Australian actress Isabel Lucas hit the Hollywood big time when she scored a debut film role alongside Ethan Hawke in Daybreakers in 2009.

What followed was seven years of striking A-list gold in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with Shia LaBeouf and Red Dawn alongside Aussie heartthrob Chris Hemsworth. But after an almost decade long run, she decided to move back to Byron Bay, reconnect with the hinterland and go back to the US when required for work.

“There’s something liberating about making that decision to come back,” says Lucas, 33, who is in LA auditioning when she takes this call.

She sold her home in LA three years ago, and couch surfs instead [hanging with actor friend Kick Gurry who starred in Looking for Alibrandi for the past month] and makes sure she takes evening acting classes to keep her creative juices flowing. “For me it’s important to work and feel creatively nourished,” she says.

“If I am in a place where I am connected with family and people I love, it will show through my work. I also find the work just keeps coming when I am in that space too.”

So instead of trying to survive in a big city, she found a way to keep earthed in Australia and go back to the epicentre of cinema when need be.

“I am totally committed to my career, but I like that feeling of being on the edge, it keeps it very real for me. I feel most alive,” she says.

In her latest feature film, Lucas plays Rose in the biopic In Like Flynn. Directed by Russell Mulcahy, it maps the early life of Errol Flynn – an Australian war veteran and actor who also went to Hollywood to pursue acting.

Shot on the Gold Coast, Lucas plays an amalgamation of women who had their heart broken by Flynn.

“I get to wear a red wig and play one of few female characters who were heartbroken by him and his escapades,” explains Lucas.

“I really enjoyed working alongside Thomas Cocquerel [Errol Flynn]. It’s a beautiful period film with amazing costumes that were wonderful to wear,” she adds.

Born in Melbourne, Lucas spent her childhood moving between Switzerland and Australia until her mid-teens.

Her father Andrew, a biodynamic farmer and retired pilot, met his Swiss wife Beatrice [Isabel’s mum] at a bus stop in France. They wrote love letters to one another for 10 years before marrying to have two children. Isabel’s sister Nini Lucas is two years older and works as an environmental lawyer.

Once Beatrice moved to Australia, she started working with autistic children, taught dance therapy and completed her PhD in Aboriginal dance.

But she never lost her connection to Switzerland, with Lucas schooling there at the age of seven and again at 15. She is fluent in German and French as a result.

There was a stint in Kakadu from age nine and 10 (her dad worked for Kakadu Airlines) and she became good friends with an indigenous girl Natasha Neidjie – the granddaughter of the late Kakadu elder Big Bill Neidjie.

“My best friend Natasha is a ranger now and showed me a lot of bush tucker and we’d go on these amazing walks back then,” she says.

“I went back after 20 years later just two years ago and it was amazing to go camping and reconnect with that period in my life.”

Lucas never planned on a career in acting, but after a successful three years playing Tasha in Home & Away between 2003 and 2006, quietly went on her way to woo Hollywood.

The petite blonde star scored roles on the TV series Emerald City and MacGyver which added to her reputation as hardworking and committed to the craft. She won a Logie Award for Best New Talent in 2004 and later a Young Hollywood Award (Star of Tomorrow) in 2011.

While back in the US, she also went to New York to work on a short film with French filmmaker Thibaut Buccellato, the man behind The Space Between Us.

When it comes to her private life, Lucas is careful about sharing details. But that’s what is appealing about her too – and even though she once dated Chris Hemsworth and singer Angus Stone, she prefers to avoid questions of the heart, putting her radiant energy into conversations about the environment instead.

She was one of a handful of artists, actors and musicians chosen to attend an environmental trip to Heron Island Research Station to learn about climate change and its impact on the Great Barrier Reef.

“Being at Heron Island expanded my awareness about climate change issues and the urgency for us to step up now,” says Lucas, who also counts actor Leonardo DiCaprio as a friend.

“I love the quote ‘be the change you want to see’ – you can apply it to relationships, friendships or the environment.

“Stepping up yourself gives others permission to be a bit more honest and vulnerable and we can all empower one another that way.”

The former face of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week is also a brand ambassador for eco-skincare line Sante by ENJO and supports the Climate Council and Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef.

She’s one of many celebrities including Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman and Sam Worthington pushing the green envelope by urging Aussies to take a stand, to reduce plastic consumption, consider animal rights and live more sustainably.

“I am passionate about getting environmental conversations started,” she says.

“But I don’t want to come across as a preacher or that I know everything because I don’t, but we can all learn by listening.”