Rachael Taylor

AGE: 22. PROVENANCE: The island state of Tasmania, Ausfralia. ON THE CUSP OF MASS EXPOSURE AS... Maggie, a nose-ringed computer technician in Michael Bay's summer blockbuster-to-be, Transformers, based on the Hasbro toy line. BUT EVEN HER ACTING DEBUT WAS AUSPICIOUS: "Peter Bogdanovich was the first person that I auditioned for. He shot a television mini-series [in 2004] called The Mystery of Natalie Wood down in Sydney. I remember he had this big scarf wrapped around his neck, and he had sunglasses on, inside. So my first job, even in Australia, was very Hollywood-esque." MUM AND DAD ARE PROUD BUT NOT TOO CAUGHT UP IN THE WHOLE HOLLYWOOD THING: "They genuinely really like their life in Tazzie. They have this simple thing going on. I'm sure they would love to come and visit me [in L.A.] at some stage, but at the moment, it just sort of seems like Daughter's off doing this kind of mystical thing out in the universe somewhere, and it sort of involves moviemaking. You know, I go off, and then I come home to the house I was born in, and we sort of... talk about the dog. My parents are crazy dog people, so that's just as interesting [to them] as working with Michael Bay."

All Is VANITIES...Nothing Is Fair

MAY

VANITIES

2007

CONTINUED on page 214

CONTINUED from page 213

KRISTA SMITH