Let's get physical
5th January 1991 - TV Week
By Jodie Brockwell
Sophie and Tammy tone up for some tough TV new year challenges
Two of the Nine Network's hot young talents have hit the fitness trail to prepare for new roles.
Former Flying Doctors star Tammy MacIntosh and Bugs Bunny drawcard Sophie Lee are determined to be in peak condition for busy times ahead.
Tammy, 20, has left The Flying Doctors and was touted for a role in the movie It's Now Or Never, opposite Jason Donovan.
Sophie, 22, juggles presenting Nine's top-rating Bugs Bunny Show with her new part, as radio operator Penny Wellings, in the same series Tammy just left.
Also, Sophie plays saxophone with her new band, The Freaked Out Flower Children, around the Melbourne hotel circuit.
Keeping fit is a top priority with both actresses, particularly Tammy, who broke her collarbone last September when she crashed the motorcycle she was riding in a celebrity race at Phillip Island.
"I'd overtaken Donna Gardner (wife of champion rider Wayne Gardner) and I just didn't see the corner a few metres on," she says. "But I'd still get on a bike again. It hasn't put me off - although it has put my agent off in a big way!"
The fall meant she had to cancel her role in the film Garbo, recently shot in Melbourne.
After her experience in The Flying Doctors, Tammy has no interest in returning to series TV.
"Drama and soaps are great training grounds," Tammy says. "But I don't ever want to be in a TV series again. I'd like to do films in Australia and the U.S."
Tammy didn't let the collarbone injury slow her down for long. Her fitness routine includes dance classes and acrobatics. She swims every morning (and rides her bicycle to and from the pool).
"That adrenaline you get after exercising is like a drug. I crave it and need to do it," she says.
Sophie, too, enjoys working out. She does bodybuilding and "tries" to go to the gym three times a week. "I don't like being in an environment dominated by females," she says. "I like to be in the gym pumping iron like one of the guys."
Sophie's other interests include riding her bicycle around the Melbourne suburb of St. Kilda and flying kites. She spent her leisure time as a child studying music. Her band plays "folk music with a contemporary beat" and includes her best friend, former countdown Revolution presenter Nicky Love, and Gumpy and Tricky J. from the band Might Big Crime.