Leah Cairns

Leah Cairns
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Portrays:	Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson
Date of Birth:	June 02, 1974
Date of Death:	Missing required parameter 1=month! ,
Age:	51
Nationality:	CAN
Related Media
		@ BW Media
Official Site (archived)
IMDb profile

Leah Cairns (born June 2, 1974) is a Canadian film and television actress who portrayed Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson in the Re-imagined Series.

Born in North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Cairns grew up in Kamloops, B.C., with dreams of becoming a professional dancer. Those dreams were dashed when she broke her back in a car accident at age 16. When her dance team went to an international competition in her graduating year, rather than stay at home, she headed off to Costa Rica, starting an eight-year backpacking odyssey that took her to 36 countries. Prior to returning to Canada, she stumbled into an improv class at an ashram in India, where she began her acting career.

Career

Cairns earned her first on-screen credit for her work on The Chris Isaak Show in 2002. She has appeared in CTV's comedy series Robson Arms and as a regular on the CITY-TV comedy series Godiva's as Jenna, a waitress and dancer.

She appeared in a Moosehead beer commercial alongside future Battlestar Galactica colleague Allison Warnyca, which was filmed during Halloween in freezing conditions. This commercial shoot marked the beginning of her friendship with Warnyca, and they later worked together again on I Want to Marry Ryan Banks. Warnyca described the commercial experience as "my worst acting experience ever" due to the extremely cold weather conditions, noting they were sent to a tanning salon beforehand which resulted in sunburn that made removing their clothes painful.

Cairns appeared opposite actor Al Pacino in the feature film 88 Minutes, as well as in a recurring role on the TNT television series Saved. She also appeared in the pilot for the web-based series Sanctuary, as a character who became the basis of the witches of William Shakespeare's MacBeth. She also starred as Emily Hollander in Season 2 of Kyle XY.

Her most prominent role in film came in Christopher Nolan's Interstellar (2014), where she appeared alongside Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway. Following Battlestar, she appeared in the genre series Travelers as Kathryn "Kat" MacLaren over three seasons from 2016 to 2018.

Battlestar Galactica

Cairns was one of the many actresses who auditioned for the role of Number Six, which later went to Tricia Helfer. She first appeared as Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson in the Re-imagined Series season one episode "Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II," initially intended as a one-episode character. However, the production team liked Cairns' performance so much that Racetrack became a recurring role throughout the series.

Personal Life

Cairns has been married to Kevin Hawryluk since July 24, 2004. She has one younger sister, Lindsay, who was a model. Her mother works with mentally challenged seniors and her father is a salesman.

Cairns' hobbies include scuba diving, rock climbing, horseback riding, skiing and salsa dancing. She owns a long-haired chihuahua named "Godiva," who appeared with Cairns in the film Coffee Diva and received an IMDb credit.

On February 9, 2020, she informed her fans of her fight with stage 3 breast cancer, which she had been diagnosed with after starting her first acting job since Travelers. Attributing a supportive cast and crew on that production for helping her while undergoing chemotherapy, she was able to complete her work there. As of that announcement, she noted that she had finished 3 of the 8 chemotherapy treatments, which would segue into surgery, radiation treatment, and an additional 17 weeks of post-surgery treatments.

References

External Links

• Official website
• Leah Cairns interview: long interview about her life and her career as an actress
• Ask Leah Cairns in The Scifi World forums
• Caprica City interview with Cairns (English)