Alex Reece is a British actor from London who is making his way in Bollywood. Alex told me about his journey and about his exciting adventures in the film industry. He traveled around the globe and had many different roles which have only helped him develop his acting skills.
Military boarding schools
Sabina: Alex, what can you tell us about yourself?
Alex: I’ve always had a pretty crazy, wild life and that’s reflected in the roles I get. I went to Military boarding schools, studied judo and karate from age eight, was a rifle marksman by the time I was 10, did a year at University and left to join the French Foreign Legion.
It was an extreme decision but very freeing - I just got the train to Paris, walked to the recruiting station in Fort Nogent. You hand over your passport, they give you a new name, you sign your life away for five years, and then it starts to get rough!
But I met an amazing variety of people. Special forces soldiers from Eastern Europe, criminals, people on the run from the police, or from the mafia, psychopaths, adventurers. Just having spent time training, sparring, living, laughing, eating, hanging out and playing chess with these types of people set me apart from other actors and gives my work an inner life that you can’t learn in drama school!
Sabina: So what was it that got you into acting?
Alex: I didn’t spend long with the Legion, even there I was marked out as a rebel, and my habit of meditating under a tree every day was the wrong sort of crazy for them and after I got booted out I lived all over the world. I worked in the mountain vineyards of Southern Spain, became fluent in Spanish, lived in slums in Brazil, learning Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art and became fluent in Brazilian Portuguese.
It was actually Mexican Shamanism that got me into acting - I was doing meditation and shamanism practices and one book I read suggested that the art of acting was, in essence, the art of shapeshifting the mind and body to create characters. After going to drama school in 2007 I lived in India for six months and learned yoga, which helps me find the calm and focus on demanding acting roles that come my way.
Rising film star in India
Sabina: We see you are a rising film star in India as well!
Alex: Yes, Sajjan Singh Rangroot is a War Movie of 2018 - it’s a hotly anticipated Cinema release for 2018 in India. I’m lead villain, starring opposite Diljit Dosanjh, who plays the hero. Diljit is the cinema superstar in India right now, and the movie has got an international theatrical release in place. It's is directed by Pancaj Batra who's got a string of Bollywood blockbusters behind him, so we’re expecting to break some records with this one!
Sabina: What are your best projects to date?
Alex: Starring with Diljit Dosanjh has been terrific. We’re real antagonists in the movie but behind the scenes, he’s such a gentleman and I’m looking forward to our final scenes which we’re filming Mumbai in January, where our relationship comes to a dramatic conclusion!
Also, I'm working with Daniel Craig in the Skyfall commercial - Casting Director Hannah Birkett cast me as the lead villain in this £10M budget Heineken commercial. I had great fun playing the bleach-blond assassin chasing 007 through a studio built replica of the Orient Express train, with each Carriage dressed and designed to be a homage to a different Bond film.
Acting changed his life
Sabina: How did acting change your life?
Alex: It gave me an outlet for all my creative passion - I’m much calmer now, and happy and content to channel all my energy into making movies. I attribute a lot of that to my home life, I’m married to an amazing theatre director and she inspires me every day to be the absolute best I can be, as a man, as a husband and an actor.
Sabina: So what’s next?
If I told you I’d have to kill you! Haha….only joking ..’Vengeance’ is an action film in which I play a maverick SAS special forces soldier, which won ‘Best Action’ and ‘Best Feature’ at the HBO awards in NYC and premieres in London in April 2018. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for regular updates! @alexreeceactor
