Yvonne Strahovski

Yvonne Strahovski, born Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski on 30 July 1982, is an Australian actress. She is widely known for her roles in major television projects, including portraying Sarah Walker in the spy comedy drama Chuck, Hannah McKay in Dexter, Kate Morgan in 24: Live Another Day, and Serena Joy Waterford in the drama series The Handmaid's Tale.

Strahovski was born in Werrington Downs, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, to Polish emigrants Bożena, a lab technician, and Peter Strzechowski, an electronics engineer. Raised in the Sydney suburbs of Bass Hill and Maroubra, she began acting lessons at age 12 and later attended the University of Western Sydney's Theatre Nepean, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in performance in 2003. She is fluent in Polish alongside English.

After working in Australian theatre for three years, Strahovski landed early screen roles on Australian television, including Double the Fist, headLand, and Sea Patrol. Her international breakthrough came after submitting an audition tape while in the United States, leading to her casting as Sarah Walker on NBC's Chuck, a role she played from 2007 to 2012. Upon joining the series, she relocated to the United States and adopted the phonetic stage name Strahovski.

Strahovski expanded her work into television and film throughout the 2010s. She joined the seventh and eighth seasons of Dexter from 2012 to 2013 and appeared in the limited event series 24: Live Another Day in 2014. Her television credits also include The Astronaut Wives Club and Stateless. In film, her notable appearances include Killer Elite, The Guilt Trip, I, Frankenstein, Manhattan Night, All I See Is You, He's Out There, The Predator, and The Tomorrow War.

Beyond live-action screen work, Strahovski voiced and was face-scanned for the character Miranda Lawson in the Mass Effect video game series. She also voiced Aya Brea in the English release of The 3rd Birthday and voiced Batwoman in the 2016 animated film Batman: Bad Blood. In 2012, she made her Broadway debut in a revival of Golden Boy.

For her performance in The Handmaid's Tale from 2017 to 2025, Strahovski received nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. Her previous accolades include a Teen Choice Award for Chuck, a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut, and the 2012 Australians in Film Breakthrough Award. In 2025, she joined the cast of the live-action film adaptation of The Legend of Zelda.