Isabel Lucas

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Isabel Lucas

Born	Isabel Lucas January 29, 1985 (1985-01-29) (age 23) Melbourne, Australia
Occupation	Actress

Isabel Lucas (born January 29, 1985 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)^[1] is an Australian actress of Swiss descent, perhaps best known for her role as Tasha Andrews on popular Australian television soap opera Home and Away until 2006 and for her active role in various environmental awareness organizations including Greenpeace International. Lucas resides in both her native Australia and spends time in the United States professionally.^{[citation needed]}

1 Biography
- 1.1 Early life and family
2 Career
- 2.1 Television
- 2.2 Film
3 Public image
- 3.1 Activism
- 3.2 Personal life
4 Filmography
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and family

As a child, Lucas lived in Melbourne, then in Switzerland, but later moved to a small mining town in Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory with her sister, Swiss mother and Australian father.^[1] Lucas speaks French^{[citation needed]} and German^[1] in addition to her native English. Lucas went to a High School named St. Monicas, in Cairns, which is in Australia.

[edit] Career

[edit] Television

Lucas enrolled with the Victorian College of Arts but had never pursued commercial roles until she was spotted at the Port Douglas market by Sharron Meissner, a Sydney theatrical agent.^[1] She auditioned for the role of Kit Hunter in Home and Away (now played by Amy Mizzi); while the producer of the show, Julie McGauran, felt that role was not right for Isabel, she was sufficiently impressed to have a new character, Tasha Andrews, created for her.^[1] Lucas won a Logie Award (for new popular talent) for her performance on the program.^[1] Playing Tasha Andrews on Home and Away was Lucas' first television role. She also appeared in an American television commercial for Crest Toothpaste.^[1]

[edit] Film

Lucas is currently filming her debut role in a film in the upcoming vampire thriller Daybreakers which is set for release in 2008, which stars Ethan Hawke.^[2].

Lucas has been cast as Gwen in the Steven Spielberg World War II miniseries, The Pacific.^[3] She has also been cast in Transformers 2 as Alice. In a recent article, Isabel refused to speculate on her latest casting. It has emerged that between February and May 2008 Isabel worked on Adrian Grenier's new series, Alter Eco. Reports have suggested that although assigned to the William Morris Talent Agency in LA through the auspices of Meissner Management, Isabel obtained the role of Alice in her native Australia before moving permanently to America. It has been claimed that Isabel was hand picked by director Steven Spielberg, however, Michael Bay, producer of Transformers 2, has denied that Spielberg influenced the decision to cast Isabel. ^[4]

[edit] Public image

[edit] Activism

In October of 2007, Isabel Lucas was part of a group of 30 people from Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (including American actress Hayden Panettiere) who took part in a protest against the dolphin hunting in Taiji, Wakayama, Japan.^[5] The group paddled out on surfboards to the dolphins to attempt to stop the local fishermen from carrying out their hunt, but they were forced to turn around after being intercepted by one of the fishing boats. They drove straight to Osaka airport and left the country to avoid being arrested for trespassing by the Japanese police. Many Japanese consider this kind of act as an attack on their culture.^[6] Taiji's fishery cooperative union argues that these protesters "continue willfully to distort the facts about this fishery" and protester's agendas are " based neither on international law nor on science but rather on emotion for economic self-interest."^[7]

Lucas is a spokesperson for the National Breast Cancer Foundation ,^[8] and supports and is an ambassador to many organisations including:

In a recent private conversation with a close friend, Isabel revealed that she had been hand picked by the Australian government, in exchange for a movie contract in the US, to sustain its program of destabilizing relations with Japan. In an Australian interview entitled 'Isabel Lucas ready for the limelight' Isabel claimed that her decision to go to Japan was influenced by her attainment of a role in the Pacific. According to Isabel, the role was gained after she had accepted to be part of an international group which would be sent to Japan to gather information on the local fisheries, under the pretence of 'anti- whaling' activism.

World Vision^[9]
The Humour Foundation^[10]
Women Against Violence^{[citation needed]}
Seeing Eye Dogs Australia^{[citation needed]}
Oxfam Community Aid Abroad^[11]
Global Green Plan^[12]
Save the Whales Again^[13]

[edit] Personal life

Lucas dated co-star Chris Hemsworth on and off until June 2006 before mutually splitting. This occured after Chris Hemsworth discovered that Isabel Lucas had had an affair while on holiday in France.^{[citation needed]}. Lucas is close friends with fellow actress Elissa Sursara.^[14] Following her split with Hemsworth, Lucas lived with Sursara for an undisclosed period of time.^[14] Australian media suggested the two girls were "in a lesbian relationship",^{[citation needed]} a claim denied by both girls. Lucas dated Australian singer and photographer George Byrne from 2006 August to 2007 December when the two mutually split up after it emerged that Isabel had been seeing a man (while in relationship) whose name remains undisclosed. As of February 2008, Isabel is dating Entourage star Adrian Grenier. The two have been spotted together around LA, with her also being introduced to his mother. They were photographed together at the 2008 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. In a recent newpaper article, Isabel denied maintaining a relationship with Grenier- the two are just friends. Recently it emerged that Isabel and Adrian will be living together. Numerous rumours have indicated that Isabel and Adrian got engaged in February and will be marrying next year. Lucas is a self-described "big animal lover"^{[citation needed]}, does not wear fur^{[citation needed]} and describes herself as free-spirited and as a "sort of a hippie".