{"id":1782031,"date":"2026-02-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1782031"},"modified":"2026-02-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:00:00","slug":"wonderland-48","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1782031","title":{"rendered":"Wonderland"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\tWonderland<\/span>
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\n\t\t\tEVERYONE WANTS TO BE JESS ALEXANDER<\/span>
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The British actor landed the role of a lifetime as the sultry, human incarnation of Ursula in The Little Mermaid.<\/em> Five years on, she reprises the role of a younger, more yassified woman on the brink \u2013 this time in Ryan Murphy\u2019s brutal social parable, The Beauty<\/em>. So, what does it feel like when the fantasy Hollywood is chasing\u2026is you?<\/h3>\n
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\"Everyone
All clothing, shoes, accessories LOUIS VUITTON, Bags LOUIS VUITTON Monogram Anniversary collection, All Jewellery Louis Vuitton Fine Jeweller<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

At Jessica Alexander\u2019s feet, a house cat is perched \u2013 stoic, possibly asleep, well-accustomed to life by her side. Behind her, a clock tells the wrong time; crown mouldings hint at a history far older than she is. The whole scene reads very portrait-of-an-actor-at-home \u2013 a study in domestic peace that stands in stark contrast to her blood-soaked debut in Ryan Murphy\u2019s latest fever dream<\/a>. Except Jess isn\u2019t at peace, and this isn\u2019t quite home. \u201cI\u2019m already trying to book the next job, babe,\u201d she laughs. \u201cBack to the auditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the past five years, the 26-year-old has been balancing two lives: Jessica Alexander, rising actor, and Jess (preferred name), a West End girl. While she spent just six minutes on screen in 2023\u2019s live-action TheLittle Mermaid as siren Vanessa, Ursula\u2019s seductive human alter ego, the reception hinted at an inevitable ascent to bombshell status. Instead, that breakthrough was stalled by rolling strikes \u2013 a sobering reality of breaking into a saturated industry. And so, Jessica Alexander, transformed back into Jess: a young nanny in London (her charges would later watch The Little Mermaid<\/em>, largely unimpressed). Appearing on a podcast better known for hosting established actors, Jess joked she\u2019s likely one of the few guests still regularly self-taping. For the past six months, she\u2019s been living with her parents in Richmond, the London suburb where she grew up \u2013 and where you\u2019ll find her today, talking through her star-making turn in Ryan Murphy\u2019s FX show, The Beauty<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just quite funny when you\u2019re walking down the road living your silly little life, and you see the poster for the show that you\u2019re in, and you\u2019re like, \u2018No one on the street knows I\u2019m on that show,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cBut unless you\u2019re scrolling on Instagram or Twitter and see the response, it almost feels like nothing has happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did allow herself onto the platform currently known as X \u2013just briefly, just a peek \u2013 and saw a take that made her laugh. \u201cIf I had a nickel for every time someone got yassified into Jessica Alexander, I\u2019d have two nickels, which isn\u2019t a lot, but, weirdly, it happened twice,\u201d read the tweet. Like Ursula in The Little Mermaid<\/em>, in The Beauty<\/em>, Rebecca Hall\u2019s character Jordan Bennett contracts a sexually-transmitted disease that transforms her into an enviably beautiful woman in her mid-twenties\u2026played by Jessica Alexander. Before I can wonder aloud what that might do to one\u2019s ego, the actor volunteers: \u201cI\u2019m like, \u2018What the actual hell?\u2019 It\u2019s so weird. Such a weird niche I\u2019ve accidentally fallen into. <\/p>\n

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\"Everyone<\/figure>\n
\"Everyone<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201dEven distorted by a low-grade laptop camera, Jess is exactly as advertised. She has the kind of delicately feminine features that, a few centuries back, might have incited wars. In the modern context, that translates to Hollywood appeal, which she can thankfully back up with talent. The call from Ryan Murphy\u2019s team came several days before Christmas, when Jess was in The Westbourne, a pub in Notting Hill, three pints of Guinness deep, and bumped into Arsenal legend Ian Wright. She would be needed immediately in New York to screen test with actor, now co-star Evan Peters, after which \u2013 pending approval \u2013 she could expect to relocate to the city for five months. \u201cConsider my holiday cancelled,\u201d she responded. <\/p>\n

In Hulu\u2019s The Beauty<\/em>, Jess emerges \u201cscreaming, crying, throwing up\u201d from a gooey placenta, which, surprisingly, is nothing new for the actor. A natural blonde, legend has it Jess chopped her hair into a bob and dyed it dark brown to attract a more complex calibre of roles \u2013 and it worked. She has since become the go-to girl for campy horror, performing memorably in both A Banquet and Primate. Still, no production has matched The Beauty<\/em> in scale. Jess was picked up by boat in Venice in the wee hours ofthe morning, watched full blocks in New York City washed clean \u2013 all while acting opposite some of the industry\u2019s top talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI used to find it more intimidating,\u201d she says of working with established talents. \u201cLike I needed to mask parts of myself \u2013 I was embarrassed that I was nannying or waitressing and felt I needed to hide that to approach a set with a level of professionalism that made me look like a \u2018proper actor.\u2019 Meeting celebrities you admire feels like a big thing, but if they\u2019re nice people, it\u2019s just meeting anyone. And when it\u2019s not, it\u2019s usually because they\u2019re out of touch. Sometimes I\u2019m in rooms, and I remember I was a nanny six months ago, and I tune into the conversations and think, \u2018Oh wow, I\u2019m the only normal one at this table.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

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\"Everyone<\/figure>\n
\"Everyone<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Jess earns her keep at home by putting dinner on the table \u2013literally. Even something as simple as pesto pasta can prompt a delighted, \u2018Phwoar \u2013 what do you call this, Jess?\u2019 (\u201cThey make great roommates, and honestly, we all need to normalise living with your parents.\u201d) Perks of sharing a roof with Jess also include being her plus-one to industry events: her mum joined her at The Beauty<\/em>\u2019s London premiere, where she spent the evening happily monopolising Evan. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfterwards, she was like, \u2018Is he famous?\u2019 I was like, \u2018Mum, he is probably one of the best actors of our generation.\u2019 She goes, \u2018God, I wouldn\u2019t have guessed that. He\u2019s just such a lovely boy.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n

The star\u2019s mum works in green energy, spending time in her youth on oil rigs; her father is a doctor for the NHS. By contrast, Jess knew from five-years-old that there was \u201cno alternative route\u201d to acting, forfeiting her acceptance to the various universities. Surprisingly, they were supportive. \u201cI think a lot of parents would feel very anxious about that and maybe discourage it a little bit because it\u2019s an unreliable and quite mentally damaging career to go into.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the actor doesn\u2019t specify, there are countless pressures in the profession that could lead to \u201cmental damage,\u201d from rejection and emotionally taxing roles to the strain of distance or long hours on personal relationships. Then, of course, there\u2019s the unending chatter from the peanut gallery, which can be heard every time she unlocks her phone. In the wake of The Little Mermaid<\/em>\u2019s release, Jess Alexander became a trending topic for the fact that she was obviously blocking anyone who\u2019d allege she should have played in the titular role, not Halle Bailey. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people were saying she shouldn\u2019t have been cast as Ariel. People were so bitchy, actually. Aside from them just obviously being racist, it was also hilarious to me because everyone was like, \u2018Did you see her in that singing scene? She\u2019s got the fucking voice of an angel. Obviously, she could have pulled off playing Ariel.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018That\u2019s Halle\u2019s voice. I\u2019m lip-syncing.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Everyone<\/figure>\n
\"Everyone<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

Her turn as an opera singer in the 2025 British historical drama Amadeus<\/em> convinced friends she\u2019d been hiding a secret talent, though Jess insists \u2013 now perhaps for the third or fourth time \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m really not good at anything else other than acting.\u201d Still, she\u2019s energised by physical challenges, even the prospect of Tom Cruise\u2013level stunt work. In short, Jessica Alexander will do just about anything to land the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018If that\u2019s what I need to do for an acting job, I\u2019ll do it.\u2019I saw Mia Goth say that she\u2019ll just lie about anything to get any acting job she wants, and I really feel that way. If someone asked me if I could ride on horseback, I would say yes. To be honest, I think I can do anything I set my mind to \u2013 just on a career level, I\u2019m not skilled enough and don\u2019t care about anything else enough to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Little Mermaid<\/em> gave Jess just six minutes of screen time \u2013but it was enough to convince audiences, and her representatives, that her arrival was inevitable. Then came a string of setbacks beyond anyone\u2019s control: a writers\u2019 strike, an actors\u2019 strike, an industry seemingly on the brink of implosion. The work dried up, and Jess found herself back at square one.\u201cIt was a whirlwind summer that put me on the map, then all these opportunities that I was sure were going to come to me just kind of froze up,\u201d she remembers. \u201cAnd I think there\u2019s also a lesson in that, to never put any expectation behind anything at all. You always think something\u2019sgoing to change your life or your career, chances are it probably won\u2019t \u2013 butit will enrich you as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the careers of Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, Sylvester Stallone, or Charli xcx offer any lesson, it\u2019s that Hollywood favours self-starters. During her downtime after The Beauty<\/em>, Jess wrote, directed, and is now completing her first short film. Drawing from her time as a nanny, the coming-of-age story explores her bond with a young girl, filtered through a Sofia Coppola-like lens. The \u201cpainstaking\u201d process of filmmaking, she says, gave her a new appreciation for the labour behind the camera\u2026and tempered her sense of her impact on a film\u2019s reception.\u201c<\/p>\n

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\"Everyone<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

I respect people who can switch off their ears to other people\u2019s opinions and just make art that they like,\u201d Jess explains. \u201cThat\u2019s where cinema thrives \u2013 when people aren\u2019t making things they think others willlike, because then you just get this middle-of-the-ground, appeasable-to-everyone stuff that doesn\u2019t hold anyone\u2019s attention or create discussion. I want to crack open a bottle of wine with the girls and talk about the movie after I\u2019ve seen it. I want something to talk about.\u201d <\/p>\n

This year, from Jess\u2019s standpoint, that\u2019s Hamnet<\/em> and Marty Supreme<\/em>\u2013 both films capable of making Jess overlook the complexities of a lighting setup or the fact that a specific line sounded like automated dialogue replacement. Her dream would be to drop into the Lara Croft role in Tomb Raider<\/em>, or a Jennifer\u2019s Body<\/em> reboot (Diablo Cody, are you listening?) And then there\u2019s the other content she reveres, like comedian Brittany Broski\u2019s Broski Report, or Utah-based reality show The Secret Lives of Mormon<\/em> Wives(\u201cI saw on the recent series that Lana Del Rey is also obsessed with the show, so I feel slightly less bad about it now.\u201d) Her partner, whose name she won\u2019t confirm, is also an actor and got the chance to go to Salt Lake City for the Sundance Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people probably have all sorts of ideas about what would be most challenging about a relationship between actors. But actually, I think the most challenging thing can be the long distances and time apart,\u201d she says. \u201cHe\u2019s literally the light of my life. Our lives on a personal level havegotten incredibly better, but our careers too are blossoming \u2013 I think it\u2019s probably because we encourage each other, we push each other in the right directions.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Jess fidgets, repositions, and grows animated, the family cat has remained unmoved \u2013 serenely tolerant of its human companion\u2019s quirks. That\u2019s the beauty in a feline friend: unconditional acceptance in a world that is rarely generous to women. For Jess, being seen as she truly is \u2013a work-in-progress who\u2019s partial to a good pint \u2013 must feel particularly radical, especially when she\u2019s so often cast as an impossible ideal. <\/p>\n

And yet, there\u2019s a sense that Jess Alexander is still trying to outrun herself, drawn instead to the darker, dustier corners of the human psyche, where things are far less pretty. That\u2019s where she feels most at home, and one suspects there will be no real peace until she\u2019s proved it\u2019s where she belongs. Coco Chanel once said, \u201cBeauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself.\u201d Clearly, she never met an actor.<\/p>\n

Pre-order Wonderland\u2019s Spring 26 Issue here.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Photography<\/strong> by JUANKR
Styling<\/strong> by Phoebe Lettice Thompson
Interview<\/strong> by Beatrice Hazlehurst
Hair<\/strong> by Paul Jones at Forward Artists using Hair by Sam McKnight
Make-up<\/strong> by Emma Regan using LV Beauty
Photography<\/strong> Assistant Daniel Bailey
Fashion Assistant <\/strong>Pav Nagra
Videography<\/strong> by Jay Sentrosi
Special Thanks<\/strong> to The Charlotte Street Hotel & Firmdale Hotels<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t20 February 2026\t\t\t<\/div>\n
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Magazine<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\tWonderlist<\/span> <\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wonderland EVERYONE WANTS TO BE JESS ALEXANDER The British actor landed the role of a lifetime as the sultry, human incarnation of Ursula in The Little Mermaid. Five years on, she reprises the role of a younger, more yassified woman on the brink \u2013 this time in Ryan Murphy\u2019s brutal social parable, The Beauty. So, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,257],"class_list":["post-1782031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-wonderlandmagazine-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1782031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1782031\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1782031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1782031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1782031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}