Yes, I’m a late adapter and only took a seat at the Twitter table about a year after my hippest friends
did. Marni, for example, already had over 1,000 followers (sorry, tweeps), by the time I had my
first. While initially I didn’t really grasp the full raison d’etre of expressing myself in 140 characters
or less to an anonymous gaggle of e-associates—feeling no one would really care if I’d had a Cobb salad
for lunch (“swapped the blue cheese for feta, and the meat for tofu”)—soon I began to get it. Not long
after my second twitterversary, I experienced a tweeting highlight when I randomly asked if anyone “out
there” had any questions for my upcoming interviewee, Yvonne Strahovski, star of NBC’s Chuck, the voice
of Miranda Lawson in the Mass Effect video game series, and vocal animal rescue crusader. And yes, of
course, I concluded my tweet as we twitter-bugs do, with a simple #YvonneStrahovski. (God bless the
hashtag, the universal symbol for “Join in on the conversation!”) Less than a minute later, I thought I’d
been attacked by some kind of weird virus and that Twitter was going twitter-bananas on me. But no, it
was simply Twitter in action: a plethora of Yvonne fans jumping at the chance to talk to her, via me and
Modern Dog magazine. So, here you have it, tweeps. Oh, and for what it’s worth #YvonneStrahovskiRocks.


MD: Your parents are from Poland, but where are you from originally?
YS: I was raised in Australia. I’m actually the first and only Australian in my entire family, because I
have no siblings.


MD: So Polish was spoken around the home when you were growing up in Australia?
YS: Yes, definitely. It was technically my first language. Even today, I email in Polish, I text in Polish.


MD: Your father is an electronic engineer and your mother is a lab technician, which are admittedly
left-brain occupations. When did you determine you wanted to pursue a life in the arts, as an actor?
YS: Even though they have left-brain occupations, my parents are both very creative. I took my first
drama classes when I was 12. I was always making home videos and doing these little sketches. Sure, they
didn’t really like the idea of me being an actress as a career and initially they tried to steer me in another
direction. But once they realized my dedication to it, they were 100 percent supportive.


MD: How fortunate do you feel to have landed the role of
Sarah Walker on NBC’s Chuck?
YS: I feel incredibly fortunate. I feel like I have one of the best
TV characters around. Chuck is a lot of different genres in one
show. Comedy, drama, romance.


MD: What have you learned about yourself as an actor,
having a gig on an award-winning series like Chuck?
YS: It’s been four-and-a-half years and I’ve learned a lot. It’s
such a time-consuming process, creating a one-hour drama. We
try to shoot an episode every seven days, which means we are
working between 12- and 18-hour days. I’ve learned about the
importance of pacing yourself. There’s a lot of stamina involved. I
learned I can push myself to the absolute limits. I’ve learned about
being consistent under the most dire circumstances. That’s the real
acting. No matter how much we work, life happens and reality
happens. You have to push through.


MD: Was altering your last name from Strzechowski to
Strahovski a tough decision for you, considering the pride you
have in your heritage?
YS: Yes, it was. It was originally presented to me by one of the
show’s producers. They thought it was going to be a nightmare
expecting people to be able to pronounce my name. I think they
presented Yvonne Striker or something like that. I was originally
very uncomfortable with it. I like things to remain organic, from
food to the way I live my life. So, it was struggle for me. I tried to
think of other alternatives, but in the end, I decided on the phonetic
spelling of my real name.


MD: You recently had the opportunity to work with some
really big names in your new movie, The Killer Elite. Tell us a
bit about working with the great Robert DeNiro.
YS: It was amazing. It was definitely
something I’ve always wanted to do.
Really, most actors would want to. I just
didn’t think it would happen so early on
in my career. It was an extremely exciting
experience. I couldn’t wipe the grin
off my face. Even though I had to for the
scenes. He has a very welcoming energy,
he’s extremely sweet.


MD: I understand you have a couple
of fur-kids. What do you do with
Chazzie and Wilbur when you’re on
set?
YS: They often come to the set with
me. If they’re not at work, they are at
home with my boyfriend because we
have different schedules. But I like bringing
them on location with me, especially
if we’re shooting in more natural areas,
like on a ranch or some place like that.


MD: Were you always an animal
person?
YS: Yes, I have always been an animal
lover. From day one. My parents didn’t
let me have a dog growing up, and oh, I
used to beg. But they would never cave.
So it was always guinea pigs and a rabbit.
As soon as I moved out here to L.A.,
I decided, well, I guess I can get that dog
now!


MD: Can you tell us how Chazzie
and Wilbur came into your life?
YS: I always knew I wanted to adopt,
so eventually I ended up on PetFinder.
com. It’s an amazing site. Everyone who
is looking for a new pet should go on this
site. I’m big on stopping puppy mills. It’s
so easy to find an animal on PetFinder,
no matter the breed or the size… and
so that’s how I found Chazzie. I even
had the rescue organization come to my
house to make sure I was going to be a
responsible parent. With Wilbur, a friend
of mine was volunteering to foster him.
So we made a playdate. And that was
that. He had originally been found on a
highway with about 48 ticks all over his
body. So, I got Chazzie first, and then
I wanted a friend for him. They are the
best of friends; they get upset when they
are separated.


MD: A very crucial question: Who
would play Chazzie and Wilbur in the
movie of their lives?
YS: Chazzie would be played by Joe
Pesci in Home Alone. And Willy would
be played by Jeff Daniels in Dumb and
Dumber.


MD: How has having dogs as a part
of your family changed you?
YS: Having dogs, especially for people
with high-stress lives, really brings you
down to earth. It’s also nice to be responsible
for something. It’s nice to take care
of something.


MD: You recently starred in a campaign
with PETA, under the headline
“Always adopt. Never buy.” Why is
that message so important to you?
YS: As far as I know, of the millions
of homeless dogs available, only about
half get adopted. There are at least 4 million
dogs who need to be adopted [in the
United States]. A lot of people who are
buying dogs at stores don’t really know
where these dogs come from. It’s kind of
like when they buy food… we need to
be educating people to care where things come from. For example, where does your fur jacket come from?
It’s about raising awareness and making an educated decision.
There are millions of dogs just sitting there, waiting to be adopted.
People think they’re not going to find what they are looking for
but I would urge people to go on PetFinder.com. Just type in what
you want in a pet and I guarantee you’re going to find something
super cute.


MD: What inspired you to get into the rescue movement?
YS: As I was looking into adopting, as I was educating myself,
I didn’t realize the numbers of homeless animals were so high.
I feel, as an actor, as someone in the public eye, it’s my responsibility
to help out in whatever ways I can. People follow me on
Twitter, they look at what I do in my spare time. So it’s important.


MD: The premise of the “Always adopt. Never buy.” campaign
is an invitation for people to “Be an angel for animals.”
In your view, what are some of the ways we can be an angel
for animals?
YS: I think the biggest thing we can do when it comes to anything
that’s animal-related is to ask questions. Where did this
come from? How did this come to me? You can make educated
choices.


MD: How would we say “Always adopt. Never buy.” in
Polish?
YS: Zawsze adoptuj, nigdy nie kupuj.