Yvonne Strahovski is the Australian actress making waves overseas. As Australia’s lone nominee at the 70th Primetime Emmy Awards for her role in The Handmaid’s Tale, Strahovski is an actress on the rise.
When The Handmaid’s Tale debuted last year, Yvonne Strahovski – who plays the deliciously wicked Serena Joy – was worried people on the street would give her dirty looks. In reality, they weren’t game enough. “More often than not, people just cautiously come up and ask me if I’m Serena Joy,” she says. “Maybe they’re scared of me – maybe that’s where the caution comes from.”
The third season of the critically acclaimed series, which is based on Margaret Atwood’s novel about a totalitarian society where fertile women are forced into sexual servitude, starts in May 2019.
Strahovski, 35, spent most of the first season apologising to Elisabeth Moss, who plays her handmaid. “Some scenes were just God-awful, I felt like I was saying sorry all day.”
The second season required even more apologies. “Our motto is: go dark or go home,” says Strahovski. That said, Serena isn’t all doom and gloom – she comes with a backstory that may explain some of her actions.
“It’s really important to me to keep the humanity alive in her. It was difficult at times, because she is so evil and brutal, but the important thing to remember is that she is a human.”
Strahovski, who grew up in Sydney and has been based in LA for 11 years, can draw parallels between the oppressive society in The Handmaid’s Tale and the current state of world affairs.
“It feels like a revolution is taking place – especially with women being so vocal about equality and sexual harassment,” she says. “The show has inspired the inner feminist in me, for sure.” And that’s something she won’t be apologising for.
