Bella Heathcote has lived in Los Angeles for six years, and the actress is still completely enamored of the city. �There�s a great juxtaposition between the beautiful hikes and the terrible architecture,� muses the 29-year-old Melbourne, Australia native. �Or maybe it�s because when I came here, I could start my life over."

Heathcote moved to L.A. in 2010, after winning the Australians in Film Heath Ledger Scholarship, which included a $10,000 stipend and a plane ticket. The highlights of her CV at the time was a role in the long-running �Australian TV show "Neighbours" � �a rite of passage,� she says � and one scene with Joel Edgerton in the 2008 film Acolytes.

But just being in L.A. was exciting for the Heathcote. �Even though I wasn�t working as an actress, there were meetings! And auditions!" she says. "Back in Australia, I�d get an audition a month, and the rest of the time I�d be working at a law firm."

Slowly but surely, she began to gain traction in Hollywood. Tim Burton cast her in his 2012 film adaptation of the gothic TV soap "Dark Shadows"; this year alone, she�s played Jane Bennet in Pride and Prejudice and �Zombies, had a supporting role in Nicolas Winding Refn�s The Neon Demon, and appears as Nicole Becker in the Amazon series "The Man in the High Castle," which returns for its second season December 16 .

"It was a character that could be so open to interpretation,� she says of the role in the alternate historical drama, which is set in a world where the Axis powers win World War II. "She�s a filmmaker, kind of a Leni Riefenstahl type, but at the same time she�s a second generation Nazi. I don�t think she really gives a shit about the Nazi ideals; she�s a society girl, she�s a bit bored, and she�s been brought up in this environment where everyone is from the same mold. She just likes to stir up a bit of trouble."

But it�s Fifty Shades Darker, the follow-up to last year�s Fifty Shades of Grey, that is sure to bring Heathcote wider recognition � and a nail-biting moment or two. In it, she plays the mentally unstable ex-lover of Christian Grey, someone who is �just completely heartbroken,� she says. �I think anyone who�s been through any form of grief can relate.�

It�s clearly not the character that she shies from diving into, but the intense fandom behind the books. �There is such a strong fan base and you don�t want to kind of disappoint anyone or upset anyone,� she says. �That was kind of terrifying.�

Still, the early feedback has been positive. �There was a woman at the airport yesterday, at immigration, who really liked the first one,� Heathcote says, laughing.

And as for how her critical take on the E.L. James books that started it all? "I was just glad that everyone was reading books again,� she says. "Anything that gets people reading is fine by me."