G’day.

I love that greeting. There’s a simplicity, an underlying friendliness, and an instant cultural identifiability wrapped up in those four letters and their indispensable apostrophe. I love the word, and I love being Australian.

Lately more than ever, being an Aussie geek has a pretty prestigious roll-call. Sydneysider Hugh Jackman got to be the world’s hottest X-Man. Perth boy Sam Worthington got to be a Terminator (as well as a Na'vi in the highest grossing movie of all time, Avatar). Sexy animal rights activist and Cairns native Isabel Lucas got to be a Decepticon. A DECEPTICON!!!!

Is there any specific, definable trait that makes Aussies so gosh darn awesome on the screen? (Not to mention, with an affinity for part-metal characters?) Is it a natural attractiveness that comes from our year-round sunshine, or our lifestyle of low stress due to low population density? Is it a happy, bursting-with-life glow and vigour from all those Sunday barbecues with grilled prawns (we don’t call them shrimp) and cold beers? Could it be we’re physically fitter because we are kept on our toes running constantly from six of the deadliest snakes in the world? Heck, we’re practically Olympians if you factor in the super fast swimming skills we’ve honed from decades of swimming speedily in the opposite direction of the world’s deadliest marine life.

Yep. We’re a tanned, fit, attractive bunch. Talented, too, if this small example of people is any testament.

We’re super-spies, we’re vampire detectives, we have alternate reality versions of ourselves, we’re aliens. And our greatest trick, half the time? Fooling the world into thinking we’re not there by our crafty and accurate use of world accents.

There are literally hundreds of Aussie actors making it big in the world right now, and a big percentage of that number is thriving in the genre world we love so much. In honour of our upcoming national birthday on January 26, I’d like to tip my Akubra to the following favourites and say: "Happy Australia Day… you bloody legends…"

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GQ Australia’s 2010 Man of the Year seems as good a place as any to begin, since I’m shamelessly superficial in my allegiances.

Ryan Kwanten got his start with five years on Aussie prime time soap Home and Away, moved to Hollywood collecting small TV and film parts along the way, before landing the coveted gig of Jason Stackhouse in HBO’s sexy vampire series True Blood. In the Charlaine Harris Sookie Stackhouse novels, Jason is a gorgeous, promiscuous ladies man, who had “never have to do more than crook his little finger at a girl for her to come running.” (Dead to the World, 2004). With the dirty blond hair and puppy dog brown eyes, muscle definition of the triathlete and champion boxer he is, Kwanten had the physical goods to pull off charismatic (and slutty) Jason Stackhouse with relish. Luckily for fans, he’s also ok to nude-up a lot. The Jason of the books is a medium to minor character, yet the Jason of the show -- thanks entirely to the sweet, clueless, simple charm Kwanten oozes -- enjoys major-character status and all manner of crazy plots, which somehow Kwanten pulls off without looking like he’s acting. Addicted to vampire blood? Brainwashed by religious cult? New girlfriend’s a panther, and not just in the sack? Doing all this with a Louisiana accent? Easy!

Kwanten recently filmed a movie (not a very good one) back home in Aus called Red Hill. It’s a “psychological thriller” about corrupt rural cops in an Aussie town, and sadly not even worth seeing for the perve factor as Kwanten spends the entire movie wet, muddy, and beaten bloody. He’s got a good attitude about it all, however, joking on live TV about his masochistic side (and his former bowling league team named, tee hee, Balls Deep).

True Blood enters its fourth season this June and is not likely to disappear from our lives any time soon. If book canon is followed, we can look forward to Kwanten busting out yet another impressive acting feat when he (no doubt effortlessly) turns into a panther this year.

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Yvonne Strahovski is, quite possibly, the embodiment of the male fantasy: blonde, busty, and fit with insane fighting skills. She holds a gun like she was born gripping one, and I find myself wondering if it’s because she was born in Maroubra; the suburb of Sydney so renowned for its gang violence, there’s been a movie about it.

Strahovski (that’s the easy, anglicised version of her family name) is fluent in Polish -- man, is there anything this chick can’t do? She had one short moment on Chuck that allowed her to use her native Aussie accent, posing as a visiting biochemist in the second season and managing to squeeze both “G’day” and “loo” into one sentence... sadly, whoever wrote that episode has probably never been to Australia. Meanwhile, her natural Aussie twang is so pronounced she is mocked mercilessly by Chuck cast mates for her Aussie pronunciation of “no” (yeah, we draw out the vowel sound like it’s an eight letter word. Sue us). In an odd twist, she had a lead role in a recent Aussie rom-com entitled I Love You, Too -- however, the character was English! Lucky she’d had such intensive accent training at her acting school, as she admitted to one interviewer.

Lastly, she’s adventurous and big on the outdoorsy stuff, especially horse riding, but nothing water related – so no upcoming surfer-chick scenes for Sarah on Chuck, then. Still though – total girl crush. And who could blame me?

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Alex O’Loughlin is here mostly because he’s so darn sexy, and because he was born in my home town of Canberra. His genre credentials are a little light, just that one short-lived series, Moonlight. And let’s face it -- Moonlight was short-lived because it wasn’t particularly good. He played Mick St. John (cliché name, so we’re off to a bad start), vampire P.I who solves most of his crimes with the help of human reporter Beth and a very dicey legal system that overlooks civilians conducting their own criminal investigations and tampering with evidence, etc. Inadmissible schminadmissible! The part that hooked me in, though, was the sweet chemistry between O’Loughlin and female lead Sophia Myles, because let’s be honest -- when a face as sexy as Alex is gazing with rapture in all kinds of romantically-angled close up shots, I’m gonna have a swoon moment. Several per episode.

So, where is he now? Bookin’ ‘em with Dan-o on the reboot of Hawaii 5-0. It’s getting good press so far, it’ll hopefully be more successful and long-lived than that boob-fest reboot of Knight Rider from 2008.

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Emilie De Ravin first came to our attention in the 1999 TV series Roswell as a suspicious newcomer to town, who turned out to be a usurping alien plotting to break up the lead couple Max (Jason Behr) and Liz (Shiri Appleby). And back in the day? I hated her for it. Then she spent a couple of years gallivanting around Hawaii, Australian accent intact, with my second favourite Hobbit and my favourite Salvatore brother on Lost, and letting others do the heavy lifting because she was pregnant, and I really hated her for it. Most recently she was the object of love for one Robert Pattinson, another fave of mine, in the indy romance Remember Me. Emilie? You just made my shit list.

But, all things being fair in the geek world, she can have her moment here. De Ravin (pronounced rAH-vin, not like the bird) grew up outside of Melbourne and was a hardcore ballerina until acting took her fancy in her mid teens. She succeeded almost immediately -- if there are any toothpaste commercials or dead-body-on-a-crime-show credits to her resume, she’s hidden them well.

First up came an eight episode role as a demon on Beastmaster (filmed in Queensland, Australia), a sci-fi adventure about a tribe with some kind of mystical connection to animals and a little bit of magic. Then she found her way straight to the heart of New Mexico (or, via planet Antar, if you want to get technical) as the alien bride of alien king Max. Later, she had a scream-worthy part in mutant (not zombie) horror cannibal flick The Hills Have Eyes that was waaaay too scary for me to watch. And finally, if you check out Lost DVD extras for her audition tape, you’ll see she has a lot better acting ability than I’d given her credit for in the past. Sorry, Em -- I sold you short. Now, hands off my men, or we’re gonna have issues.

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Fans of Julian McMahon’s sexy Nip/Tuck may not realise, at first glance, just how much McMahon belongs on this particular list. To them I humbly submit these four reasons:

1. He’s really, really hot.
2. For over two years he played a demon who married a good witch before becoming The Source of All Evil!
3. He was Doctor Doom in the Fantastic Four movies.
4. His father was The Prime Minister of Australia!!! Italics do not indicate a movie title. He was the actual Prime Minister!

And of slightly lesser importance, he shares my birthday. So, welcome Julian!

I love this little tidbit from his past: studying law and economics (at two separate, and fairly prestigious, Australian Universities), he got bored and dropped out to become a fashion model. What are the odds?! Not only does this mean there’s a functioning brain behind those sexy eyes, but the gumption to break away from his impressive pedigree (son of a former Prime Minister!! If you didn’t catch that!) and slip on over to Milan and Paris, where he took his shirt off for the camera and probably slept with everything that moved. Atta boy.

Following an almost obligatory turn in Home and Away -- it’s either that or Neighbours, for many a budding Aussie thespian -- and a short marriage to Dannii Minogue (sister to Kylie and judge on Australia’s Got Talent -- in whose music videos he also appeared, and if you haven’t seen them yet, do so… immediately!) he found himself in the US and enjoyed a two year career on daytime soap Another World and then four years on CBS’s late 90’s prime time fixer-upper, Profiler.

Then came his heart-bestirring role as the forbidden love of one Phoebe Halliwell (Alyssa Milano). His stint on Charmed was so adored by lady fans that even after the character of Cole/Belthazor was killed off (because you can’t hold the job of Source Of All Evil too long without the good guys eventually hunting you down), he was brought back for a cameo in the 150th episode, and given a bit of a warm, fuzzy tie-up to his death. Having been a Charmed fan through almost all its eight year run (please don’t send me hate mail), it’s my belief that the producers and writers there were torn pretty evenly down the middle as to who wanted McMahon’s character good (and around for the long haul) and who wanted him bad (coz evil is WAY sexier than pussy-whipped). That theory seems to explain how the character could yo-yo so effectively (and avoid death -- or at least, avoid final death) for so long. Really, though, any plot or story arc (no matter how crazy) that removes screen time from Brian Krause and hands it over to Julian McMahon? Okay by me.

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When relative unknown Chris Hemsworth was cast as Asgardian prince Thor in the upcoming movie adaptation of the comic book -- directed by Kenneth Branagh and opposite Natalie Portman, for Odin’s sake! -- there was much scratching of the head and furrowing of the brow in certain Australian households. ’Cause Chris Hemsworth… wait, wasn’t that Kim, from Home and Away? Winner of the Most Popular New Talent Award at the 2005 Logies? (Our version of the People’s Choice Awards.) That Chris Hemsworth? Playing a superhero god? Sure, many soap stars do seem somewhat genetically blessed, but for the lanky and lean schoolboy surfer-type to morph into a powerful scion of Norse mythology -- by way of space! -- seemed almost impossible.

However, leaked photos of Hemsworth on set have proved that he has the wherewithal, Taylor-Lautner-bulking-up-for-New-Moon-style, to pull off even a role as bicep- and facial hair-demanding as that of Mr. (Marvel) Universe. Not to mention his other recent genre credits: as well as reprising his role as Thor in Joss Whedon’s 2011 Avengers movie, he’ll also soon be seen in Whedon's long-awaited horror flick, The Cabin in the Woods; he stars in the forthcoming Red Dawn remake; and he (briefly) played Kirk's Dad in JJ Abrams’s 2009 Star Trek movie. Kirk’s Dad! A resume does NOT get more genre than that.

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Big Geek Speak fave -- winner, in fact, of Best TV Actress in  in the  inaugural Geek Speak Awards -- Anna Torv earns her place here for her incredible and detailed performance of the two (or more) Olivias in Fox’s slow-build quirky classic, Fringe. She grew up on the Gold Coast (Australia’s slightly seedy version of Hollywood, possibly crossed with Orlando, FL) but gained her acting chops at the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) in Sydney. Having lived in London for a period of her adult life, her natural accent is shot to hell... but I’ll forgive her because she raises orphan kittens. Seriously.

Torv’s got a mature grace about her that (inevitably) draws comparison to her lookalike (fellow Aussie) Cate Blanchett, but we’ll choose to assign credit for her excellent bone structure to her half Estonian heritage. She’s also half Scottish (not the Torv half of the family) so perhaps that’s where she got the balls to pose for a tasteful, half-nude (and very sexy) photo shoot for Esquire in early 2010. In horse riding gear. Whoa. New girl crush?

NB. Torv's Fringe co-star, John Noble (who brilliantly plays the conflicted Dr. Walter Bishop) is from South Australia -- and also played that creepy Denethor of Gondor in The Lord of the Rings.

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In what seems like a fitting place to finish off this incomplete list of Aussie talent and hotness, let’s journey up a mountain -- one that coined an entirely new noun in 2005 -- with Heath Ledger. His story is well known in the “sad but true” Hollywood files: with early career highlights tagging him as a “pretty boy”, he sought roles of more complexity and uniqueness to shake off the typecasting. He went Brokeback with Jake Gyllenhaal, played the asshole version of Bob Dylan in I’m Not There, brought a new level of crazy to Batman villain The Joker in The Dark Knight… then died, aged just 28. Bummer.

But dudes? His Joker was awesome. How does a young guy from Perth manage to show up Jack Nicholson?? There’ll never be any way of knowing if the posthumous Academy Award (and Golden Globe, and BAFTA, and others) was more a reflection of the talent gone to waste (i.e., would he have won the awards had he not accidentally overdosed?), or truly the best performance of the year, but it certainly got the critics and fans alike rising to their feet for a standing ovation.

In the slightly-embarrassing-past file, Ledger also gave the world Roar -- the middle ages fantasy epic of bad acting and worse hair pieces. Remember this gem?

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Wait, an accidental suicide is too sad a note to finish on: let’s instead throw out an Honourable Mention in the direction of adopted Aussie Jane Badler.

Born in New York, she had the lead in the original 80s version of V: lizard-like aliens living amongst us and eating rodents, anyone? Then, in reverse to everyone in the above list, Badler moved to Australia (for work originally, then stayed for love. Awwww). So what’s she doing now? Talking with a flawless Aussie accent and appearing in one of our soaps, that’s what! Actually, her time on Neighbours seems to be over for the moment, and she’s now appearing as mother to ruthless Anna (Morena Baccarin) in the updated version of V, making us Aussies prouder than some of those Kiwis (*cough*russelcrowe*cough*) we like to lay claim to. (And perhaps the less said about the American-born Mel Gibson, the better.)

She also seems to have sorted out the 80’s hair, too. Onya, Jane.

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Other Australians of Genre TV Note: Claudia Black (Aeryn Sun, Farscape; Vala Mal Doran, Stargate SG-1); Stephanie Chaves-Jacobsen (Lt. Shaw, Battlestar Galactica: Razor; Jesse Flores, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles); Melissa George (Molly, Roar [opposite Heath Ledger]; Lauren Reed, Alias -- also Dark City, The Amityville Horror and 30 Days of Night); Peter Kelamis (Adam Brody, Stargate Universe); Jonathan La Paglia (Frank Parker, 7 Days -- also, Attack of the Gryphon); Jacqueline McKenzie (The 4400 -- also, Deep Blue Sea); Cameron Daddo (Category 7: The End of the World, Pterodactyl, and a bunch of other so-bad-its-good-or-just-really-bad crap); and a whole lot of people from Farscape, Hercules and Xena. The Mentalist’s tremendous Simon Baker hasn’t been in anything terribly genre, but yeah, he’s one of ours, too, as is Jesse Spencer from House, one of the few Australians working in the US to ever actually play an Australian (it’s basically him, the aforementioned Emilie de Ravin and Bryan Brown). Plus, The Wiggles.

Other Australians of Genre Movie Note: Rod Taylor (The Time Machine, The Birds, Vortex); Leo McKern (The Mouse That Roared, The Omen, Damien: Omen II, Ladyhawke -- plus, on TV, he was a Number 2 in The Prisoner); Hugo Weaving (The Matrix trilogy; The Lord of the Rings trilogy); Geoffrey Rush (House on Haunted Hill, Mystery Men, The Pirates of the Caribbean quadrilogy, The Warrior’s Way); Naomi Watts (Tank Girl, Mulholland Drive, The Ring); Nicole Kidman (The Others, Invasion, Bewitched); Eric Bana (Hulk, Star Trek, The Time Traveler’s Wife); Guy Pearce (Ravenous, Memento, The Time Machine); Miranda Otto (What Lies Beneath, The Lord of the Rings, War of the Worlds); Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense); Mia Wasikowska (Alice in Wonderland, the upcoming Jane Eyre); Rose Byrne (Sunshine, 28 Days Later, Knowing, X-Men: First Class); David Wenham (The Lord of the Rings, Van Helsing, 300); Frances O’Connor (Bedazzled, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Timeline); Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black, Surrogates); Richard Roxburgh (Mission Impossible II, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Van Helsing, Stealth); Portia de Rossi (Scream 2, Stigmata, Cursed); Luke Ford (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Ghost Machine); Joel Edgerton (Star Wars: Episodes II and III – he’s Uncle Owen! -- King Arthur, the upcoming re-remake of The Thing); young Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road, Let Me In); Kylie Minogue (Street Fighter); Rick Springfield (Battlestar Galactica [original]; Nick Knight); Jason Clarke (Death Race), and a whole lot of other people from The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix and the latest Star Wars movies. Sadly, one of the greatest Australian talents, Judy Davis, is absent from this list due to a dearth of genre fare on her resume... dammit.

  -- Cathy Thomson