Australian actor Natasha Liu Bordizzo is primed to take the Star Wars fandom by storm when a highly anticipated series appears in the coming months.
This week, Disney+ revealed Ahsoka, a series part of the Star Wars franchise, would premiere on August 23.
“Set after the fall of the Empire, Ahsoka follows the former Jedi knight Ahsoka Tano as she investigates an emerging threat to a vulnerable galaxy,” Disney said of the series.
Rosario Dawson will play the titular role of the former Jedi knight, and Bordizzo plays the role of Sabine Wren.
The character of Sabine Wren has appeared in the Rebels and Forces of Destiny series, where she was voiced by Tiya Sircar.
Who is Natasha Liu Bordizzo?
Born in Sydney, Bordizzo had just started her double degree in media law at Sydney’s University of Technology when she was cast in her first role.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny came out in 2016 and Bordizzo starred as Snow Vase in the film, alongside Michelle Yeoh.
At the time, she had no acting experience and didn’t even have headshots.
“I think the reason I got it was just the formula of things that not everyone has – a martial-arts ability, fluent English and being the right age and look,” Bordizzo said in 2015, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Although she did say there was a chance she would return to university to complete her degree, Bordizzo has been quite busy since then.
In 2017, she had a part in The Greatest Showman and then Hotel Mumbai in 2018.
In 2019, Bordizzo was cast in the Netflix series The Society, which was popular among viewers but cancelled after only one season. She also starred in the comedy Day Shift alongside Jamie Foxx.
Given the cult following of Star Wars and its franchises, Ahsoka is potentially Bordizzo’s biggest role yet.
Speaking to Comic Book back in April this year, Bordizzo said she trained for months to prepare for the role of Sabine.
“It took months and months and I’m so glad we had the time because it would have sucked to come in late and then try to rush to be at the level that I wanted to be at,” she said.
“So it took a long time and I think that the hardest part was probably just doing it justice because you just don’t want it to not be anything but awesome. So reaching that level physically takes its time.”
As for holding a lightsaber, Bordizzo said wielding one was perhaps in the top three moments of her life.
Tweet from @RottenTomatoes
Fans are pretty excited to see Sabine adapted to a live-action format.
Eric Geller, a cyber security and technology journalist with a huge following, remarked on Twitter that Bordizzo’s casting might be the best yet in the franchise.
“From a purely visual standpoint (since we haven’t seen her performance yet), I think Natasha Liu Bordizzo’s Sabine might be the best live-action adaptation of an animated character that Star Wars has ever done,” he said.
