ISABEL LUCAS is an actress who suffers for her art … up to a point.

The former Home And Away star and Logie winner was in Sydney this week to promote the new Transformers flick in which she stars.

While she’s no Meryl Streep or Cate Blanchett – yet – Lucas, who undertook intense acting classes before she joined the cast of Home And Away, was enthusiastically telling reporters the lengths she had to go to take on her role as a Princeton University student in the sci-fi film.

All those acting classes must have come in handy to meet director Michael Bay’s demands that she be well tanned for her role. Lucas refined her “craft” in a Hollywood solarium, though she said the “claustrophobia” drove her mad so she opted for a series of spray tans. During the casting call, she was wearing a black dress, which Bay apparently found underwhelming. When she took his advice and came back in a colourful dress, she landed the role.

It appears big things are awaiting Lucas in Hollywood. This month she was featured in Vanity Fair as a face to watch. Indeed, Lucas’s prospects look bright, having followed the Sophie Monk formula for fame by dating a string of high-profile men.

She recently ended up in co-star Shia LaBeouf’s car when the actor had an accident, leaving her with a nasty bump on her head.