "London" or "Sydney", and people believed me! I had fun with that until "y'all" escaped my lips.


Dragon Con 2015 | Walk of Fame | Jamie Bamber
Dragon Con 2015 | Walk of Fame | Jamie Bamber & Travis

I've had the pleasure of meeting quite a few celebrities over the last five-plus years (since I've been back in Atlanta), but Dragon Con has by far provided the greatest concentration of celebrities and famous personalities. That so many of them at Dragon Con are from entertainment genres that I personally enjoy is a total bonus. And I got to meet, see and hear a LOT of celebrities this year!

If you too would like to meet the finest talent from television and cinematic fame, come to Dragon Con! 2016 will be the convention's 30th anniversary, so I suspect the celebrity lineup will be fantastic! Keep an eye on Dragon Con's "featured guests" page for attending celebrities updates!

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