Typical actor hopefuls endure years of struggle just to get an agent, let alone an audition. Chuck star Yvonne Strahovski’s story might send such discouraged wannabes home – or maybe serve as inspiration. After working three years in her native Australia, the 25-years old actress submitted her audition video for the NBC series Chuck on a Quicktime file via email from Sydney. She planned a visit to Hollywood for pilot season, and by the time she’d landed in L.A., she had landed the role of Chuck’s gorgeous, gutsy CIA agent Sarah Walker.
“A phone call came pretty much the second day” Strahovski says. “I met with McG and the other producers, and before i knew it I had the role. It’s like a fairy tale.” Not that she anticipated this happy ending. “I wasn’t moving here – I had my bags packed for two months. I guess I picked the right year to come!”
On Chuck, which has a been renewed for a second season, Strahovski’s booty-busting Agent Walker protects the title character (Zachary Levi), a nerdy electronics store worker, from the assassins and terrorists who want to get inside his head – literally – after he unknowingly downloads super-secret government files into his brain.
“Sarah’s a kick-ass girl”, Strahovski says. “She’s sweet when pretending to be Chuck’s girlfriend, professional with her bosses and shows her dirty side when she has to save the day.” All of which is helped by a dance background and little Kun fu. “I was to do my own stunts. I did stage fighting during three years of drama school, and I knew a little Kun fu already. The fights scenes are a little like a dance.”
As for Australia, she has no imminent plans to go back – other than a visit for a Chuck press tour. “I’m leaving the same day I got here last year“, she muses. “It’s kinda weird… I’m coming full circle.”
Statement Magazine, 2008.