Yvonne Strahovski

Early life and education

Strahovski was born Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski on 30 July 1982 in Werrington Downs, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. She is the only child of Bożena, a lab technician, and Peter Strzechowski, an electronic engineer. Her parents are Polish emigrants from Tomaszów Mazowiecki.

The family moved to Bass Hill when Strahovski was five years old; later, the family moved to the coastal suburb of Maroubra. She began acting lessons at the age of 12. Straight after high school, Strahovski went to the University of Western Sydney's Theatre Nepean, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in performance in 2003. She then worked professionally in theatre in Australia for three years before landing a role in the American TV series Chuck.

Career

Strahovski started acting at school when she played Viola in the school production of Twelfth Night. She appeared in film and television roles in Australia, including a turn on satirical show Double the Fist and as Freya Lewis in the Australian drama series headLand. She has also appeared in Channel Nine's Sea Patrol.

Strahovski sent in her audition tape for the TV series Chuck while in the United States auditioning for roles in other shows, namely NBC's 2007 series Bionic Woman. She was cast as Sarah Walker after running lines with Zachary Levi. She relocated to the United States six months later. Strahovski adopted the more phonetic spelling of Strahovski as her stage name in place of Strzechowski at this time.

In addition to English, Strahovski is fluent in Polish, and employed it in a brief exchange with a colleague in the Chuck episode "Chuck Versus the Wookiee" and again in the episodes "Chuck Versus the Three Words" and "Chuck Versus the Honeymooners". Although she portrays an American in the series, she briefly spoke in a "Hollywood" Australian accent in the episode "Chuck Versus the Ex".

Strahovski appears in Mass Effect Galaxy, Mass Effect 2, and Mass Effect 3 as the voice of Miranda Lawson. She had her face scanned and animated so she could portray Lawson in Mass Effect 2.

Strahovski voices Aya Brea in the English version of the Parasite Eve spinoff, The 3rd Birthday. She appeared in a CollegeHumor sketch in April 2011, parodying the music styles of Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber.

Strahovski appeared in the 2011 film Killer Elite, alongside Jason Statham, Clive Owen, and Robert De Niro. She appeared in the 2012 comedy The Guilt Trip, opposite Seth Rogen and Barbra Streisand.

In 2010, Strahovski received the Teen Choice Award for Choice Action TV Actress for Chuck, as well as a nomination for Spike Video Game Awards for Best Performance by a Human Female for Mass Effect 2. In 2011, Strahovski was nominated again for the Teen Choice Awards for Choice Action TV Actress. In 2011, Cosmopolitan Magazine (Australia) named Strahovski the Fun Fearless Female of the Year, along with Favorite TV Actress.

In November 2011, Strahovski was cast as the female lead in I, Frankenstein (2014). In March 2012, she featured in a new SoBe Life commercial. In May 2012, Strahovski ranked No. 35 in Maxim Hot 100. In June 2012, Showtime announced Strahovski had joined the cast for the seventh season of Dexter portraying Hannah McKay, a woman involved with an investigation following the death of her former lover, a spree killer whom she accompanied when she was a teenager. She reprised the role in the eighth season of Dexter.

In December 2012, she made her Broadway debut in a revival of Clifford Odets' Golden Boy, Strahovski was honored along with Liam Hemsworth for their work in international roles with the 2012 Australians in Film Breakthrough Award.

In 2014, Strahovski joined Fox's TV series 24: Live Another Day cast as Kate Morgan, CIA agent. Later that year, she was cast as Rene Carpenter on the ABC limited series The Astronaut Wives Club. In 2016, she starred, along with Adrien Brody, as Caroline Crowley in the film noir Manhattan Night. She was featured in Maxim Hot 100 from 2009 to 2013.

Strahovski starred as Serena Joy Waterford in all six seasons of the acclaimed Hulu drama series The Handmaid's Tale, which ran from 2017 to 2025. For her performance, she earned Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 2018 and 2021. She also starred as Sofie Werner in the limited series Stateless (2020).

Personal life

At the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2017, Strahovski revealed that she had married Tim Loden, her partner of six years. The couple have three sons, born in 2018, 2021 and 2023.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Web

Awards and nominations

Footnotes

References

References

1. (30 July 2022). "Famous birthdays". [[United Press International]].
2. "Jaqueline :)".
3. (14 September 2013). "How We Do What We Do...Yvonne Strahovski with Marika Aubrey".
4. (29 May 2010). "10 Minutes With ... I Love You Too's Yvonne Strahovski". [[Who (magazine).
5. "Chuck – Yvonne Strahovski gallery". [[Virgin1]].
6. (15 October 2012). "Dziewczyna seryjnego mordercy pochodzi z Tomaszowa Mazowieckiego". [[Nasz Tomaszów]].
7. Aquilina, Jessica. (2 October 2014). "From Sydney's west to role in US drama series". [[Penrith, New South Wales.
8. (30 September 2014). "Career Advice: Yvonne Strahovski, Aussie star".
9. "Acting bug". Virgin Media.
10. Special features of disc 3 of ''Chuck'' Season 1 "Chuck's World"
11. "Hemsworth and Strahovski to share award".
12. (14 January 2015). "Yvonne Strahovski". gq.com.au.
13. (11 April 2011). "Three Pop Stars, One Song (with Yvonne Strahovski) – CollegeHumor Video". CollegeHumor.com.
14. Michael Bodey. (28 April 2010). "Elite signed up for killer roles". The Australian.
15. Kit, Borys. (13 May 2011). "'Chuck' Actress Joins Barbra Streisand Road Trip Comedy 'Guilt Trip' (Exclusive)". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
16. Kit, Borys. (17 November 2011). "'Chuck' Star Yvonne Strahovski to Play Scientist in 'I, Frankenstein' (Exclusive)". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
17. "Yvonne Strahovski Joins Dexter". Seat42f.
18. (10 April 2013). "'Dexter': Yvonne Strahovski Set to Return". [[The Hollywood Reporter]].
19. "Tom Hanks, Bertie Carvel, Valisia LeKae, Rob McClure and More Are Theatre World Award Winners". Playbill.
20. "Australians in Film Breakthrough Awards". Australiansinfilm.org.
21. (13 January 2014). "Yvonne Strahovski Joins '24' Limited Series".
22. (30 September 2014). "Yvonne Strahovski to Co-Star in ABC's 'Astronaut Wives Club'". The Hollywood Reporter.
23. (15 January 2013). "Hot 100 Details".
24. (12 July 2018). "Emmy Nominations 2018: The Complete List of Nominees".
25. Hipes, Patrick. (July 13, 2021). "Emmy Nominations: 'The Crown', 'The Mandalorian' Top List; HBO/HBO Max Edges Netflix For Top Spot – Full List Of Nominees".
26. (17 July 2020). "Yvonne Strahovski Interview: Stateless {{!}} Tell-Tale TV".
27. Char Adams. (17 September 2017). "Handmaid's Tale Yvonne Strahovski Reveals She Secretly Married Boyfriend Tim Loden Over the Summer".
28. Karen Mizoguchi. (15 October 2018). "Blessed Be the Fruit! The Handmaid's Tale Star Yvonne Strahovski Welcomes First Child, a Son".
29. Benjamin VanHoose. (9 December 2021). "Yvonne Strahovski and Husband Tim Loden Welcome Second Baby: 'An Angel Joined Our World'". People.
30. Hannah Sacks and Jenny Haward. (31 December 2023). "Yvonne Strahovski Welcomes Baby No. 3 with Husband Tim Loden: 'We Have Been Waiting for You'".
31. Sands, Rich. (15 July 2015). "Yvonne Strahovski and Gaius Charles Get Animated for Batman: Bad Blood". TV Insider.
32. (28 March 2018). "Yvonne Strahovski Joins Noomi Rapace in Thriller 'Angel of Mine'".
33. "News & Events - South Australian Film Corporation".
34. (12 April 2011). "Three Pop Stars, One Song (with Yvonne Strahovski)". CollegeHumor.
35. "Teen Choice Awards Winners List".
36. "24th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominees & Recipients".
37. "70th Emmy Awards Nominees and Winners".
38. "Golden Globe Awards Winners & Nominees".
39. (10 December 2018). "Critics' Choice Awards: 'The Favourite' Leads With 14 Nominations".
40. "The 25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominees & Recipients".
41. "The 26th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominees & Recipients".
42. (29 November 2020). "Lights, cameras, AACTAs: Awards celebrate best of bingeworthy Aussie TV and films".
43. "Yvonne Strahovski". NBC.
44. Isherwood, Charles. (6 December 2012). "The Sweet Science vs. the Stradivarius". [[The New York Times]].
45. Kennedy, Mark. (6 December 2012}}{{dead link). "Review: 'Golden Boy' returns with golden touches".
46. Ferri, Josh. (13 December 2012). "Yvonne Strahovski on Her Comical Golden Boy Inspiration and Seth Rogen's 'Amazing' Laugh". Broadway.com.