// COVER GIRLS // GRACE PARK
GRACE PARK
After five years of cult stardom, Battlestar Galactica’s sexiest spacewoman is heading into the great unknown: fame.
Interview by Tim Leong
Styling by anoma Ya Whittaker
Photographs by Miko Lim
Already well-known in her native Canada2, she shot to cult stardom in 2003 with Battlestar Galactica, in which she plays the robots-in-disguise Boomer/Athena3. (We hear you laughing—go frak yourself, it’s a good show.) Right now BSG is in its final season, which makes this an interesting time for the 34-year-old beauty: What happens when the show that made you a star ends? (Richard Grieco, anyone?) The thing is, even though she’s got another show starting in July—A&E’s extreme intervention drama The Cleaner4—fame isn’t the name of the game. For her, there’s such a thing as “too famous too fast,” and she’s willing to put the brakes on acting if that happens. Keep your 100 mph Hollywood hoes; we’re going to slow our roll and put it in Park. Well, not literally. You know what we mean. Reeeeal respectful-like.
The success of Battlestar kinda came out of nowhere, and now everyone on the show is a star in their own right; how have you dealt with the fame and fans?
Grace Park: One of the things I like about Battlestar is that we’re a cult hit. We’re not on Lost, and not every single person is pointing fingers at us. I went out with Daniel Dae Kim [Jin on Lost]—we hosted a show together, and we were sitting at some restaurant. And everyone that walked by would wave at me like, “Congratulations, you know Daniel Dae Kim,” or “I know him too!” He’s in a much more high-profile position, so he’s dealing with the public a lot more. I love not doing that as much, just to have your anonymity.
Are you good with the public?
Grace Park: I think so. I hope so.
No fistfights?
Grace Park: Not yet. Don’t mess with me.
Have you ever hit somebody?
Grace Park: No, I’ve never. [Pause.] OK, guys, but mostly in the chest.
Like, playful, or actually hitting them?
Grace Park: Well, the cover is playful, but really I try to hit them as hard as I can.
And they’re like, “Oh, I’m sorry, did you touch me? I didn’t feel that.”
Grace Park: Then I have to pick them up off the floor.
“And then I gotta go pick ’em up at the morgue.”
Grace Park: [Laughs.]
Battlestar was your big hit. And it’s ending. Have you thought about that? What happens when it ends?
Grace Park: I guess we see other actors and we associate them with one TV show, and then maybe you don’t see them again for a long time. I’ve never really thought about that.
You haven’t thought about that?
Grace Park: Thanks! Because I think what usually happens is that once you enter the machine and you get on a hit show, and it starts to end, managers, publicists start to say, “OK, let’s get you on another show, it’s time to capitalize on what you’ve got.” But I don’t understand why people want to be famous.
But you were a model.
Grace Park: Yeah, but models don’t do it to be famous. They do it to make money.
COMPLEX QUIZ
Grace submits to a quiz on robots and...brings some shame upon the House of Cylon.
Click here to watch the video.
Grace Park Flip Book
Grace looks like a piece of art from every angle. Click here to see for yourself.
1. Her Hollywood debut was “Asian Dancer” in Romeo Must Die. The director tried to change her role to “Bisexual Asian Stripper” and have her disrobe for the camera; Grace negged the nudity but did kiss another girl. That’s a compromise we can get behind.
2. Grace first became famous on the Canadian teen drama Edgemont, along with Smallville star Kristin Kreuk. Canadian-Asian fetishists, rejoice! Yeah, you know what we’re talking aboot.
3. See, there are all these robots that look like people, but there are only 12 different people they can look like, so there are, like, a gang of robots that all look like Grace Pa—you know what? Ignore us. Just go for a walk or have sex or something.
4. To prep for the show, Grace toured a drug-prone area in Vancouver and learned the Hastings Shuffle—the side-to-side wobble that junkies stumble through after a fix. More efficient prep: Amy Winehouse videos on TMZ.
