Ask Alexandra – March 2004
Question #1:
Hi Alexandra,
I was impressed by your last letter on consumerism and wastefullness and vanity and greed. your letter has made me take a harder/closer look at myself. I applaud your efforts at enviromentalism ,.seeing how your surrounded by hollywood elite and fashion conscious people. stand by your convictions . hope you the best and look forward to your reply.
jeff
|
Dear Jeff,
Thank you for your supportive email. I am glad my musings provoked self-examination in you. Even if you don’t end up making the same choices I have made, I admire you. My sister, Caroline, says,” I don’t mind if people don’t draw the same lines on issues that I do, I just want them to draw lines”. I agree – I prefer people to have thought about things, and then make steps to follow their belief system – even if it is different than mine – than not care at all about issues. I dislike apathy! So I hope that, when you looked at your life, you maybe saw a few small changes you can make to keep your lifestyle in sync with your core beliefs. It is not always comfortable, especially at first, but the rewards really are great. It took me years to come to where I am now, and I am still evolving, trying to be a better citizen of the planet. I have a long way to go to lighten my footprint on the earth. I would love to hear what changes you are making, if any, after you read the essay. We will all be inspired by your actions, and encouraged to make changes of our own. Thank you for writing, Jeff. Alexandra |
Question #2:
Dear Alexandra,
First of all I wanted to say that your doing a great job! Giving people the chance to ask questions, your posts on the messageboard and all the other things, wonderfull!
I also wanted to give a big compliment to Vietly the website is awesome!
A while ago someone had a question on a massageboard how much older Stephanie was than Caroline? I’m also curious about the answer because I’ve also read that Stephanie was the oldest of 6 kids (and caroline the youngest) Was it fun to have a sister on the show?
I loved the episodes with you and Yasmine I hope she is doning well after her drug addiction.
Much Love and sorry for my terrible English (I’m working on it :-))
Melissa, The Netherlands
|
Dear Melissa,
Your English is wonderful! And I agree that Vietly is doing a great job on the website. I count my blessings that I am lucky enough to have someone as talented and dedicated as she working on this site. She developed it from scratch, when she was a teenager living 1,700 miles away from Los Angeles, and now she is a very close friend of mine who lives just 5 minutes away from Ian and me. As you can tell from some of the photos in the “miscellaneous photos” area of this site, I see her quite a lot as we both vigil every week against the Bush administration, and we do a lot of peace activism together. As for the question of the age difference between Stephanie and Caroline Holden, I would say it is 5 years. That is how much older I am than Yasmine in real life! I never knew that Stephanie and Caroline had other siblings – in the character background I devised for myself, I didn’t have any other brothers or sisters! I loved having a sister on the show. It meant that I had some scenes that involved personal issues, family history etc. And Yasmine is a terrific person to work with – very smart and funny, and very honest and direct. She lost her mother to breast cancer when she was still a teenager, so Yaz has personal experience with deep pain and loss, which means she is also an empathetic person. I admire her very much, and I also like her husband, Paul, a lot. Together they are supporting each other to stay clean. I am so glad you wrote, Alexandra |
Question #3:
Dear Alexandra,
I recently saw Above and Beyond on TV and thoroughly enjoyed the movie. You, Adam Baldwin and Costas Mandaylor had such good chemistry with each other. My question is rather a simple one, and that is…in showbiz who do you look up too?
|
I enjoyed shooting Above and Beyond in New Orleans. Costas is a wonderful person, very gentle and down-to-earth, so I was very happy to work with him. Adam is very experienced, and I have admired his work for years. We were all working on the movie because we liked the script so much.
I admire Sean Penn as an actor very much. I thought he was flawless in “I Am Sam”. I also admire his courage in speaking out against the war in Iraq, and traveling there twice. He really put himself on the line. Although Mel Gibson and I have very differing politics and religious beliefs, I love his passion for making movies, and I think he is a wonderful actor. I haven’t seen The Passion of Christ, but he obviously has deep beliefs and a strong faith, and I admire people like that, as I said in the first letter above, even if I disagree with them personally. I see every Richard Gere movie, because I think he is a very brave actor. He allows himself to be vulnerable onscreen, which I love. I like watching Jennifer Anniston. She is very appealing and approachable. I am a big Friends fan! On the subject of women in tv, I think Sarah Jessica Parker is so real and natural when she acts. I am a big Sex and the City fan also – too bad 2 of my favorite shows are going off the air the same season! Dom de Luise has a heart of gold. Jane Fonda, Mike Farrell, Martin Sheen, Janeane Garofalo, Alicia Silverstone are all activists that I admire. Janeane, Mike and Martin were very involved in speaking out against the war in Iraq, Jane has been an activist all her life, and Alicia is a strict vegan who walks her talk. Ed Begley Jr. is one of my heroes for his unflinchingly consistent commitment to the environment. There are so many actors I admire, both professionally and personally. Contrary to how the media likes to portray celebrities, 99% of actors are terrific people. Peace, |
