Dichen Lachman will be familiar to British audiences for her role as Katya Kinski in Aussie soap-opera Neighbours. Traditionally when a good looking actress leaves Neighbours they move to London and embark on a fleeting pop career in the hope of being the next Kylie.

But not Dichen Lachman. She moved to LA, joined the west coast acting rat-race and in the blink of an eyelid was playing Sierra on Joss Whedon's Dollhouse. Good work that girl. Below Dichen tells Pete about life in LA and good times on the Dollhouse set.

You've gone from a regular role on Neighbours to a regular role on Dollhouse. The last 2 years must've been pretty intense for you.
Yeah it was. It was a lot of fun. The time between leaving Neighbours and going through [to Dollhouse] wasn't actually that long, it was only a year and a little bit. I feel lucky and very fortunate to be working again and it's a great show.

Joss Whedon is obviously known for his strong female characters but were you at all concerned about the moral and ethical issues that Dollhouse throws up?
I never had any reservations about it. I was only ever excited. I thought they were issues that needed to be raised because sometimes people are trying to change who they are and I think this show clearly shows that that's not really the way to go.

Also, when I auditioned for the part I hadn't actually read the script because no one had it, no one was allowed to read it. So I just had a general idea about this house that had these people with their memories erased because something bad happened in their pasts - that's all I knew. I think maybe a couple of people, who might have had a little more bargaining power than me, might have read the script because Joss really wanted them for the show, specifically them. But as far as me and a few of the other younger people were concerned it was just a great opportunity.

Were you a fan of sci-fi, and Joss Whedon in particular, before Dollhouse?
Yeah I really enjoyed watching Buffy and Angel as a teenager growing up. I didn't know who Joss Whedon was specifically. I did watch his shows and now I've learnt that he's ghost written a lot of films that I enjoyed. Some of it [his work] I didn't know he wrote like the first Toy Story. It was only while I auditioned for him that I was really aware of who Joss Whedon was and what he'd done.

Do you think the decision to give Dollhouse a second season can be seen as a success for creative television?
I think so. All these studios are now part of multinational corporations. It's a big departure from the studio just standing there on its own. So I think it is opening up some doors. People are realising that not everybody is watching shows exactly when they're on. There's so many ways now to watch things. I think they [the studios] are just learning to acclimatise to the technology which is moving so fast and they're going to have to find new ways of advertising because people want things faster. I think they underestimate the audience sometimes and Dollhouse has proved audiences are becoming more savvy.

Which has been your favourite episode of Dollhouse to film?
To film I imagine fun and then I think Audra [Stage Fright], you know the nutty fan girl from Australia. That was a lot of fun. We were in a big music venue in Los Angeles where I've gone to see bands play. We had a lot of location stuff and I just got to be myself.

A chance for you to use your real accent.

Yeah it was. I just got to chill-out and relax. I had a lot of fun.

As an actor was the move to Los Angeles an obvious one for you?
It was. After Neighbours finished it just seemed like the most logical thing to do. I wasn't going to end up on Home and Away or McLeod's Daughters. So I came over and did some classes and just found my way round. I was kind of going back and forth; I did a giant lizard movie for the Syfy network, Aztec Rex, in Hawaii which was great. I got to spend five weeks in Hawaii running around in a bikini. It's all been a really great learning experience.

Do you see yourself carving out a career in the US or are there other countries you'd like to work in?
I'd love to work in Europe, I think that would be amazing. This is what I want to do now so I hope I'm fortunate enough to give it a crack and do it for a very long time. I'm also fascinated in other areas; writing and directing. I'd love to learn how to write and direct because I always want to be creative. Los Angeles is one of these cities where everybody comes to follow their dreams. In a way it's poetically sad. But it's also beautiful because everyone wants to be creative.

Who's the most fun on the Dollhouse set and is there anyone you've been able to learn from?
Everyone has different ways of working. I'm so fortunate to work with the actors I work with. Fun... Enver, he's hilarious. He's so warm and on set he's always happy, and I've mostly had my storyline with him. But everyone's great; Olivia, Eliza, Fran... we all just enjoy spending time with each other. If we're doing a scene we all have to buckle up and focus, but for the most part it's all fun.

Are you able to tell us what we can expect from Dollhouse season 2?
I think a lot of questions will be answered, and more questions will be asked. I think you look forward to getting to know everyone a bit more. You'll have a little more insight into where people came from. The writers aren't actually allowed to tell me anything. Sometimes if I give them a drink or two they might give me a little snippet.

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