Although Katee Sackhoff has been professionally acting since 1997, she scored her breakthrough role when she was cast as Kara “Starbuck” Thrace in the Battlestar Galactica reimagining in 2003. Originally conceived as a miniseries, it evolved into a four-season series (plus two tie-in movies) boasting an ensemble cast anchored by Edward James Olmos as William Adama. Battlestar Galactica ended in 2009, but there was an acting note that Olmos gave Sackhoff early into its run that has stuck with her through her career.
The actress shared this note during an episode of Back to Battlestar: Katee's First Watch, where she watches Battlestar Galactica episodes for the first time alongside her husband, Robin Gadsby. For this installment, the duo watched Season 1’s “Act of Contrition,” in which Kara reveals to Adama that his late son Zack failed basic training, but she passed him anyway because they were engaged, which paved the way for him to die in a flying accident. Ahead of starting “Act of Contrition,” Sackhoff recalled the following to Gadsby about when she and Olmos were filming this:
