AS career moves go, it’s rare that a cancelled soap opera screened over summer provides a lucrative leg-up. But for local blonde bombshell Rachael Taylor, her current rise through the US film industry is built on Seven’s failed Home and Away spin-off, Headland.

While most of her soapie colleagues retreated behind coffee machines awaiting their next acting adventure, Taylor was snapped up by Hollywood’s insatiable appetite for talented, fresh faces - especially those who could double as a model.

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From: UGO

We’ve all heard of the Tasmanian Devil, but Tasmania isn’t known for breeding a hotbed of talent when it comes to actors. Even though the Australian province hasn’t churned out Hollywood stars en masse, it appears the town of Launceston has a hometown hottie to export. Rachael Taylor was working on an Australian TV series when she jumped ship and headed for L.A. Somehow, with a lot of luck and the blessing of Michael Bay, Taylor landed a sizeable role in Transformers as Maggie Madsen, a signal decryption expert hell bent on cracking the Transformers’ code. With two more movies under her belt since last summer’s gargantuan blockbuster, it’s safe to say that Rachael Taylor is one of the hottest new actresses on the Hollywood scene. Judging by the 15 minutes that we had with her, she’s also one of the coolest.

Who does that? Who rides in a helicopter and lands on the lawn of the Pentagon?

Read the interview here

411’s Tony Farinella sits down with Rachael Taylor to talk about Transformers on DVD!

Rachael Taylor is every bit as lovely and gracious and talented and intelligent in Transformers as she is on the phone. Needless to say, she’s got a bright future ahead of her. And she’s also come a long way since she made the move from Australia to the United States. I’d say she made the right decision, because Transformers made a ton of money!

TONY: First of all, thanks for doing this interview.

Rachael Taylor: It’s an absolute pleasure. I’m always happy to talk about Transformers.

TONY: Great. Have you had a chance to step back and fully grasp how big this movie is?

Rachael Taylor: You sort of have your moments of being kind of blown away by just how excited people are about it. I’ve been lucky enough to be able to sit down and talk with some really hardcore Transformers fans. And it’s really thrilling as an actor to see that people can get so excited about a particular concept. I just consider it a real privilege to be a part of something so massive.

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Paul: Were you concerned at all that, yes it’s a big movie and it’s obviously a huge break for you but you didn’t simply want to be another one of Michael Bay’s girls?

Rachael: Absolutely. That was my primary concern I think. But having read the script, I didn’t think that was it. I don’t think that’s the role that I’m playing. Firstly I’m not the lead role in this movie, it’s just a nice little piece, it’s a nice little introduction for me and it is a smart female role like, you know,, she is what she is, like she’s a computer expert and I know, that it’s a film movie version of that but I still think it’s ground in reality and that was my main challenge as an actor and that’s one thing that I really committed myself to. And you know what? I was really proud when I saw the film. Because I don’t think I’m highly sexed in it. I think that I actually look like a person who is doing a job and I look like I’m invested in the pursuit of this kind of history and the deconstruction of this data. I don’t feel like I have been highly sexed. I’m not like really tanned or in a low cut top. I think I’ve sort of avoided it. And I am really proud of that. It’s something I really stuck to my guns on.
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