Alexandra Boyd

Alexandra Boyd is a British actress and filmmaker. Her acting credits include Clarissa Mason in Coronation Street and Sarah Olmsted in Mr Holland's Opus. In recent years she's turned to screenwriting and film directing. On British TV she has appeared in several episodes of Doctors and guest starred in New Tricks and "Holby City". She's been a guest on Loose Women and is the Head of the Delegation in the 2010 John Travolta/Luc Besson action film From Paris with Love. Other film roles include Mr. Holland's Opus and First Class Woman in James Cameron's Titanic. She wrote and directed her second film Boxer on the Wilderness a trailer for her feature screenplay (The Wilderness).

Early life

Alexandra was born in 1962^[1] to a Scottish father, David Boyd,^[2] and an English mother, in Bangor, Wales. She grew up in Norwich, Norfolk, and was educated at Norwich High School for Girls. She left school at 16 to study full-time at Laine Theatre Arts in Epsom, Surrey. In 1986 she enrolled in the post graduate acting course at Drama Studio, London. She co-founded a theatre company that performed Shakespeare and adapted classics for the London and Edinburgh Fringe. The company also produced English plays for Italy. In the 1993 Italian tour Alexandra played Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion.

Career

Alexandra currently lives in London. She moved back to the UK in 2006 after living in the USA for seventeen years. While living and working in Los Angeles she appeared in Mr. Holland’s Opus and James Cameron's Titanic.

On American TV Alexandra made appearances on Party of Five, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch and The Bernie Mac Show. She's performed voices for radio commercials & animated features such as The Wild Thornberries. She is the voice of Elaine Marley in The Curse of Monkey Island, Tales of Monkey Island and the special editions of The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge.

On British TV, she was Clarissa Mason on Coronation Street (Granada TV) and Dennis Waterman's love interest in an episode of New Tricks (BBC). She has guest starred in several episodes of BBC1's Doctors and Holby City.

Her theatre credits range from Shakespeare to panto; many Alan Ayckbourn plays; Rita in Educating Rita and Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion. In 2007 she produced and performed in a one-woman show at the Hackney Empire.

In November 2009 she co-starred with Danny Webb in Visiting Hours, a short film written for her and directed by Steve Hughes. The film played at the Milan International Film Festival 2010 and the Los Angeles Short Film Festival 2010 and ENCOUNTERS 2010 in Bristol.

Alexandra plays the Chief of Delegation in the Luc Beeson (Europacorp) film From Paris with Love, with John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The film was directed by Pierre Morel and written and produced by Luc Besson.

Writer and director

In 2011 Alexandra directed a film called You Don't Have To Fight To Win based on the true story of Henry Mallin and Major Arthur Villiers. The six-minute short became the springboard for her screenplay THE WILDERNESS about two boxers and best friends who trained at the Eton Manor Boys' Club. The club was co-founded by an Old Etonian (Villiers) in the East End of London in the early part of the 20th century. Harry Mallin trained there as a boxer and went on to win two Olympic Gold medals in 1920 (Antwerp) and 1924 (Paris).

Alexandra is producing The Wilderness with her production company New Thirty Pictures. She recently wrote and directed a short film that was crowdfunded on Indiegogo. Boxer on the Wilderness is a visual tone-poem exploring some of the themes of The Wilderness it was made as a teaser/trailer for the feature and underscores Alexandra's skills as a director. The film premiered at the Princess Ann Theatre at BAFTA in London in February 2014 for the film's Indiegogo backers, cast and crew and industry professionals.

Alexandra's debut feature is a ghost story called Widow's Walk, set in her native Suffolk. She's also written a romantic comedy about a woman living on a Dutch barge on the Thames.

Alexandra has written a 15-minute short film (Happy Now) The film is set in Wales and is about her mother who gave birth to still born twins in 1961.

Film Festivals

In May 2014 Boxer on the Wilderness screened in the British Independent Film Festival at the Empire Leicester Square and was nominated for Best Short Film and Best Cinematography. The film screened at the East End Film Festival at Stratford East Playhouse and nine additional international film festivals during 2014/15 including Underwire in London, Hollyshorts in Los Angeles, Bornshorts in Denmark, The Portland Film Festival in Portland, OR and The Chelsea Film Festival in New York. It won the Mention d'Honnuer at the FICTS Olympic Sport Film Festival in December 2014.

Eco interior design

While living in Los Angeles, Alexandra studied art history, architecture and design while training as an interior designer at UCLA. She studied with some of the foremost green architects in the United States and writes a blog about living a green and sustainable lifestyle called How Green Is Your Life.

External links

• Alexandra Boyd at the Internet Movie Database
• New Thirty Pictures
• Personal Website
• Widow's Walk website

References