Tricia Helfer: Hair Apparent

Farrah Fawcett had few acting credits when Charlie's Angels rocketed her into a cultural icon, so how apropos that another rookie thesp, 29-year-old model Tricia Heifer, was cast after a worldwide search to play the poster goddess in NBC's Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels. Heifer was hauling grain and plucking chickens on the family farm in rural Canada until she was discovered at age 17 in a movie theater line by a modeling agent; she soon won the Ford Supermodel of the World contest and became a catwalk staple in New York, Paris and Milan, adorning the ad campaigns of Chanel, Giorgio Armani and Ralph Lauren. We caught up mid-production with the newlywed (to RKO Films exec Jonathan Marshall) newcomer.

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HOLLYWOOD LIFE: You were a model for Victoria's Secret. Did you get to wear the wings and the million-dollar bras?

TRICIA HELFER: I didn't do the wings. I did wear the diamond bra on Regis and Kathie Lee once, but I never did too much of the lingerie. I don't have huge boobs. I was more the sporty clothing girl.

Q: Did you idolize Farrah Fawcett when you were younger?

A: No, I was 2 when it aired, so I didn't know her, really. And I grew up without a television. It's funny because people use a lot of pop culture references to describe something and it has no basis for me.

Q: You're wearing fake hair and nails to play her. Do people treat you differently?

A: When I walk into a store with the whole Farrah hair, everybody stares--men and women alike--and I think that's what was so special about her, because it wasn't just men that thought she was sexy. Women adored her.

Q: Why did you want to play her?

A: It's a really interesting story. She didn't quit the first season for career reasons; that's the misconception. Her husband [Lee Majors] was a big TV star--the fact that she had become a bigger star than him, that she wasn't at home, it upset the whole balance of the relationship. They really did love each other, so it's kind of tragic.

Q: Sounds very A Star Is Born.

A: I don't know! [Laughs]

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Andre Chautard