Jess Alexander hasn’t ever really done a magazine interview before. You’d expect her to fidget while thinking of responses or look off to her PR team for support. Instead the 23-year-old actor leans forward, places her elbows on her knees and answers with unwavering eye contact, often letting out booms of laughter. It’s a chance to let the world know not only about her work, but also the person she is, almost for the first time.
“It’s the only thing I felt super-passionate about,” she says about her chosen profession. “My favourite bit about it a lot of the time is all the people you meet, and you can spend any amount of time with them, from four days to four months to a year. And then you don’t see each other ever again or for months. I like that nomadic lifestyle.”
Alexander left school, ignored offers from various universities and went straight out into London – her hometown – to “hustle” to make money. She was a waitress for a while but then she found modelling, or rather modelling found her. And although it wasn’t the acting career she dreamt of, it was a chance to be in front of the camera and, in her eyes, one step closer to where she wanted to be until a film role finally came along.
“I did my first [acting] job and then I didn’t work for a while,” she says. “At that point I felt like, ‘Oh God, what have I done? This could be quite bad. Am I ever gonna work again?’ Even the biggest actors will say that.”
Last year Alexander was longlisted for breakthrough performance at the British Independent Film Awards for her role in the 2021 indie film A Banquet. It was an intense and dark first offering for Alexander, who played Betsey, a character who claims to be possessed and starves herself. “[Betsey was] determined that her body was a surface to a higher spiritual power,” Alexander says. “And that film was really harrowing, particularly for my mum
to watch. I had these exorcism scenes and it was very physically demanding,” she says. “[The role] came along at a time when I felt really lost. The film literally saved my creative life. Ruth Paxton, the director, was the most wonderful person I’ve met. I think that’s the main thing, that I’ve worked with loads of first-time female feature directors, that’s always made it really special.”
But there’s something special about Alexander, too: her scope of talent. Not only can she deliver a convincing performance of a possessed girl, she can also win a part in this year’s reimagining of The Little Mermaid. For Alexander, the casting process for her role – that of Vanessa, the human persona of the sea witch Ursula – started rather unexpectedly. She tells me how she was sitting in a greasy spoon the day after a Halloween party, eating hash browns, when she got a call asking her to go to Pinewood Studios: “The fact that I even drove through the gates of Pinewood was, like, ‘Yeah, I’ve made it.’”
It’s a pretty big deal for Alexander to be cast in a film that’s so highly anticipated and important at such an early stage in her career. Not only that, the role stands as a real pinch-me moment for her, as someone who grew up obsessed with the story. “I’m sure I’m going to wake up and this is all gonna be a dream,” she says. “It’s so weird because I used to play The Little Mermaid with my dad on the beach. I would sit on a rock and pretend to have no voice, and he would be so desperate to play cricket, but I would be asking him to come over and be the prince. I was a proper little superfan.” But the film isn’t just for the nostalgic adults who grew up with the story, it’s also for the kids (and adults) who may not have felt seen within stories like this in the past. It aims to reshape depictions of the female characters within the tale, giving more agency to those previously seen as passive in many ways.
“I think cinema reflects societies we’re in. I think it particularly reflects the youngest generation that’s watching film. If they are influenced by film they’re going to learn from those things and they’re going to grow up with those influences around them. Why not give that to a whole new generation of kids that are going to watch The Little Mermaid for the first time? Obviously the casting of Halle [Bailey] as Ariel is momentous because she’s brilliant at her job and her voice is amazing. We’d all be stupid not to talk about what that’s going to do for so many little girls and boys of colour around the world. It is just going to be incredible to have representation.”
Alexander clearly thrives on change and shaking up her environment. So although many of us may be meeting her on the global stage for the first time, there’s already lots of excitement about what she’ll do next. Keep your eyes peeled.
Despite starring in huge productions such as Netflix’s The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself and HBO’s Titans, 25-year-old Jay Lycurgo is still very much content living at his family home in Croydon. Family has been a huge component in the star’s success; he reveals his mum sometimes looks back at photos of his younger self and says, “You always had that something, didn’t you?” And when it comes to his dad, well, Lycurgo counts him as his biggest inspiration.
A former professional footballer, his father instilled in him early on that your wildest dreams are achievable. “You need to have these role models that don’t even have to say it but can show you that these crazy dreams are possible,” Lycurgo says.
Before he began pursuing acting, he attempted to follow in his father’s footsteps in the football world, although he lost interest at about 16. However, having a career in the arts has been a goal of his since he was just 11. “There was this school play for The Wizard of Oz, and I remember naturally wanting to audition for the biggest parts,” he recalls. “We did, like, three shows, and I would just improvise different lines. Naturally I enjoyed being on stage, creating a scene and trying to make it my own.”
Fast forward to 2021, and Lycurgo had graduated from school stages to appear in Titans – a TV series based on the DC Comics superhero team the Teen Titans. In the series, which is now in its fourth and final season, Lycurgo portrays Tim Drake – the third Robin from the Batman comics – and, somewhat coincidentally, he is wearing a Batman T-shirt during our conversation (he also appeared in last year’s The Batman). Luckily for the actor, his father is a pretty big comic book geek, making preparation for the role go smoothly. “If you go into my dad’s office, it’s just Batman everywhere. I was always more into the cartoons,” Lycurgo says. “But once I got the role of Tim, I started reading the comics and realised that there was this purity and passion for just wanting to help people. I think that’s really beautiful because he’s just a teenage boy and he’s already a role model. He also looks amazing in a superhero suit [Laughs].”
While filming for his first stint in the production, which came in series three, it wasn’t exactly the Hollywood story Lycurgo expected. Production took place in Toronto during the height of the pandemic, and while much of the UK had somewhat returned to normality, Canada was still in lockdown, which took its toll on Lycurgo’s mental health. “I was just counting down the weeks. I just wanted to get home,” he says. “I was so isolated and it was my first time away from home. It really took a toll on me mentally.” So much so that Lycurgo almost missed out on his first lead role, which came in The Bastard Son & the Devil Himself, in which he plays Nathan. “My agent said, ‘I’ve got this amazing project, you should go for it,’ and I just said to him, ‘I don’t want to do it,’” he reveals.
“I needed to just go home and see my family.” Thankfully, Lycurgo pulled himself out of that difficult period and aced the auditions, achieving his personal goal of being cast in a leading role by the time he was 25. “Just to get that part, I realised I was on the right path – it was a brilliant project and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.” Despite all the stereotypical glitz and glamour we associate with a career in acting, things aren’t always as great as they seem on the surface. “I’m in such a great position, but it’s really difficult to see the wins,” Lycurgo tells me. “I’ve been very busy, and it’s been incredible, but now I haven’t worked for six months, and that’s a whole different mental game – especially in an industry where you face constant rejection. It can be really disheartening.”
However there’s one person who often manages to return Lycurgo to reality, and you’re likely to be able to guess who that is pretty quickly. “My dad would often tell me, ‘Could you imagine what a younger Jay would think about what you’ve already done? Look at you, you’re wearing a superhero suit and you’re in the new Batman!’”
While he’s now far removed from that young boy performing in school plays, his values remain the same. His light-heartedness and honesty are rare in an industry often driven by clout and the spotlight and, ultimately, they are what will continue to keep him grounded throughout the fruitful career ahead of him.
The Little Mermaid is released May 26th 2023 and Titans is available on HBO Max in the US and on Netflix in the UK soon.
