Yvonne Strahovski | |
---|---|
Biographical informations | |
Name | Yvonne Strahovski |
Birthplace | Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
Birth Date | 30 July 1982 |
Character information | |
Portrays | Sarah Walker |
Season(s) | All |
Yvonne Strahovski (b. Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski ) plays Sarah Walker in NBC's Chuck.[1]
She was born in Maroubra, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia to Polish parents who had emigrated from Warsaw. Yvonne learned to speak Polish, before learning English in school.
She first ventured into acting when she played the character "Viola" in a school production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and claims her favorite actress is Meryl Streep.[2]
She has a dance background, having trained from the age of 5 and acknowledges that it helps her during the fight scenes in Chuck, specifically citing the fight scene featuring her character Sarah and Matthew Bomer's character, Bryce Larkin in the Buy More.[3][4]
She attended Santa Sabina College, Strathfield, and is a graduate of University of Western Sydney's Theatre Nepean with a Bachelor of Arts in Performance.[5] She changed her surname from 'Strzechowski' to the phonetic spelling 'Strahovski' as per request of the producers of the show.[6]
Career[]
She began her acting career in Australia, when she played "Suzie" in the Australian satirical television show Double the Fist. In 2005, she was given the role of "Freya Lewis" in the short-lived drama series headLand.[7] She appeared in 13 episodes of the show, before taking the role of "Federal Agent Martina Royce" in Sea Patrol in 2007. She then auditioned for several shows, including Chuck, and her audition tape immediately caught the attention of the creators and producers of the show, Josh Schwartz and Chris Fedak.[8] She moved to the US six months later, and was cast in what was then the role of "Sarah Kent" two days later.
Her success in Chuck has lead to more prominent acting roles, including starring in the Australian films The Canyon and I Love You Too.[1] She had a role in the film The Killer Elite, an action thriller based on the Ranulph Fiennes novel "The Family Men".[9]
Additionally, she also also performed several voice roles, portraying the character "Miranda Lawson" in the video game Mass Effect 2.[10] Another foray into voice acting came in 2010 when she voiced the character "Peg Mooring" into the straight-to-DVD release LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers. She portrayed Aya Brea in The 3rd Birthday, which was released on March 29, 2011. In 2011, she was cast as the female lead in I, Frankenstein (2014).
Following Chuck in 2012, Strahovski had a significant recurring role as Hannah McKay, the love interest of Dexter Morgan in the final two seasons of Dexter. In 2012, she was featured in a new SoBe Life commercial. In 2014, she joined Fox's TV series 24: Live Another Day as Kate Morgan, CIA agent. Later that year, she was cast as Renee Carpenter on the ABC limited series The Astronaut Wives Club. In 2016, she co-starred in the film noir Manhattan Night. She was featured in Maxim Hot 100 from 2009 to 2013. Since 2017, she has starred as Serena Joy Waterford in the acclaimed Hulu drama series The Handmaid's Tale. For her performance, she earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2018. In 2018, she reunited with Zachary Levi for the season two of Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure on the Disney Channel where she voiced "Stalyan," the ex-fiancee of Levi's character, Eugene.
Trivia[]
- She is a fan of science fiction and horror films, including Jurassic Park, and Kill Bill.[11]
- She is capable of performing numerous accents, including Scottish, Irish, Cockney, British, Brooklyn and Southern American dialects, the last of which she demonstrates in Chuck Versus the Honeymooners.[12]
- She spoke Polish, a language she grew up speaking, in Chuck Versus the Sandworm, Chuck Versus the Three Words, and Chuck Versus the Honeymooners.
In Chuck Versus the Ex she uses her native Australian accent when addressing an audience.[13]
- She is said to enjoy outdoors activities including rock climbing, hiking and camping.[14]
- She ranked #24 on both Entertainment Weekly's "Butt-Kicking Babes: New and Improved!" list in 2007, and Wizard magazine's 2008’s Sexiest Women of TV poll. She also featured in TV Guide’s Most Fit Stars list in 2008.[15]
- She is 5' 9¼" (1.76 m) tall.[1]
- She has provided voices in the video games Mass Effect 2 as Miranda Lawson and as Aya Brea in Square Enix's Latest Video Game The 3rd Birthday. In Mass Effect, she was also used as Face Model for Miranda Lawson.
- Josh Schwartz once suggested Yvonne Strahovski change her last name to Stryker.
Filmography[]
Films:
- Gone as Sondra
- Persons Of Interest as Lara
- The Plex as Sarah
- The Canyon as Lori
- I Love You Too as Alice
- Shadows from the Sky as Jill
- Matching Jack as Veronica
- LEGO: The Adventures of Clutch Powers as Peg Mooring
- The Killer Elite as Anne
- The Tomorrow War as Colonel Muri Forester
TV:
- Double the Fist as Suzie
- headLand as Freya Lewis
- Sea Patrol as Fed Agent Martina Royce
- Chuck as Agent Sarah Walker
- Dexter as Hanna McKay
- The Handmaid's Tale (TV series) as Serena Joy Waterford
- Stateless as Sofie Werner
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Actress Profile, retrieved 2nd June 2010, IMDB.com
- ↑ "Acting bug", retrieved 2nd June 2010, Virgin1.co.uk
- ↑ "Fighting talk", retrieved 2nd June 2010, Virgin1.co.uk
- ↑ Season One box set special features
- ↑ Yvonne Strahovki's Early Life, retrieved 2nd June 2010, Wikipedia.org
- ↑ "What's in a name?", retrieved 2nd June 2010, Virgin1.co.uk
- ↑ headLand Cast, retrieved 2nd June 2010, Wikipedia.org
- ↑ Audition tape for Chuck, Season One box set special features - can also be seen here
- ↑ "Robert de Niro and Yvonne Strahovski Join The Killer Elite", retrieved 2nd June 2010, Movieweb.com
- ↑ Stars of Mass Effect 2, retrieved 2nd June 2010, Mass Effect Official Website
- ↑ "Sci-fi fan", retrieved 2nd June 2010, Virgin1.co.uk
- ↑ "Accents", retrieved 2nd June 2010, Virgin1.co.uk
- ↑ "Polish", retrieved 2nd June 2010, Virgin1.co.uk
- ↑ "No gamer", retrieved 2nd June 2010, Virgin1.co.uk
- ↑ "Making the List", retrieved 2nd June 2010, Virgin1.co.uk
External links[]
- Yvonne Strahovski on Internet Movie Database
- Yvonne Strahovski on Wikipedia