I will always have a soft spot for the blue lady of Farscape. As will a lot of people I know. We giggle like schoolgirls when watching Zhaan’s photosynthetic reaction to the sun…. And I won’t deny a few of us may wish we were that sun. For many of my tribe, Zhaan was the first alien in a Sci-Fi series we had a crush on. Some of us can’t watch past her death and many of us stop an episode short of watching it. Zhaan was the spiritual convict who melted our hearts and minds.
In the past year I’ve been lucky to meet the lady behind my first alien crush at three separate conventions. I was nervous at the first one (Sheffield Film and Comic Con) but now I actively enjoy those moments when I check the attendee list for a convention I’m attending and seeing that Virginia Hey has been signed on for the event.
I’ve met many actors in the past 6 years at these events, and Virginia stands out in my mind and is definitely in my top 5 favourites list. She is warm, receptive, huggy. A smile from her is always genuine. She has a genuine talent for remembering faces and although she swears she struggles to remember names, when she’s not thinking about it she gets them right.
At Sci-Fi Scarborough she introduced me to Terry Molloy before I had even had breakfast or caffeine and I’m pretty sure I was a grunting mess. But the pure fact she recognised I was sat across the way from her, oblivious to the world made me smile when the caffeine had kicked in. She is one of the sweetest actors I’ve met.
She’s also extremely talented. Not just when it comes to acting. Her vegan hand made soaps are one of a few I’m not allergic to (eczema is annoying) and don’t dry out my skin. They also work as shampoo and shaving bars as I have found out and they smell amazing. The fact she makes each by hand is mind boggling. Such a busy woman with such amazing dedication to her work and fans.
I’m already checking on which events she’ll be attending later this year and if a photo op is on the cards…. Until then I have the awesome selfie below that Virginia took of the two of us.
nalebrun.com 