Getting Razor Sharp with Stephanie Jacobson About Her Role in Battlestar Galactica

"Fundamentally, I would just say her complexity. I mean, what she was for me was I guess just almost sterile. As an actor when part of playing a role is to follow your instincts about revealing human emotions, to sort of go against all of those instincts, pull the emotions right back and cover them up was an enormous challenge for me and it was actually very, very fulfilling."

Stephanie Jacobsen is talking about her role as Major Kendra Shaw in Razor, the latest exciting new chapter to the SCI FI Channel's hit series, Battlestar Galactica.

Razor, which will air as a special two-hour made for television movie on The SCI FI Channel Saturday, November 24th at 9:00 pm EST, will serve as a backdrop for the events of the upcoming season four of Battlestar Galactica and tells the story of Lee Adama's first mission as the commander of the Battlestar Pegasus - and the harrowing tale of that ship's desperate fight for survival in the immediate aftermath of the Cylon's genocidal siege of the Twelve Colonies.

Stephanie Jacobsen takes on the role of Lee Adama's new XO, Major Kendra Shaw. Press releases from SCI FI describe the character of Kendra Shaw as plagued by memories of her service and sacrifices under Admiral Helena Cain, who was able to save her ship during the Cylon attack by making Shaw and her fellow officers rationalize suicidal battle tactics and brutal war crimes against their own people.

It was in this crushing aspect of being at war that Kenda Shaw was forced to have her hesitation and doubts burned away, until all that remains of her was a human weapon that was something akin to the honed edge a blade, what Colonial veterans call "a razor." However like any finely honed edged weapon, it can cut two ways -carving an enemy to pieces or shredding the very soul of person that weapon once was.

In a recent teleconference with reporters, Jacobsen discusses taking on these aspects of her character and about coming into and being a part of the mystique of such a successful scifi series as Battlestar Galactica.

Jacobson, who hails from Sydney Australia, says that she came into her role as Kendra Shaw in Razor having a basic understanding of the premise of Battlestar Galactic but that she wasn't particularly up to date on watching the episodes. That didn't stop her from being very excited about coming on board.

"I mean it was definitely something that I recognized as being a fantastic show and I was over the moon when I got the job," she says with enthusiasm about joining the cast of Razor. "I'm a huge fan of scifi type series and a show like Battlestar Galactica, it's just something different that doesn't insult the viewer's intelligence. It is raw and it is real and it is believable and I think that's a large part of why the show has been such a huge success."

Even though she was coming into the universe of Battlestar Galactica as someone who was completely new to the environment and new to everyone who was already established in the series, Jacobsen tells us that she felt very welcome. "I have to say that I didn't feel like an outsider stepping in at all like my character did. Everyone was just wonderful. So I didn't have that to draw from. I mean everyone was helpful, accommodating, welcoming, very open, very generous with me in every way. So I didn't have that sort of solitary experience working on Battlestar as my character did."

Jacobsen's character of Major Kendra Shaw is definitely a new addition to the Battlestar Galactica universe and we asked her to tell us a bit about what she thought of this from her perspective as the actor in the role.

"I think that the introduction of Kendra was - it was really I guess an act of boldness and an act of ingenuity because obviously to kind of throw someone into the mix who's never even been alluded to, let alone seen, you know, so many years into an established series is a very, very courageous thing to do. But what I think it did was enabled this entirely new untainted alternative perspective of situations, people and events that had already been told of. So I think that in a sense that sort of risk and that sort of oddness to it was a large extent the point of bringing her into the story."

Jacobsen also shared with us her perspective on how she chose to approach the task of playing the role of Kendra Shaw in Razor.

"There was a lot of clarity in the character just in the writing so as soon as I sort of got the script, I had an idea who Kendra was and what she was about, where she had been and where she was going were all quite clear to me. I mean, for me, the choices about how to play her were pretty much obvious. And I think that despite the fact that her story is encapsulated within this double episode, because I guess we were spending so much time with her we were still able to sort of nurture a collaborative approach to her development."

Jacobsen tells us that this kind of collaborative approach of working with the writers and the director is something she looks for in a project. "That's what I do anyways because otherwise I guess you do sort of risk falling into that trap of fretting over how people are going to perceive you vicariously through your character or what your character is doing. So I think that as an actor you just have to commit to whatever it is and get it done and then sort of worry about it afterwards. I think that every scene that kind of happens in Razor amounts to a very clear and I guess quite a profound philosophy in a sense. So, you know, I don't have any qualms about it."

Jacobsen also talked highly of working with closely with Michelle Forbes who plays Admiral Helena Cain, the one responsible for turning Jacobsen's character into a 'razor'.

"She's almost like a force of nature in a way," Jacobsen says of acting opposite Forbes. "She's really has a tremendous about of focus and intensity in her role. I have to say that working with her was one of the - she made this one of the easiest jobs I've ever done because responding to what she provides on set as a fellow actor is absolutely effortless. It's like she does almost everything. You just have to listen to her and watch her. Yes, she's incredible. I recommended working with her to anyone."

Jacobsen also enjoyed working with Katee Sackoff who plays Starbuck. "Katee Sackhoff is incredible. She is a completely different actress to work with than Michelle Forbes but Katee Sackhoff is possibly the easiest person I've ever worked with as well. She's completely no maintenance. Nothing's a problem. I think I threw like a needle in her eye in one scene and she didn't even blink. Yes, she's fantastic. She's great."

One of the most intriguing things about the role of Major Kendra Shaw in Razor is that the character is being presented in two different timelines at once. She is seen in flashbacks on the Pegasus and in the present on the Galactica. We asked Stephanie Jacobsen if this posed any sort of problem for her in keeping the different aspects of her character straight for each timeline she was involved in.

"Basically we were shooting whatever was on the schedule on the day. So yes it was back and forth quite a bit but they were very kind and gracious with that. But I was able to keep the clarity of the story in my head. I guess because we had sort of a very firm, finite grip on that, both the director and I, the shooting sequence wasn't too much of a drama for me."

Jacobsen also tells us that it was great fun to have her character go through two different stages of development. "It was nice being able to take a character through that process of change. I got to do so much within the one job. I got to be a, you know - the green somewhat naïve rookie who was just taking orders to being, you know, the hard, hard edged commanding officer, who was barking orders. So yes, I had a ball. I had an absolute ball with that character."

The one thing that all of us had on our minds was, because of this existence in two different timelines, did Stephanie Jacobsen think we might see her character of Kendra Shaw again?

"You know, stranger things have happened but I've heard of nothing as of yet."

Stephanie Jacobsen might not know if she will ever be returning to the universe of Battlestar Galactica, but viewers can see her as Major Kendra Shaw in the special two hour movie Battlestar Galactica - Razor airing on the The SCI FI Channel this Saturday, November 24th at 9PM EST.