Alexandra Tydings (Aphrodite)

Alexandra is starting to really get into the swing of the convention scene. She arrived in black leather pants, a sleeveless black shirt, big ol' Nikes, and a fluffy light blue boa (a wrap, not a snake). Aphrodite kept sneaking in appearances with occasional "Duh!"s and other surfer-isms.

Alexandra's father was in the audience, who she immediately brought up onto the stage to introduce to the crowd. Dad greeted the auditorium with "Hi everybody... do you all love my little girl?" Nahhh, no fatherly pride here.

Aphrodite news: 'Dite will be in the next episode of Xena (If the Shoe Fits) and in upcoming Hercules episode (Love on the Rocks), which will include a knock-down drag-out cat fight between Aphrodite and Discord. Alexandra billed it as the follow-up/sequel to Aphrodite's cake fight with Xena. She said there are some pretty great outtakes of her cracking up during the fight filming, especially when the meshy carpet they were working on kept trying to snag her shoes in mid-kick.

Alexandra news: She's starring in a play in Los Angeles called Bobbi Xero (dunno the spelling) that will be starting in the end of March or early April. And an Alexandra Tydings web site is in the works.

When asked whether playing Aphrodite ever intrudes on real life, Alexandra said it does get brought up every once in a while with her boyfriend. Sometimes to the good ("Yeah, that's right, dating the Goddess of Love, uh-huh"), sometimes not ("Oh, nothing's too good for the goddess"). Never too seriously, though!

At the crowd's request, Alexandra demonstrated some of the Irish step-dancing she competed in as a child. She can still do the kicks!

Alexandra highly recommended a New Zealand trip to everyone in the auditorium. She said the country is gorgeous and full of creative, passionate people.

A seven-year-old boy scored the compliment of the day when he told Alexandra "You're da bomb on the show," much to everyone's approval.

Playing Aphrodite is lots of fun... except when it's cold. And the hardest thing to get used to is being fluttered around by makeup and wardrobe people at every odd moment.

The crowd offered a dozen suggestions when Alexandra was asked "If Aphrodite fell in love with any character, who would it be?" Everyone got a kick out of the shouted suggestion of "XENA!" Alexandra liked the idea, but said that Aphrodite was too fickle to settle - she might fall in love with everybody. But when pressed, she said that she liked the idea of Aphrodite and Ares as a couple ("Kevin Smith aside," she swore), because the idea of Love and War together was so intriguing.

Crowd participation was high throughout Alexandra's appearance, much to her amusement. She labeled portions of the crowd as "the bossy section" and the "mini-bossy section", and when people were chiming in with potential answers to her questions she quipped "Maybe you guys should just talk to each other." The crowd - including the bossy and mini-bossy sections - loved every minute of it.

The first time she played Aphrodite, Alexandra was shipped down to New Zealand on a 13-hour flight, arrived at 6am local time, and within two hours was in wardrobe, where her costume - what there is of it - was waiting. She described coming to her senses as she got a good look at it and exclaiming "What is that? Where are my clothes?" Welcome to Aphrodite! She said one of the pains of playing the character is that on Hercules and Xena, everyone gets a "body wash" lotion on all exposed skin to help them look tan and shiny and buff, and her outfit leaves her with a LOT of skin to be washed.

Alexandra's favorite episode of Xena? If the Shoe Fits, the one we're seeing this week.

The director of Fins Femmes and Gems built up the jokes about Aphrodite's body odor problems as the filming progressed - there wasn't much about it in the script. Alexandra said she figured "Oooohhhkay, I know where this is going" by the third or fourth crack.

Return to the Santa Monica Report.

	Web www.bethgriese.com