Ask Alexandra – August 2013

1) Hi Alexandra I was wondering where was saving Emily filmed. And happy belated 50th!
Donna

Hi Donna,
Thank you for the birthday wishes.

Saving Emily was filmed in Ottawa, Canada. I have filmed a lot of tv movies in Canada’s capital city, and I love the place – A Woman Hunted, The Boy She Met Online, A Lover’s Revenge, Demons From Her Past, A Sister’s Secret. I have filmed many other projects in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal (which is why I am a Canadian resident – I love the country!), but Ottawa holds a special place in my heart. I have been there at all times of the year except in the coldest months of winter, when the river has frozen over and Ottawans skate to work on it. I hear it is so fun at that time of year because of that, although I think I prefer to miss that weather when I am filming 🙂

Best wishes,
Alexandra

2) Hi Alexandra,

You have mentioned recently that you have a Vitamix blender. I am wondering what model you have and where you can purchase one refurnished like you did? I am vegan and I’ve always wanted to get one, it is an investment but I think it would be worth it.

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my question.

Regards,
Carol

Hi Carol,

I like to purchase things that are refurbished or pre-owned because it is better for the environment, so when I buy any gadget ( like my iphone, ipad, printer and laptop) I always make an effort to avoid “new”. It takes a bit more time, but usually less money! I bought a “certified reconditioned” (aka refurbished) Vitamix 5200 from their website. I highly recommend! We make awesome soups and vegan ice cream in it.

Thank you for writing, and … Go Vegan!
Alexandra

3) do you have naturally brown hair because in some movies you have red hair also your hair has gotten longer. you have real pretty hair and beautiful eyes.

P.S- you and Ian are the cutest couple married. Have you ever been to florida? Sophie Gendron plays in alot of movies with you. 🙂
seline

Hi Seline,

My hair changes color regularly. In Demons from her Past, I dyed it an auburn color. For Murder.com and Gospel of Deceit, I was going for a darker brown but both times the hairdressers did a bit too dark. For Love Thy Neighbor, I had nice blonde highlights. For the ABC pilot I shot with Lee Majors called Daytona Beach (which never aired), I wanted to go totally blonde but it looked so awful I changed it back to brown before filming began. For Christmas Crash, I went really light too, but unfortunately did not turn it back before filming began! I really should not be blonde, I just like the idea of it sometimes…. I would love to have really red hair in a show, but it never turns out that dramatic, which is probably good since red it hard to maintain!

Right now,my hair is brown with caramel highlights, but when I saw my friend Michelle Harris a couple days ago she said “Alexandra your hair is so red!” so maybe it is and I just cannot tell! I have a theory that each of do not know what we ourselves really look like, since we see ourselves mostly in a windowless bathroom mirror, with very little natural light.

OK enough about my hair! (Ian teases me that I talk about hair too much.) On to the rest of your email: I am so lucky to be married to Ian. He is my soulmate – last night he said “We have been together 18 years but it feels like 18 months – it is still so fun”. And I have been to Florida: to film the aforementioned Daytona Beach in 1996, to swim around Key West last year, to visit Miami when Ian races the South Beach Triathlon and when I was a teenager we would go to Sanibel Island every year. I like Florida!

Sophie Gendron and I have done at least 4 movies together, in Ottawa (see question #1): A Lover’s Revenge, Demons from her Past, A Woman Hunted and Saving Emily. Sophie lives in Montreal, which is near Ottawa, so she works a lot in the area. Very nice woman.

Thank you Seline,
Alexandra