Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski, born July 30, 1982, is an Australian actress. She’s best known for her roles as CIA Agent Sarah Walker in the NBC series Chuck, Hannah McKay in the Showtime series Dexter, and CIA Agent Kate Morgan in the Fox event series 24: Live Another Day. Take a look below for 25 more interesting and awesome facts about Yvonne Strahovski.
1. Strahovski currently stars as Serena Joy Waterford in the Hulu series The Handmaid’s Tale.
2. Her other notable works include Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers, Killer Elite, I, Frankenstein, The Astronaut Wives Club, and Manhattan night.
3. The voiced Miranda Lawson in the Mass Effect video game series and Batwoman in the animated movie Batman: Bad Blood.
4. Strahovski was born in Werrington Downs, Sydney, New South wales, the daughter of Piotr Strzechowski and Bozena.
5. Her parents emigrated from Tomaszow Mazowiecki, Poland. Her father is an electrical engineer and her mother is a lab technician.
6. Strahovski began acting lessons at the age of 12, and spent her high school years attending Santa Sabina College, Strathfield.
7. She graduated from University of Western Sydney’s Theater Nepean in 2003 and co-founded a small theater company.
8. She sent in her audition tape for the show Chuck while in the U.S. doing an audition for two other shows. She was contacted by the producers of Chuck the next day to come in to run lines with Zachary Levi, who played Chuck. The chemistry was undeniable and the producers called her back a week later to let her know that she got the job. Six months later, she moved to the U.S. and was cast as the leading lady on Chuck three days later.
9. In March, 2008, she was ranked number 24 on Wizard Magazine’s Sexiest Women of TV list.
10. She was a straight A student in school.
11. Strahovski had a nose ring for five years and says that the hole is still visible from close-up.
12. In May 2012, she was ranked number 35 in Maxim’s Hot 100 of 2012.
13. In 2011, Cosmopolitan Magazine awarded her the Fun Fearless Female of the Year along with Favorite TV Actress title.
14. She’s a supporter of PETA and appeared in an ad for their “Adopt, Don’t Buy” campaign.
15. Her name is French in origin, and is the female form of Yvon, which is derived from the Germanic name Yves. It’s from the Germanic word “iv”, meaning “yew.” Since yew wood was used for bows, Ivo may have been an occupational name meaning “archer.”
16. She was honored, along with Liam Hemsworth, for her work in international roles with the 2012 Australians in Film Breakthrough Award.
17. Over the summer of 2017, she secretly married her boyfriend of more than 6 years, Tim Loden, in Northern California.
18. Strahovski started acting during her schooling years when she played Viola in the school production of Twelfth Night.
19. 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.
20. Strahovski adopted the more phonetic spelling of Strahovski as her stage name in place of Strzechowski at this time, at producer Josh Schwartz’s behest for the sake of easier pronunciation.
21. Strahovski speaks fluent 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.”
22. She had her face scanned and animated so she could portray Lawson in Mass Effect 2.
23. She voiced Aya Brea in the English version of the Parasite Eve spinoff, The 3rd Birthday, which was released on March 2011 for the Playstation Portable.
24. She appeared in a CollegeHumor sketch in April 2011, parodying the music styles of Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber.
25. Strahovski appeared in the 2011 movie Killer Elite, alongside Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro.
