Out Of Character

She sends shivers down viewers’ spines in The Handmaid’s Tale—but it’s hard not to fall for Yvonne Strahovski.

- John Powers

I hope people aren’t frightened of me,” says Yvonne Strahovski with a laugh. “On the street, they approach with a bit of caution.”

You can hardly blame them. The 35-year-old actress has become world-famous as the ironically named Serena Joy, one of the most frightening characters on Hulu’s awards-devouring series The Handmaid’s Tale. Bringing a coiled intensity to her troubled, joyless character, Strahovski plays a former antifeminist pundit living in a theocratic dystopia called Gilead. Bedecked in chilly blue outfits and severe hair, she is shockingly callous to the heroine, Offred (Elisabeth Moss), a prisoner forced to be a surrogate mother.