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As cult spy-comedy Chuck launches its third season, Aussie thespian Yvonne Strahovski's got a lot on her plate. While continuing to bring the role of CIA agent Sarah Walker to life in the hit show, Strahovski is moonlighting as another sort of agent -- playing Miranda Lawson, agent of a shadowy organization called Cerberus, in Bioware's epic role-playing sequel, Mass Effect 2. Yahoo! Games caught up with her for a brief chat about the formidable femmes she's playing, both on your game system and on the tube.
Yahoo! Games: Let's talk a little bit about Mass Effect 2. You're playing the character of Miranda Lawson. Can you talk about how you got the gig, and what you responded to in that character?
Yvonne Strahovski: Mass Effect initially approached me and then I looked it up and got interested in it. I'm not a gamer so I've never really been familiar with this type of media. I got a look at it, and I was interested in doing it, and it's been a really fun, interesting process.
You have to recite different versions of the same scene, because there are branching paths in the storyline?
Yeah, a little bit. It gets confusing at times because there's not a script that follows one line all the way through – there's a million different avenues you can go down, so when you're recording you have to record every different version of how a scene can end, and it's kind of hard to follow.
Did you actually have to play different versions of the same characters – does the character evolve differently depending on which path the player chooses, and was that an acting challenge?
It's more like, if you as the player – if you're Shepard – if you choose to get to know Miranda better, then she'll tell you more about herself. If you don't ask her questions, then you won't know. As the game goes on, if you choose to find out more about Miranda, you'll find that she has a bit of a side story, and what her secret agenda is.
The Mass Effect games – and Bioware games in general – are known for having potential romantic attachments between the player and various supporting characters in the game. Is that one of the possible paths between Shepard and Miranda Lawson?
Well, put it this way: anything can happen.
In the last few years, more and more big stars are doing game voiceover. It feels like it’s finally broken out as a respectable venue for serious actors to work in. Do you get that sense as well?
Yeah, definitely. For me, I'm so amazed with the final product as well – visually, it looks like you're watching a movie. It's so real, and the faces of these computer animations are so amazing. I think actors connect with that genre, now.
Was there any kind of motion capture that you did, or did they film you in order to help animate your character?
I didn't do any motion capture, but I had to go through a process when they scanned my face into it. I had to sit on a rotating chair that rotated a certain angle every however-many seconds, and then they took all these photos of my face with different patterns, and somehow they scanned it all into a computer, and lo and behold, there was my face. And then they built it up – they built the body, and added brown hair, and the end result is what you see now.
You feel it's a pretty good likeness?
Yeah. It's very strange, because I don't have brown hair in real life, so it's kind of funny looking at me as a brunette.
You said you're not really a gamer. Are there any games you used to play on the side, and has your experience with Mass Effect 2 altered that at all – have you played a little bit more since then?
I used to play Sonic the Hedgehog when I was about 12 years old, and maybe a little bit of Pac-Man. I haven't really played anything since then. But I certainly am very curious about Mass Effect 2, and the stuff that I've seen that's been showed to me is amazing. I want to sit down and have a go of it, although I don't know how good I would be.
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