Alexandra Boyd is a British actress, director, screenwriter and producer. Her acting credits include Clarissa Mason in ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' (colloquially referred to as ''Corrie'') is a British television soap opera created by ITV Granada, Granada Television and shown on ITV (TV network), ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres on a cobbled, terraced ...

'' and Sarah Olmsted in Mr Holland's Opus. In recent years she has turned to screenwriting and film directing. She wrote and directed her debut feature ''Widow's Walk'' which debuted on Amazon Prime in December 2019. On British TV she has appeared in several episodes of ''

Doctors Doctor, Doctors, The Doctor or The Doctors may refer to: Titles and occupations * Physician, a medical practitioner * Doctor (title), an academic title for the holder of a doctoral-level degree ** Doctorate ** List of doctoral degrees awarded b ...

'' and guest starred in ''

New Tricks ''New Tricks'' is a British television police procedural comedy drama, created by Nigel McCrery and Roy Mitchell, produced primarily by Wall to Wall (until its final year, when it was handled by Headstrong Pictures), and broadcast on BBC On ...

'' and "

Holby City ''Holby City'' (stylised on-screen as HOLBY CIY) is a British medical drama television series that aired weekly on BBC One. It was created by Tony McHale and Mal Young as a Spin-off (media), spin-off from the established BBC medical drama '' ...

". She's been a guest on '' Loose Women'' and is the Head of the Delegation in the 2010

John Travolta John Joseph Travolta (born February 18, 1954) is an American actor. He began acting in television before transitioning into a leading man in films. List of awards and nominations received by John Travolta, His accolades include a Primetime Em ...

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French filmmaker. He directed and produced the films '' Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and '' La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Associated with the '' Cinéma du look'' film movement, he h ...

action film '' From Paris with Love''. Other film credits include '' Mr. Holland's Opus'' and James Cameron's ''

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...

''. She wrote and directed her second film ''Boxer on the Wilderness ~ a'' trailer for her feature screenplay (''The Wilderness'').

Early life

Alexandra Boyd was born to a Scottish father, David Boyd, and an English mother, Barbara Boyd (née Godbold) in Bangor, Wales. She grew up in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

, Norfolk, and was educated at

Norwich High School for Girls Norwich High School for Girls is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school for girls aged 3 to 18 in Norwich, United Kingdom, Norwich, England. The school was founded in 1875 by the Girls' Public Day School Company, Girls’ Pu ...

. She left school at 16 to study full-time at Laine Theatre Arts in

Epsom Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...

, Surrey. In 1986, she enrolled in the post graduate acting course at Drama Studio, London. She co-founded a theatre company that performed

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

and adapted classics for the London and Edinburgh Fringe. The company also produced English plays for Italy. In the 1993 Italian tour, she played Eliza Doolittle in Pygmalion. While living in Los Angeles, Boyd studied art history, architecture and design while training as an interior designer at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

. 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.

Acting career

Boyd moved back to the UK in 2006 after living in the US for seventeen years. While living and working in Los Angeles she appeared in '' Mr. Holland's Opus'' and

James Cameron James Francis Cameron (born August 16, 1954) is a Canadian filmmaker, who resides in New Zealand. He is a major figure in the post-New Hollywood era and often uses novel technologies with a Classical Hollywood cinema, classical filmmaking styl ...

's ''

''. On American TV, Boyd made appearances on ''

Party of Five ''Party of Five'' is an American teen and family drama television series created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000, with a total of six seasons consisting of 142 epis ...

'', ''

Sabrina, the Teenage Witch ''Sabrina the Teenage Witch'' is a comic book series published by Archie Comics about the adventures of a fictional American teenager named Sabrina Spellman. Sabrina was created by writer George Gladir and artist Dan DeCarlo, and first appea ...

'' and ''

The Bernie Mac Show ''The Bernie Mac Show'' (often shortened to ''Bernie Mac'' in syndication) is an American sitcom television series created by Larry Wilmore, that aired on Fox for five seasons from November 14, 2001, to April 14, 2006. The series featured Ber ...

''. She has performed voices for radio commercials & animated features such as '' The Wild Thornberries''. She is the voice of

Elaine Marley Elaine Marley (from ''Escape From Monkey Island'' onward called Elaine Marley-Threepwood) is a character in the ''Monkey Island (series), Monkey Island'' series of graphic adventure game, graphic adventure video games. Created by Ron Gilbert for L ...

in '' The Curse of Monkey Island'', '' Tales of Monkey Island'', '' Return to Monkey Island'' and the special editions of '' The Secret of Monkey Island'' and '' Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge''. On British TV, she played Clarissa Mason on ''

'' (

Granada TV ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend Television was its ...

) and

Dennis Waterman Dennis Waterman (24 February 1948 – 8 May 2022) was an English actor and singer. He was best known for his tough-guy leading roles in television series including ''The Sweeney'', ''Minder (TV series), Minder'' and ''New Tricks'', singing the ...

's love interest in an episode of ''

'' (

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

). She has guest starred in several episodes of

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and Flagship (broadcasting), flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includ ...

's ''

'' and ''

''. 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 Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. Boyd plays the Chief of Delegation in the Luc Beeson (Europacorp) film '' From Paris with Love'', with

and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. The film was directed by

Pierre Morel Pierre Morel (born 12 May 1964) is a French film director and cinematographer. His work includes ''District 13'', ''From Paris with Love (film), From Paris with Love'', and ''Taken (film), Taken.'' Career After spending his formative years in ...

and written and produced by

Writer and director

Boyd created her production compan
New Thirty Pictures
in 2013. She wrote, directed and produced her debut feature film, a supernatural thriller calle
Widow's Walk
It is set and shot in her native

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. The film stars Miranda Raison,

David Caves David Caves (born 7 August 1978) is a Northern Irish actor who is best known for his role as Jack Hodgson in the BBC One, BBC drama series ''Silent Witness''. After graduating from London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in 2005, Caves h ...

, Anthony Howell and Virginia McKenna. The film launched on Amazon Prime Video (UK/EU) in December 2019. Her second feature is a documentary
Ship of Dreams: Titanic Movie Diaries
is an exploration of her time on James Cameron's Titanic alongside her fellow supporting actors through the diaries Alexandra asked them to write in 1998 during and after shooting the film. The film also features the superfans who keep the love of the ship and the film close to their hearts. She has written, directed and crowdfunded a number of short films
''Boxer on the Wilderness''
explores themes in her screenplay ''The Wilderness''. It screened at 15 international film festivals.

Film festivals

In October 2019 Widow's Walk world premiered at th
Chelsea Film Festival
in New York where it won the award for Best Cinematography (DP Alex Veitch). 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 the Underwire Film Festival 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 " Sport Movies & TV - Milano International FICTS Fest" in December 2014.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

References

External links

*
New Thirty Pictures

Personal Website

Widow's Walk website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyd, Alexandra English film actors British people of Scottish descent British soap opera actresses English television actresses English video game actresses English voice actresses Actors from Bangor, Gwynedd Living people Alumni of the Drama Studio London 20th-century English actresses 21st-century English actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Actresses from Gwynedd