Alexandra Breckenridge

Alexandra Breckenridge (born May 15, 1982) is an American actress who portrays Moira O'Hara in the first season and Kaylee in the third season of American Horror Story.

Biography

Alexandra Hetherington Breckenridge was born on May 15, 1982 in Darien, Connecticut, before moving to California when she was 12. Her mother moved her to California partially due to her severe asthma. ("I've not had asthma since. It went away completely." she has stated.)

Breckenridge first got an interest in acting at 13 when she performed in local theater productions and soon moved to Los Angeles to pursue her acting career. Breckenridge also took up photography and music in her teen years.

"One day, I just thought: 'Well, I can't be a musician and an actor, so I have to pick one because I'm never going to get good at one if I do both', she says. "I decided to be an actor, because if I was a musician, I'd have to get a band together and that just sounded like a big pain." Alexandra mostly sings jazz.^[1]

In the late 1990s, Breckenridge had guest spots on several series, including "Dawson's Creek", and supporting roles in several B movies and short films. After appearing on the series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997), Alex was offered her own series, the UPN drama pilot Mystery Girl. Sadly, UPN chose to have only one female-led detective series in the 2004-2005 season and Mystery Girl was not picked up.

She currently lives in Hollywood.

For further reference on her work, check out her IMDB page

Photography

Breckenridge, in addition to being an actress, is also a professional photographer. Her portfolio can be accessed on her official photography page. The two photos below are two portraits she took of her co-star and ex-boyfriend, Evan Peters.

Alexandra Breckenridge on her role as Young Moira

"Some of these sexy-type scenes we have to do, they get so intense. If you can't have a sense of humor about it, what are you doing?" Breckenridge concedes those sequences are particularly difficult because, "I am such a dork," she says, laughing. "I've never acted like that in my life. I don't think many people have. I just thought, 'What do I think a man would find sexy?' I tried to do that. It seems to be working OK. I mean, I haven't gotten Dylan in bed yet on the show, but you know." Most of her pals, both men and women, were "extremely confused" when they first saw her on the show. Breckenridge has stated that, "Half of them came to me and said, 'Wow, you're actually really sexy on the show!' And I said, 'Thank you?' And they said, 'No, I see you as being such a dork. I was surprised.' " ^[2]

Moira is a very sexy role, at least in the first few episodes. Is that constant through the season, or do we see more sides of her?

AB: It is pretty constant. (Laughs) There is an episode where we find out what happened to Moira. There’s a little bit of history there. But beyond that, my character is pretty much the same throughout the season. She has one very distinct intention, and that is mainly to seduce.

How is that for you to play?

AB: It’s really fun, actually, because I’ve never really played a character that’s so overtly sexual before. But occasionally I’ll feel a little silly, you know, because who acts like that? Sometimes they’ll need shots of me licking my fingers or playing with my chest. It’s just silent on set and everybody’s just watching me do it, it’s a little awkward. But it’s fun. I’m having a great time.^[3]

Notes

Alexandra Breckenridge confirmed on her Twitter account that she and Evan Peters used to be in a relationship together.^{[citation needed]}
Alexandra Breckenridge (young "Moira"), Denis O'Hare ("Larry Harvey"), Rebecca Wisocky (Larry's wife, "Lorraine Harvey"), Adina Porter (Ben's boring patient, "Sally Freeman") have all appeared on another camp supernatural horror series together, "True Blood". Breckenridge played the witch Katerina Pelham, O'Hare played Vampire King Russell Edgington, his AHS wife Wisocky played Fairy Queen Mab, and Porter portrayed Tara's alcoholic mother Lettie Mae.