Tricia Helfer's Calgary debut as a dominatrix is going to be a family affair.

The statuesque Alberta-bred actress is bringing her parents and grandmother to Saturday's premiere of Walk All Over Me at the Calgary International Film Festival.

"It should be a lot of fun," Helfer says during a phone interview from New York.

"They've watched episodes of Battlestar Galactica, but they've never been to a premiere at a theatre. I'm looking forward to it."

And she has good reason to. The movie -- directed by Calgarian Robert Cuffley -- garnered strong buzz at this month's Toronto International Film Festival, ultimately being snapped up by movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.

In it, Leelee Sobieski stars as Alberta, a small-town girl who assumes her girlfriend's identity as a dominatrix. Helfer plays the latter role.

"I loved the script immediately," says the former model, best recognized as a sinister, sex-oozing cylon on Galactica.

For Helfer, the acclaim the movie -- and her performance -- have generated is especially satisfying. Only six years ago, she ditched her lucrative runway career to pursue acting full-time. "I've definitely been working hard the past five or six years since I changed careers. (Toronto) was my first festival. To have the movie picked up (by Weinstein) is a huge thing. It definitely means a lot to me."

Beyond Walk All Over Me, Helfer is returning to the Battlestar Galactica set next week after a summer hiatus to complete work on the show's final season. "That's going to take me to March. I've had such a great experience on that show, I'm sure we'll all start getting misty-eyed toward the end ... But we still have a long way to go yet (until the finale)."

Additionally, there's "something big" she's negotiating for -- a project she can't elaborate on -- as well as a movie she wants to shoot concerning Tourette's Syndrome. Helfer is also waiting to see if a pilot she shot for the Fox network will be picked up as a mid-season replacement. Closer to home, she and her husband are planning to build a vacation house -- and film a documentary series about its construction -- here in Alberta.

Specifically, the series will show how to make a green-friendly home off the grid.

"We're not saying we're experts in building off the grid ... but we want to challenge ourselves and find out why it's so hard for people to do this."

She was inspired when, during renovations of their LA home, they found their green options extremely limited.

The house will be erected by the farm she grew up on --near Donalda -- and serve as a "place to get away" -- from Hollywood.