Two of the high points of the Utopia convention were Luciana's question-and-answer panels on Saturday and Sunday.

During these Q&A sessions, we got to know both the actress and the person Luciana. Not only did she give interesting insights into her profession, the fans also enjoyed candid information about her personal life and her profound love for animals and everything living. Her frankness and captivating way of telling the various anecdotes quickly won the audience over.

At time, she actually re-enacted some of the situations she described, letting the audience feel with her and experience her emotions, for example the sad moment when she found out her character Kat would die, her first meeting with Al Pacino, or her joy when she was reunited after with her dog Alazar after he had been missing for several months.

The following transcript, written by Lex from Caprica City, covers most of the questions from both Q&A panels. You can discuss her answers here on the Fan Board.


First Q&A panel (Saturday)

Question: What do you watch on TV?

Luciana: You know, I don't have much time to watch TV. Even when I don't have a full-time job, I can't take the time to watch TV. What I do is, I usually get box sets, I have a ton of box sets. I love Six Feet Under and Carnivŕle, Deadwood... I love The Sopranos and I really like Pushing Daisies, that's a great show! I like the Cosby Show, can never watch enough of that, I love Bill Cosby. And I love Lucy. In my spare time I really are into my studying right now. I do a lot of that, I'm auditioning a lot. And I hike a lot, spent time at animal shelters walking the dogs. I love animals and I wish I could adopt all of them. I got four of them already.


Question: Are you planning to get into writing?

Luciana: No, that's something I hadn't tapped into yet. I wasn't very good at school when it came to writing. Hopefully I get into writing one day. I'm more interested in directing and producing. Maybe one day I'll write something but right now I like performing to what's already written. There's really great material.


Question: Do you think your experience as an actress will help you with producing and directing?

Luciana: Yeah, I think so, of course. Because I can relate to the actors and work things in a way that they know what I want from them.


Question: What superpower would you like to have?

Luciana: I like to be invinsible, that would be cool. Or walk through walls, that would be great, too. Flying would be really cool, or shooting fire from my hands. I'd be a fly on the wall and would just watch people who don't know that I'm in the room, a spy.


Question: You played a pregnant woman in "Snowglobe". What were your experiences wearing that fake belly?

Luciana: Oh yeah, some of the crew didn't know that it was fake, that I wasn't really pregnant. So they went "You look really great, you haven't gained any weight, it's all stomach". Yeah, they do treat you different. We shot most of it in a skating range and there were people playing hockey on the other part and, you know, I smoke. They saw me smoking and I got those really dirty looks. How dare you!


Question: What are your plans for the future?

Luciana: Well, I don't have anything lined up right now, but we'll see. Something will come up, hopefully something really good. Hopefully it's my own show. I'm waiting, I'm gonna pay my dues. I just keep doing what I'm doing, and eventually good things will happen.


Question: How did you learn that Kat's gonna die?

Luciana: I guess David Eick and Ron Moore planned to call me and tell me about it, but they didn't. I was at the Airport, at LAX [Los Angeles International Airport] flying to Vancouver to shoot "Unfinished Business", the boxing one. I got my script delivered for "The Passage" and my room mate at that time called me at the airport and said "Oh my god Luciana, you're all over this script, the whole script is about you". I was like "Why are you reading my scripts?" and she said "I couldn't resist".

I said "Can you just go to the last page? Tell me what the last page says" and with that enthusiasm she said "...and then they put your picture on the memorial wall!" She didn't watch the show so she didn't know what the memorial wall was. I was like "What?!?" I was there, on LAX, crying my eyes out "Oh my god, I'm dying!" The people at the airport came "are you okay", they thought I was really sick and [that] I got a phone call from my doctor. I cried the whole flight back to Vancouver. I called my mom and we both were crying.

And then I got a phone call from David and Ron. I switched to that call and they said "Hi, here's Ron and David" and I said cryingly "you got me at a bad time, you know? I'm mourning the death of my character". I guess their intention was to call me first, but the script got to me a little early. So, that's how I found out. I forgave them.


Question: What music do you like?

Luciana: I like all kinds of music. I like Hip Hop, I like Reggae, I like Pop and I really like oldies, stuff from the sixties and the seventies, old rock. That's the kind of music I like, everything that moves me. Sometimes country.


Question: Battlestar Galactica has one of the most unique presentations of a show, like unique video editing, that none of the other SF shows have. Is there anything unique in it compared to any of the other shows that you worked on, like Smallville, a unique feeling for working in the BSG environment out there in Vancouver?

Luciana: Oh yes, I mean, once you walk on set, it's Galactica world, and I've never worked on a set where everybody loves the show so much, including the background artists. I mean, the background artists have been with us since season one, and there are regular background artists, they know the show inside out. They probably know it better than I do, because they are at every single episode, every single scene.

Everybody loves the show so much, that once you walk into that set, it's like, you are not even on earth anymore. And then it goes to everything else that is involved, like the DP (director of photography). I mean, the number one thing that makes the show look the way it does so much is the way it is shot. And the smoke, what do they call it? The fake smoke. They use that in every scene. So it's always filled with smoke and it gives it that really gritty look.

So yes, it's a combination of everybody loving the show and being big fans of the show themselves. And our DP and directors and sound guys - we have got like one of the best crews I think in anywhere out there.


Second Q&A panel (Sunday)

Question: What is the best question you have ever been asked at a convention?

Luciana: I don't know, I have only been to three. I can only act to that. I mean, all the questions are good. I don't have that much experience with conventions.


Question: How does Utopia compare to the other two?

Luciana: Well, the European crowd... I love the Europeans. I am a European, my parents are Italian. They are all special in their own way, I have been to very intimate conventions, and this is another intimate convention. The convention I went to in Dallas was a very small convention as well, and, you know, there is nothing like sci-fi people. I am so happy that I have been on a sci-fi show, because now I am a part of this world, too. It's a tight-knit community and you guys all love each other and have a lot of fun. You are so warming, you know, warming to us. I love these conventions. I have never been to one of those big ones with those thousands and thousands of people, so I can't really compare to anything like that. You guys are great. I had a blast.


Question: What is the catering like at the set?

Luciana: There is a store just around the corner, but we don't go for lunch there. Eddie - Edward James Olmos - his main thing is: "Feed the crew well. Feed the cast and the crew really well and everybody is gonna be happy." We have the best cateres ever. I mean, we eat top-notch food, lobsters sometimes, it's just the best food. Everybody says that is the best part of work, when you have lunch. And Eddie is right. As soon as you feed everybody, and everybody eats a really good meal, everybody is happy and ready to go back to work.


Question: How much time do you spend on the set until the episode you are working on is finished? And do they shoot several episodes at once?

Luciana: It takes about nine days to shoot an episode. Sometimes they shoot two episodes at once. It depends on the Cylons, anything that goes on with the Cylons, anything that is on the basestar – that's shot by second unit. So it's a whole other crew that they are using. When they shoot anything that's green-screen, it's second unit, another crew. When they shoot first unit, like what happens on the ship or anything else, that is first unit – a whole other crew of people.


Question: What do you like to do in your leisure time?

Luciana: When I am at home, I don't have a lot of spare time now. I am in school now, doing theater school, I am in school four times a week. One of my classes is scene-study, so after school I have rehearsals with my scene partner. I also hike every day. I live in Los Angeles now, there is a really nice hike trail there, so I make sure I get a hike in a day. I spent time at the animal shelters, sometimes walking a dog. That's about it! Sometimes I paint, but I'm not very good at it, though. It's very abstract. I like to go shopping, too. That's really bad, everything I like is too expensive for me.


Question: Who is your favorite guy on the set?

Luciana: I love them all, it's like a big family there. Me and Bodie [Olmos], "Hot Dog", we're really good friends outside work. And Dualla [Kandyse McClure], she's a really good friend of mine. Nicki Clyne, too. Those are the people I keep regular contact with, Kandyse and Nicki. Nicki now lives in New York, I don't know if you guys know about that, so it's hard to see each other and we talk more via Facebook or Myspace or telephone, text messages. Kandyse is still in Vancouver, I live in Los Angeles. Bodie lives in Los Angeles now, too. We're always hanging out.


Question: Did you keep anything from the set? Something you "forgot to give back", like a small prop?

Luciana: Didn't give back? How do you know that weren't gifts for me? No, I wish I did. I do have my dog tags, but those were a gift, I didn't take those. No, I didn't steal anything from set.


Question: Do you know anything about the spin-off "Caprica"?

Luciana: No, I don't know anything about it. I'm waiting for a phone call from Ron Moore. But I don't think I, or Kat, can be in it. Maybe as Cylon, you never know. Or as my mother, maybe. That would be cool, let's make that!


Question: Any stories on Lucy Lawless [D'anna Biers]?

Luciana: Oh, Lucy Lawless. I didn't know who she was. It was at "Final Cut" when I first met her and I said "oh hi, what's your name?" and she said "Lucy". And I went "Oh my gosh! That's what they used to call me when I was a kid. What's your last name?". She said "Lawless" and I was like "Hmmm... sounds familiar. Lucy Lawless...". And then I realized she was Xena, the warrior princess. I watched the show but she looked so different because she was blonde. That was pretty embarrassing, she's really big, a big name.

I didn't know who Edward James Olmos was, either. I didn't! When I was on my first episode on "Battlestar", I had two lines in it. And I got this phonecall from Bodie, and I didn't know who he was either. He said "Hi, I just got in from L.A. and I was wondering if you want to run lines with me". You know, we only got two lines and we really didn't need to practice. He said "I know, I just really want to be prepared". I thought wow, what a really good actor and I said "of course, let's do it!"

So I went to this hotel and we started talking. He said "my father is on the show". I didn't know anything about the show and he said "Yeah, he's Edward James Olmos" and I was "Oh, who's that?". And he was like "Uh, you know who Tom Cruise is?" and I said "Yeah, of course I know that". He answered "He's just as big as Tom Cruise" and I said "Huh"? He had the pilot with him and he said "Let's watch it". I said "Sure, I want to know what show I'm on". So we went up to his room and we started to watch the pilot. And I was "Oh, look at that guy, he's a great actor" and he said "Yeah, that's my dad." I promise to get better and learn the actors' names.


Question: There are some strong female characters on the show, like your Kat or Starbuck, and they have a strong lesbian fan base. Are you aware of that?

Luciana: No, I didn't know that. But I saw something on YouTube. I'm a big YouTube fan, I could spend hours there. And I saw this video with Kat and Starbuck as lesbians. I thought it was hilarious, so funny. How do I feel about being a lesbian icon? I love it! I love lesbians.

I was on The L Word as well. It was work. You know, I didn't have the biggest part, and I was happy that they brought me back a few times. They wanted to extend my character but I don't do nudity. L Word has a lot of nudity and they would've extended my role if I'd done nudity, but I'm not into doing that. That's where it ended, but it was cool. It's a great show, I love it.


Question: How was it to wear those flight suits the whole day?

Luciana: They are so uncomfortable. It's rubber from your ankle to your neck, no ventilation. In the wintertime, you're freezing cold and in summertime, you're sweating. It's torture, but you get used to it. We had to wear some kind of micro fiber under it that was supposed to get the sweat of your skin. If you take that of, it sticks to you. Nasty.


Question: Battlestar is shot very intense, very near. How was that for you?

Luciana: We use a lot of steady cams on the show. So this guy with the camera is actually walking with you, following you around. If I move a little bit, they just follow. That's great because I don't have to hit my mark all the time. For the most part, I love it, I love steady cam. I'm not afraid of the camera. I love the way "Battlestar" is shot. When you're running they are running with you. It's just amazing, we got really great people on our team.


Question: What should have happened to Kat if she hadn't died?

Luciana: I know a lot of you guys wouldn't like that, but I would've loved to be a Cylon. I love the Cylons, sometimes I think the Cylons are right. Sometimes I think they got a better point than the humans. Sometimes I think they are more humane than the humans. I would've loved to be more on the ship with my other cast members and that the story goes deeper into my character. I would've liked that. But I'm dead now. Well, Kat is dead, not me. I try not to think about that. That's the past.


Question: The way Kat died was very intense. How did you prepare for something like that?

Luciana: Well, I researched radiation poisoning and what it was like to get that. It wasn't that hard for me to get into that. I was dying, and I was dying since the beginning of the show pretty much all the way through. I switched my badge with Helo's badge. I knew what I was doing, or Kat knew what she was doing. I was miserable that week anyway because it was my last episode. It was just like saying goodbye to anyone. It was kind of what happened to me in real life for me. I really wished I could've enjoyed myself a little bit more that week, but I was just not a happy kid.

I remember shooting that last scene with Eddie. I always wanted to shoot a scene with him and it was such a beautiful scene. Eddie kept saying that was a really great scene, demo reel material, we should really love this. And I kept going "I hate this scene!" and kept jumping out of my hospital bed. Of course that was a great scene. That was really sad.


Question: Do you know more about Kat's, or Sasha's, past?

Luciana: I had to make my own history, they didn't give me any kind of information. All I knew is that she was a drug runner so I had to make my own back story to that. Me and Patrick Currie, who played Enzo, the other guy. I liked the guy but I didn't like the character. So I had to make my own back story and what we came up with was that we were lovers at one time. I used to work for him and he had that strong hold on me. I had a hard time to believe that because Kat was such a strong character, a strong woman. For a man like him to have such control over her and for her to fear him, it just wasn't believable for me.

But those were the given circumstances. I had to stay true to the writing of the story. I had to convince myself that this guy really scares me. The backstory we made up made sense for me because of the fact that she was transporting humans. She may have been responsible somehow for the Cylon attack and that's why she felt the need to change her name and go to Galactica and reclaim herself. I hope that makes sense.


Question: Is there a dream project you'd like to realize?

Luciana: At the moment, there's a big trial against Michael Vick [former quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons] about pitbull fighting in America. I'm really against that, it really breaks my heart that people let dogs fight and that pitbulls got that bad reputation. They're thinking of banning pitbulls in America. Pitbulls are very good dogs and they do what their owners taught them to do. When you train a pitbull to kill, that's what it's gonna do. If you teach it to love, that's what it's gonna do.

I'd like to do a documentary on that and animal cruelty. I really feel strong about that. I love animals and they shouldn't be treated like that. They don't have a voice. They do what they told to do, they don't have a free will and they can't run away. You know, they're kind of stuck where they are. I wish there were harder laws on people who harass animals.


Question: How did you get your part on Battlestar Galactica?

Luciana: I auditioned for that. I auditioned for the two or three lines I had on the show. I had an audition for [the TV movie] "Painkiller Jane" before that. I was very close to get that job but they ended up going with another girl. After that I went to Battlestar and I went into it with my Xbox joystick and said my lines like this (wiggling with an imaginary joystick). That really got me into it. You know when little boys play with their Xboxes, that's what I did. And they brought me back, and brought me back again. And it ended up being a three-year gig.


Question: You love animals. Are you a dog or a cat person?

Luciana: I'm a "both person". I love all animals. I got two cats of my own, Fly Girl and Monami, both "straight from the alley" cats, both rescued. And I have two dogs, Alazar, a Bicha-poodle, and Tiamo, a Bichon Maltais. My dog Alazar, he was a rescued too, he went missing two months after I adopted him. I had a room mate who was very clumsy. My computer had crashed and I had to get another computer. I always brought Alazar everywhere with me, but this one time I thought "ah, I can't bring you to Future Shop", so Alazar stayed home and I got in my car and when I came home I opened the door and the dog was gone.

What happened was that she – we didn't have in-suite laundry at that time – she went down to the laundry man and she had forgotten her wallet. As she realized that she forgot it at the laundry man, she ran out the house and left the door open. So the dog ran out. And since he had just been adopted he didn't know the neighborhood. That was worse than being killed on Battlestar, my dog went missing for four and a half months. I posted signs on every single telephone pole, in every veterinary office.

Because he was so cute I knew somebody has him. I knew that he wasn't in a shelter and I knew he wasn't killed. But nobody was calling about the dog, I was so sad. And one day, and I'll never do this again, I went to get Tiamo. I don't regret getting him but I'm really against buying animals in pet stores. But I was in a messed up head frame and I actually walked to a pet store and bought a new dog, a puppy. I tried to make him look exactly like the dog that went missing.

When I got him he was like two months old. I don't know if you guys know the photo where he was eating my shoe? I looked at him and thought "I don't even know if I like you, you're not Alazar". But I felt weak and I love him. You can't replace an animal. They're like babies, and it just wasn't the same. Another dog with a different personality. And he was so sweet because he was a puppy. He eats, sleeps and poops everywhere.

Then, after two or three months, I went to shoot Everwood in Salt Lake City and I got that phone call from my veterinary, telling me my dog, Alazar, was taken to this veterinary clinic. I thought "Oh my god he's alive, where is he?" but they couldn't tell me exactly where he is and gave me the number of the clinic he went into. He was tattooed in his ear and they traced him back. What happened was he went from shelter to shelter to shelter. I was telepathically telling this dog to poop and pee in everybody's houses, to do everything I taught him not to do. And he was doing it! He kept pooping and peeing in everybodys houses, so the people kept giving him to somebody else.

Eventually he went to a shelter and was adopted by this wonderful lady. And nobody knew that he was a missing dog, because the person who brought him to the shelter said that this was his dog. So they sold him to that lady and she brought him to that veterinary clinic to see if he was okay. So I got that call and it was a big mess. I was shooting the show and luckily it was Friday when I got that call. I finished shooting, jumped in a plane and flew back to Vancouver.

They wanted proof that it was my dog and I went "Look, if you don't give me back my dog, something is gonna happen". I don't know what and they had to help me to keep the peace. So I ended up getting my dog back after four and a half months. It is a miracle.


Question: What do you think about Starbuck?

Luciana: She's a very complex woman, and there are a lot of similarities between Kat and Starbuck. They're both very strong and they both love Galactica. Both very complex characters, and Kat had a drug problem as well. She took a lot of stims and Starbuck got through a lot of tumult in her head. I think Kat was really justified why she was acting the way she was towards Starbuck because, like she said, she was acting irresponsible and people ended up dying because of her behavior, other pilots.


Question: What would you do if you could choose between becoming a very famous actress like Meryl Streep or a famous spokesperson for animal rights?

Luciana: I'd be Meryl Streep and then an animal activist, because then people would listen to me more.