Jewel Staite: meet the sci-fi set's mew barbarellla

To be able to take on an alien life form is every Trekkie's dream, but at the age of 23, Jewel Staite has already done it more times than she'd care to remember. The actress, who was discovered in a Vancouver shopping mall at age 5, has appeared on the Canadian series Space Cases and had walk-on parts on cable series like Stargate: Atlantis and The X-Files, but her biggest break came when she landed a role on Buffy the Vampire Slayer auteur Joss Whedon's 2002 series Firefly, about a group of quick-witted intergalactic travelers aboard an imperiled spaceship. Though Firefly was cancelled after only 11 episodes, through-the-roof DVD sales and internet campaigns by Whedon loyalists have resurrected it in the form of Whedon's new movie Serenity. In the film Staite reprises her role as the titular ship's sexy mechanic Kaylee Frye. "She's kind of a floozy who wears her heart on her sleeve," says the actress.

With an ever-expanding resume of spaceships and aliens, Staite--who lives a relatively quiet life with her husband in Vancouver--is well on her way to becoming an out-of-this-world pinup for the Buffy set. Still, the actress says she's ready to explore new galaxies: "I would love to do a freakin' musical or a comedy. Please! Anything!"

Sarah Cristobal last wrote about Alexis Dziena in the August issue.

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