She’d already made her mark with TV and film credits such as True Detective and Baywatch. But it was playing a journalist on the honeymoon from hell in the runaway hit The White Lotus that made a star of Alexandra Daddario. From hot yoga and chess to acupuncture actor reveals how she built her body – and her mind
It’s early Saturday afternoon and 36-year-old actor Alexandra Daddario is explaining, via Zoom, from her art-laden New Orleans rental, the mystical nuances of her new TV series, Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches – an adaptation of the 90s book series that premieres early next year on US network AMC. Given Alexandra’s schedule of late, it’s a wonder she can remember her own name, let alone the biography of the neurosurgeon protagonist she portrays, Rowan Fielding, who learns in adulthood that she’s descended from a long line of witches.
Now, if you’re curious as to just how truly crammed that calendar of Alexandra’s is, here’s a quick peek: a mere 48 hours after posing for this Women’s Health cover (and still sporting the pretty pink manicure done on set), Alexandra tied the knot with Hollywood producer Andrew Form at the historic New Orleans music venue Preservation Hall in front of an intimate gathering of guests. ‘I wanted it to feel like a good, easy time without the pressure of convention,’ she says of the laid-back affair. Alexandra then returned to production on Mayfair Witches for a handful of days before sitting for this interview. The next day, she embarked on a mini-moon with her new husband: a road trip through Mississippi and Alabama, with the beaches of Florida’s Panhandle as their final stop.
Alexandra admits the whole planning-a-wedding-while-filming-a-TV-show thing was stressful. But once the vows were exchanged and the second line (the parade recessional leading the wedding party from the venue to the reception) began its march, she was left with a sense of calm. ‘When I met Andrew, we just both knew,’ she says. ‘The wedding was wonderful; it felt a bit like an inevitable conclusion. So I feel really at peace.’
It’s clear after speaking with Alexandra for a short while that she has an innate sense of when something feels right, and – perhaps more importantly – when something doesn’t. It’s an instinct we may all have but aren’t always great at tuning into. For Alexandra, that instinct is a guiding light.
Growing up on New York’s Upper East Side as the eldest child of lawyer parents (her siblings, Matthew and Catharine, are also actors), Alexandra felt pressure to succeed – to get good grades and attend a prestigious university.
