While publicists and photographers and stylists and mothers and confused hotel guests buzz around the pool at the Hotel Oceana in Santa Monica, California, Isabel Lucas seems to float along almost languidly – her tranquil, unobtrusive demeanor unflustered by al the activity as she takes a seat on the edge of a pool chair.

The Australian actress has received a warm welcome in Hollywood thanks to her performance as Tasha Andrews on the massively popular Australian TV show Home and Away. The blonde, blue-eyes 24-year-old took a detour before arriving on American soil though, spending a year traveling around Europe, much of the time on her own. “I just have the travel bug,” she says, shrugging a pair of slim, tan shoulders that lend her a dainty, almost breakable, look. “I’ve always had it, I’d like to go to Tibet next.”

Following her year abroad, Lucas was cast in the vampire drama Daybreakers with Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe, and then as Alice in the forthcoming Transformers sequel, Revenge of the Fallen. When it was reported that Lucas was co-star Shia Labeouf’s passenger during his highly publicized car accident last July, she suddenly found herself dealing with the intrusions of the voracious America tabloid press. “I found that to be really unusual. There’s so much speculation. IT’s something I’m going to have to learn to deal with gracefully,” she says of the attention. “I think it’s easier to play different characters and more likely for people to believe you when you have some anonymity. I just think it’s harder in our time now to achieve that.” Next, Lucas can be seen in the HBO 10-part mini-series set during World War II, The Pacific. The project, which has been put together by the same team responsible for Band of Brothers, and is again helmed by Steven Spielberg, should ensure Lucas spends a lot more time in an entirely different kind of spotlight.