Yvonne Interviewed for Australian Newspaper

Chuck premiered in Australia on Monday and The New Straits Times interviewed Yvonne in anticipation:

This Sheila packs a mean punch
By : Faridul Anwar Farinordin
2008/05/04

Catch Chuck, an action/comedy series on AXN tonight, and you’ll meet Yvonne Strahovski, who kicks butts to help protect the nerdy title character. FARIDUL ANWAR FARINORDIN meets her in Sydney and learns about her record entry into stardom.

AUSTRALIAN actress Yvonne Strahovski got her big Hollywood break in Chuck, a hot new TV series premiering tonight on AXN (Astro Channel 701).

In the show, she plays Sarah Walker, a tough-as-nail CIA agent dispatched to protect the title character, a nerdy computer retailer called Chuck Bartowski, who accidentally unlocks top-secret government information via e-mail and becomes a target for various organisations.

A graduate of the University of Western Sydney in Bachelor of Arts (Performance), Strahovski met the Press at an interview in Sydney, Australia where she was accompanied by Zahary Levi who plays the title character.

Welcome back. Do you miss home?
Yvonne Strahovski: I don’t have a lot of time to miss Australia because of Chuck, and we work so much. But it’s very strange being back. I haven’t been back for the whole year. It was very weird walking into my bedroom at my parents’ house the other day. It’s still the same. It was me a year ago. I think I pulled everything out of my wardrobe and threw them out because my clothes were so out-of-date.

Q: Have you changed a lot over the year?

YS: My life has changed a lot, certainly with Chuck. I did a film in America as well, so it’s probably been the busiest year of my life. Also, being a big part of such a successful show is great. There’s so much going on with it. I have a whole new life in LA that I didn’t think I would have. I didn’t think of moving there. I only packed my bags for a couple of months thinking that I would return to Australia, but then I got Chuck and then the film, and then Chuck went to series, so I had to start a life there.

Q: You were in LA three weeks before you got the job, right?

YS: It was actually three days. It was very fast. I went there in early February, and I had sent my tape — it was actually an Internet file, because I put in the audition from Sydney, and then we sent it out. They (the producers) must have watched it, I think, on the day that I arrived, because we had a phone call within one or two days saying, “We have to have a meeting”, and then by the end of the week, I had the job. I remember still being jet-lagged.

Q: Did you expect that to happen?

YS: No, no. It was such a surprise for me. I still remember on the Friday ringing my parents and saying, “Well, I’m staying here. I’m not coming home.”

But they were very happy. They have always been very supportive of me.

Q: So how do you like the new life in LA?

YS: I think the most difficult part was being on my own and not having a close friend or family to rely on. If you have trouble with your car, your dad helps you, or your friend helps you look for a place (to fix it). In a foreign land, you are on your own. You make friends, obviously, with the cast and crew from the show, but it takes a lot of time to create friendships and relationships that are strong and where you have mutual trust with the other person. It’s a huge learning curve. It’s been a year, so I’m settled.

Q: You mentioned doing a film. Tell us more.

YS: It’s called The Canyon. I did it straight after the (Chuck) TV pilot. I think that will come out later year.

Q: How different is it from the character you play in Chuck?

YS: It’s very different. It’s kind of a survival story. It’s her first time in life or death circumstances, and she’s learning how to survive, whereas my character in Chuck knows exactly what to do in these situations. She has been in tonnes of them before, and she’s very capable. She’s knows exactly what to do.

Q: You do a lot of action sequences in the series. Are you a physical person?

YS: Absolutely. I grew up hiking. I did all the boy things. I was always very sporty. I always wanted my girlfriend to play sports with me at lunchtime at school and no one ever wanted to, so I always hung out with the boys. I camp a lot, I rock climb, I do all sorts of stuff. So getting to do all the fight scenes is something that I love doing. And I grew up being a dancer. I was dancing from the age of five to 18, so the fight scenes are like choreography to me. We have a fight co-ordinator on the show who trains me. We do kung-fu as well. I love to do my stunts by myself. There are certain things they won’t let me do, though, like drive the cars really fast.

Q: What has been the most interesting thing about Chuck you have experienced so far?

YS: The hours are long. Yeah, it becomes your life. We work a lot. We work every day for very long hours and just getting to know the cast and the crew. It becomes your family, so you spend a lot of time with them. Zac (Zachary) is great. We always muck around. We make up characters and dances, and we’re pretty gross as well.

Q: Do you draw your character from a template of something that you have seen before or is it from a fresh, clean slate?

YS: Fresh. I would define her as a very strong, capable, intelligent woman who knows how to look after herself very well. I think she is very strong, not just physically but emotionally. Because of the life she has chosen as a CIA agent she has to give up her own personal feelings and emotions, and that is her constant struggle. Like her relationship with Chuck, for instance, she has to stay professional, whether she has feelings or not, it doesn’t matter.

Q: Does she really have feelings for him?

YS: Yeah, of course.

Q: Do you watch much TV?

YS: No, I don’t have time. But if I want to watch a TV show I’ll get the DVD and on a day off, I watch it all in one go — 12 hours.

Q: What have you got?

YS: The last time I did that was probably a year and a half ago. I did it with Nip/Tuck. It’s very addictive. One of my favourite things to put on, especially when I am having a bad day, is The Office — the British version. It’s the best. And (Australian series) Kath and Kim. It’s really funny.

Q: How does Hollywood perceive Australian talents?

YS: Australians are very well-received in America. I think Australians have been the flavour of the month for many years now in America. They do so well because we come from a very hard-working background, we are disciplined. Most of us have trained in drama schools for three years or more, and we know our craft and treat it very seriously, whereas I think a lot of other people may try to go to Hollywood to see how they might do it, but without actually learning about acting.

Q: Why do you think people are so into Chuck?

YS: I think there’s no other show like it on television because it has that mix of action and comedy. It makes it unique. There’s a whole range of characters whom people can relate to. There’s someone for everyone.

Q: How has the character changed from the first episode until now?

YS: I think she likes Chuck a lot more than she did in the beginning. I think mainly the relationship between those two has grown a lot more. Sarah would do pretty much anything to protect Chuck, not just because it’s her job, but she now has a personal responsibility towards him.

Q: Would you date somebody like Chuck in real life?

YS: Why not? I like nerds.

Chuck airs on AXN (Astro channel 701) every Monday at 9pm.