Cheating is often more efficient.

When I started out on "Star Trek: Voyager" (1995), they had to tell me everything about Star Trek, because I knew nothing about it. I had never seen the original series, I had never seen "Star Trek: The Next Generation" (1987). I think I`d seen a couple of episodes here and there - of the original series, probably. Never seen Voyager. Didn`t know what a Borg was. They gave me a copy of First Contact, the movie, so I could at least see what a Borg was. They also gave me a copy of the Big Star Trek encyclopedia, whatever it is, so that I could bone up on my Star Trek knowledge. Fortunately, it sort of worked for the character that I wouldn`t know any of the back stories of the people on Voyager, because she was coming in cold, like I was. That was actually helpful as opposed to detrimental.

My husband is someone who`s in the real world. It`s a big help that I don`t have both feet in Hollywood.

I`ve always wanted to do this, so it really is a dream come true.

I get to pretend I`m flying into space, and hang out with my friends. That`s what I do for a living.

I could do without the Bubonic Plague.

On her Seven of Nine costume: "Initially, I would stay in the costume much longer than I ended up staying in it, because it takes about twenty minutes to get into. Someone has to dress me and undress me. It`s a production break if I have to get out of the costume to use the rest room or something. It grinds to a halt unless they can shoot something without me, which typically they can`t, if it`s a scene that I`m in. So, in the interest of being a team player, the first season, I would not take rest room breaks, I just didn`t drink anything on set, which is not the healthiest thing to do."

It doesn`t bother me that Seven has such an overtly sexual presence, because she has no concept of what effect that physical package would have on some male member of the crew. That`s what`s fun, her innocence.

I have a lot of fun with guns, especially the M-16, but my favourite is my little .22. It fits nicely in the palm of your hand. I do limit myself to blanks.

That`s what makes a character interesting from an actor`s perspective - the more screwed up, the better.

My husband travels a lot with his job, so we have a lot of frequent flyer miles so we can hop on a plane with no notice. That`s a nice luxury and he is very supportive.

I have no specific ideas in mind of what I will or won`t do; it`s all about the roles.

I had never seen much of Star Trek, or any other science fiction, before I was cast. But Seven`s wonderful.

I`m not real impressed with the Star Trek weaponry, I gotta be honest.

My background has been very helpful for this experience. But everyone was so accommodating because they knew it`s not the most comfortable position to be the new kid.

The costume that I wear on the show is a little snug and doesn`t leave a whole lot to the imagination. I don`t have a problem with it because of the way this character`s been written.

He`s a good man and good father - on her ex husband Jack Ryan who is running for US Senator in Illinois

There are three things pageant women do. There`s the Vaseline thing, which I didn`t do. There`s duct-taping your boobs, which I never did because I`m not into pain. The third thing is using athletic spray adhesive on your butt to keep your swimsuit in place. I did do that. So one out of three ain`t bad.

West Hollywood is predominantly gay, so every man that came into the grocery store was shopping for his boyfriend.

I was always a fan of horror films as a kid.

We love our jobs, but I don`t think any of us look at it as though we`re doing a huge public service by getting this information out!

It was really a pleasure to play someone who`s literally pushed past her breaking point repeatedly.

I would defy people to find a more beautifully developed character than Seven of Nine.

My husband and I have had a commuter marriage our entire marriage, with the exception of the one year I was pregnant and stayed home.

I was raised all over. Kansas, Hawaii, Georgia, Texas and Kentucky, by the time I was 11.

I`ve loved the escapism of being another person, slipping into another character for a little while.

I loved working with Eric Close and J T Walsh.

I`ve had to learn how to use a gun. I was absolutely terrified when I realised it was not a stunt double, it was actually me doing this.

I`m not seeking out genre films, but this just came my way, and Miramax was good enough to add a role for me because we wanted the chance to work together.

I think the more stressful our times get, the more we look for fantasy escapes.

I started by looking everything up in a Star Trek dictionary so I knew what I was talking about, but you can`t do that because they talk in circles, and half of it doesn`t make sense, so you`ll just end up driving yourself more insane.

It might be arrogant to think that we`re the only living creations in all of the solar systems that there are. Space is so vast.

I`m not so widely known that I`m going to be pigeonholed.

We haven`t done such a great job, so I don`t know why God couldn`t have started over somewhere else. I don`t necessarily believe in aliens coming to the States, and I don`t buy into the government cover-up.

It`s supposed to be entertainment. It`s not supposed to be a documentary.

The entire season, the show had never been aired for more than three weeks. You can`t get an audience that way. They would never promo the show for the next week.

The whole sex symbol or babe thing doesn`t bother me.

There is a very large chunk of our population who firmly believe in extraterrestrials.

This was truly guerilla filmmaking. We shot out in the middle of nowhere in a place called Delta Flats, where basically every day was some new minor catastrophe.

They said that Seven was a former Borg who had been human and had been assimilated. She was regaining her humanity. I had no interest in this character.

This entire process has been a surreal experience. You have action figures, you have the Internet, you have drinking mugs in the shape of your head.