Known for her role as Phoebe in the mystery crime drama, “The Sinner” and as Nadine in Netflix’s crime drama, “Seven Seconds,” Nadia Alexander won a Best Actress award at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival for her lead performance in the drama,“Blame.” A graduate of Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School’s drama program, she went on to earn bachelor’s degrees in physics and psychology from the William E. Macaulay Honors College. After her first feature film debut in the family adventure, “Postales,” she appeared in the comedy-drama, “Ten Thousand Saints” and the family comedy, “Fan Girl.” She has also appeared in “Law & Order” and HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire” In this one-on-one interview, Alexander reveals her passion for acting and the challenges she faced in playing a lead role in the dark thriller, “The Dark.”
What drew you to acting as a career after you majored in physics and psychology?
Nadia Alexander: I really started acting at six, way before I got those degrees. I used to live in Pittsburg doing theater, which was all that was available at the time. My parents saw that I wanted to be an actor and I made that decision early on. I moved to New York and was fortunate enough to get an agent a year later. I’ve been working slowly but steadily ever since. After graduating from Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School’s drama program, I decided that if I was going to college, I didn’t want to go into debt. I wanted to study something that would expand my mind. So I went to Macaulay Honors College, one of the only tuition-free programs in the country. I’ve always been fascinated by the two major unknowns of science—the mind and outer space.
“The Dark” is a disturbing, violent film that addresses child abuse in many forms. What attracted you to the role of Mina?
Alexander: The role was so unique. It was unlike anything I’d ever seen. There’s this idea that young women characters always have to portray a love interest, a sweet caring, heart-on-her-sleeve kind of girl. But Mina was none of those things.
Did you audition for the role? If so, what was that like?
Alexander: Yes, I did. As soon as I read the script, I was completely enamored. I told myself, I must get this job. I will not rest until I get this. But it doesn’t usually work out because you go into a room and you can ‘want’ it all you want, but if the director doesn’t want you, that’s the end of the road. In the story breakdown, it mentions that Mina was a very physical character. One of the audition scenes was where I tackle Alex in the woods, almost kill him and then decide to let him live. For that scene, I used a chair as a substitute for Alex and I tackled it, slamming it to the ground. I got on all fours and wrestled with the chair. After seeing that, Justin (P. Lange) said that none of the hundred or so girls vying for the part had come up with that approach. It was a way I tapped into Mina’s ferocity. And it worked. I got the part.
What did you draw from to portray such a troubled girl with so many secrets?
Alexander: For every character I play, I start with a character bible, which ranges anywhere from 25 to 50 pages, depending on the size of the role. For Mina, it was the latter. I create entire backstories, some of which are in the film and some are just my own creation. So that way, I can make my character feel like a real person. I sort them into Hogwart Houses. Doing that helped me make Mina fully fleshed and fully authentic. I write out all the trauma she’s been dealing with and talking about, and I think about how she would feel day to day when she was alive and when she was not. I enjoy creating a character.
There are many challenges acting in a horror film. What was your biggest challenge in doing this film?
Alexander: I’d done a lead role in another indie film, a year prior. But this was the first film where it was about me throughout the whole movie. So I felt that the film would not work if my performance lacked in any way. I felt very responsible to do my absolute very best. I was really hard on myself, pushing throughout the entire film. We were in the middle of the Canadian woods. It was a pretty brutal shoot physically, getting up two hours earlier every morning to put on the prosthetics. I was unkind to myself and I’ve learned to be a bit nicer and gentler because it turns out that you can get an even better performance that way.
What personality traits do you share with the character of Mina?
Alexander: I think I understood her anger. Thankfully, I’ve not been put in the kinds of situations that Mina was put in. But I understood the darkness that can come out of feeling hurt.
Any advice for young people trying to break into acting?
Alexander: That’s a big question. It depends on your age. If you’re really young, you have to have parents who are willing to dedicate their lives to help you, driving you to auditions. But I would say, only do it for the right reason. Do it because you care about the work and not for the fame or fortune. Most working actors are not that famous. Most of us have to constantly pound the pavement. You have to take care of yourself physically and mentally. Because this can be a really brutal industry that can rip your apart. When you go for an audition, you have to put your whole heart and soul out there to be judged and picked and decided on. You have to learn to balance your work with your life and not get bogged down by the industry politics. So do it for the love of the art because success in this industry is a total shot in the dark. Keep working and growing as an artist.
What’s next for you?
Alexander: I’m doing a guest star on “Blue Bloods” and I’ll be in the second season of “Instinct,” which is Alan Cumming’s TV crime drama series. I’m also writing and just sold a mini-series that I co-wrote to a studio in L. A. Acting can get slow and it’s been so empowering to make my own schedule and write my own scripts.
“The Dark” will be in select theaters and on VOD 10/26. Check out “The Dark” trailer here
Alex A. Kecskes is a published author of "Healer a Novel" and "The Search for Dr. Noble"—both now available on Amazon. He has written hundreds of film reviews and celebrity interviews for a wide variety of online and print outlets. He has covered red carpet premieres and Comic-Con events for major films and independent releases.
