Katee Sackhoff

Katee Sackhoff plays Kara “Starbuck” Thrace in Battlestar Galactica. She makes the pilot's confidence exhilarating and her poor judgement entirely believable. Starbuck can be very good at the task in front of her and remarkably bad at leaving a difficult conversation alone. Those rough edges are a large part of the attraction.

Sackhoff also plays Vic Moretti in Longmire, bringing a different sort of directness to the sheriff's department in a modern Western. Her work as Bo-Katan Kryze began in the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars and continued into live action in The Mandalorian.

Starbuck is the role that gives her the most personal significance for me. Sackhoff doesn't make toughness look like a permanent state of certainty. There is impatience, humour and vulnerability alongside it, which makes returning to the character more rewarding than simply waiting for another impressive flight.