Los Angeles, California (The Hollywood Times) 01/05/2020 – Alexa Morden is a British/Canadian Actress. She has worked in TV and film, most recently playing the lead role in award-winning Canadian Independent Feature Film ‘The Colour Of Spring’ for which she has won multiple Best Actress awards from film festivals around the world. In 2019 Alexa wrote her own comedy short film which she then produced and co-starred in. ‘Hers’ was most notably awarded an Honourable Mention for Best Women Short at the Independent Shorts Awards in LA and picked as Short of the Week for New York film festival Female Voices Rock. Some of Alexa’s other work includes co-starring in the BAFTA-nominated short film ‘Standby’ and working on projects for The BBC and Channel 4 in the UK.
When did you know that acting was your passion in life?
In all honesty, I’ve never known anything else! My parents say that I was 3 when I first said I wanted to be an actor so all of my earliest memories are putting on ‘shows’ in our living room knowing that it was the only avenue I wanted to pursue…And I’ve never wavered!
What roles are you most proud of?
It has to be Sarah in The Colour of Spring. It’s the first time I’ve played a lead role in a feature film and the script gave me the opportunity to work on such a wide range of emotions and circumstances. I’m also proud of my resilience in the journey before booking this job…there have been times when it’s been really hard but I stayed proactive and worked hard which made the experience of then booking this job even more special. I’m also really proud to have been part of Standby which is a short film I co-starred in that was nominated for Best British Short at the BAFTA’s! That was a whirlwind of an experience I’ll never forget!
Do you have favorite genres?
Short answer; no! If I’m on set, I’m thrilled! I would love to do a dark thriller/horror…Something totally different to what you’d expect looking at my headshot! And I’ve always really loved period pieces, which were some of my first jobs in the industry. But I genuinely love it all!
What would a Director notice first about you?
On the first meeting probably that I’m passionate and very prepared! In terms of working, I’ve always been told that I’m excellent at taking direction which is great to hear. They’d probably notice as well that I’m a team player. I truly believe that the best work is made when the people involved understand that everyone’s role in the production is as important as all the others!
In 2019, you wrote a comedy short film which you then produced and co-starred in. ‘Hers’ was most notably awarded an Honourable Mention for Best Women Short at the Independent Shorts Awards in LA. Tell us about the film. Why do you think it resonated with the audience?
The script was inspired by female friendship and the conversations women have that you never usually see on screen (until recent years when we’ve seen much more hilarious female-fronted comedy!) I met Katie, who co-stars in the film, at an audition a few years ago and we went on to fall hard and fast in ‘friend love’. Brand new, genuine, female friendship in your late 20s is quite special, and not something you see played out very often. So I think people like the film because it’s fun, filthy, and relatable. Every woman who’s seen it has commented that they feel a familiar comfort watching it play out!
Tell us about your leadership role in the award-winning feature film, “The Colour of Spring.”
I think our director, Paul, describes it best when he says that “It’s a story about two people, Sarah and Sam, who love each other deeply, but who fall apart after they both lose sight, in different ways, of what’s really important in a relationship, which is the other person, and your bond to them.” I play Sarah, an actress doing a production of Macbeth who also has to deal with her boyfriend betraying her in the worst way. The audition email for The Colour Of Spring described Sarah as “A struggling theatre actress. Strong and driven.” And I remember thinking – “Well this should come pretty easy!” Ha! When I read the full script I immediately knew I really wanted this part. There was comedy, drama, psychological torment, anger, joy, love…and Shakespeare’s monologues!! An actors playground! You never know how a film will be received but it’s been brilliant to see it doing well on the festival circuit at the moment. I’ve even received Best Actress awards which I never anticipated! To be able to sink my teeth into a role like this was an opportunity I had been hoping for for a long time, so the added excitement of awards has been an amazing bonus!!
Share your favorite scene.
So hard to choose! I genuinely loved every moment of the shoot. We started with the theatre scenes where my character is playing Lady Macbeth. I’ve always loved performing Shakespeare and have lots of experience working on/performing his work, so to be able to combine that with being in my favorite place (on set!) and the buzz of the beginning of the shoot makes it really memorable. Finding the balance between stage acting and naturalistic acting for the camera, especially when the camera in those scenes was right in front of my face, was an interesting challenge. My favorite scene when I watched the finished film, I think, is one of the flashback scenes where Sarah comes back from the audition and thinks she blew it but then finds out she actually got the role. Every actor knows that feeling of wanting something so much and feeling defeated when things don’t turn out how you’d hoped. So being able to go from that to elation made that scene special for me because I felt it was truthful.
What was it like working with Director Paul Kimball?
I’ve always loved working on independent films because of the collaborative process and Paul is a great example of that. He had been working on this script for years but he was still open to our (the actors) suggestions and thoughts. There were times where Jamie (who plays Sarah’s boyfriend Sam) and I felt differently about how our characters would act in certain scenes to how it was written and Paul made us feel comfortable and confident enough to bring them to him and try them out. And a couple of times Paul wanted to try something completely different from the original plan/dialogue, which was great to be trusted like that to have the chance to improvise and come up with ideas together!
What is next for you?
With the COVID situation, it’s hard to say! Things are picking up again in Vancouver now though so I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of (self-tape!) auditions now the holidays are coming to an end. I would *love* to land a role in a series next. That’s what I’m putting out into the universe anyway! I’ll be appearing in the British independent film The War Below which is coming out soon and my friend and I are hoping to put on a two-woman play here in Vancouver as well! I also made a short film with some of the crew from The Colour of Spring called October Horse which should be heading to festivals this year.
Twitter: @alexamorden
Instagram: @alexa_morden
