| Alexandra Paul | |
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Alexandra Paul at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006 |
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| Born | Alexandra Elizabeth Paul July 29, 1963 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Spouse | Ian Murray (2000-present) |
| Website | |
| Official website | |
Alexandra Elizabeth Paul (born July 29, 1963) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Lt. Stephanie Holden in the television series Baywatch from 1992–97. She has starred in over 70 movies and television programs.[1]
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Paul was born in New York City, the daughter of Sarah, a social worker, and Mark Paul, an investment banker.[2] Paul is married to triathlon coach Ian Murray and has competed in triathlons.
Her identical twin sister, Caroline Paul, became one of the first women to join the San Francisco Fire Department and has written a memoir entitled Fighting Fire: A Personal Story about her experiences. Her younger brother Jonathan Paul, is a life long eco-animal activist, who was released in 2011 from a federal prison after a 4.3 year sentence for his animal rights activities.
Alexandra has starred in over 70 films and televsion shows. Apart from Baywatch, Paul is known for movies such as Paper Dolls (1982) with Darryl Hannah, Christine (1983), based on the book by Stephen King; the bicycle-racing film American Flyers (1985) with Kevin Costner and the film parody of the classic television series Dragnet starring Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd. She has also hosted non-fiction TV shows, including WE's Winning Women and a southern California local environmentalism show, Earth Talk Today.
She made a cameo appearance in Borat in a deleted scene parodying her Baywatch role. She remains in the dvd specials.
Alexandra has starred in 2 films with Pierce Brosnan, "Death Train" and "Nightwatch". She played Andy Garcia's and Jeff Bridges' lover in "Eight Million Ways to Die", directed by Hal Ashby. Since 1999, she has starred in 14 films for Lifetime Network. She has also starred in the Fox tv series "Fire Company 132" and appeared on the last 8 episodes of Melrose Place. She guest starred on the tv series "Mad Men" in 2008.
Paul co-wrote and co-produced two documentaries: Jampacked, a documentary on the world population crisis, and The Cost of Cool: Finding Happiness in a Materialistic World. Jampacked received a Bronze Apple Award and first place recognition at the EarthVision Environmental Film and Video Festival. The Cost of Cool won a CINE Golden Eagle Award. In 2011, she was a spokersperson for the Chevy Volt, a plug in car. Alexandra has been driving electric cars since 1990, and was featured in the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car", most notably getting arrested. In 2011, she was a spokersperson for the Chevy Volt.
Paul is a competitive endurance athlete. She competed at the 1997 Ironman Triathlon in Hawaii, a grueling 2.44-mile (3.93 km) swim, 112-mile (180 km) bike ride, and 42.195-kilometre (26.219 mi) marathon, which she completed in 13:18:52. In 2004, Alexandra competed in the Bonaire 10k race, a 6-mile (9.7 km) swim off the island of Bonaire. In 2006, she raced in the Maui Channel Crossing, a 10-mile (16 km) swim from the Hawaiian island of Lanai to Maui. In August 2009, she participated in a Fiji swim from Denarau to Beachcomber Island, an 11-mile (18 km) race. In June, 2012, she will compete in a 12.5 mile swim around Key West.
Paul is a dedicated environmental and political activist. She is a vegan. In 1997, the United Nations honoured her for her work on overpopulation, after she spoke to thousands of LA schoolchildren on the issue through a curriculum she designed. In 2005, Alexandra was named "Activist of the Year" by the ACLU of Southern California. She composts and recycles, and will not use any products tested on animals. She has traveled to Nicaragua with a medical aid group and to South Africa to register voters, and has been registering voters weekly since 1988.
She has often committed herself to civil disobedience to protest against some policy or action that she believes is wrong. She has been arrested over a dozen times at the Nevada Nuclear Test site in peaceful protests. She spent 3 1/2 days in a local jail after refusing to pay the $50 fine after one arrest. She was arrested in 1989 with gay activists asking for fast-track approval of the AIDS drug Compound Q. On March 19, 2003, and again on April 30, 2003, she was arrested for trespassing onto federal property during protests against the Iraq war. She spent 5 days in jail after refusing to pay the small fine. She stated:" I believe that to pay money to the government I am protesting is counterproductive to my antiwar beliefs, and that my biggest service to the community was to protest the war." http://alexandrapaul.com/corner/dayinlife_jail.htm
In 2006, Paul donated $250 to the Ned Lamont campaign against Joe Lieberman, because Lieberman supports the war in Iraq.[3] She supported Representative Dennis Kucinich for President and had donated $2,300 to his campaign, the maximum allowable.
She was arrested again on March 14, 2005 while protesting the crushing of the environmentally friendly electric vehicles (EV1), in Burbank, California. This arrest was featured in the documentary film Who Killed The Electric Car. As part of the protest, she parked her car in the way of the truck carrying the EV1s to the junkyard. Photos of Paul handcuffed behind the back and being patted down by a police officer were shown on her website. She personally drives an EV, the fourth one she has owned.
Paul is a founding board member of Plug In America, an advocacy group supporting the development and promotion of electric cars. She is also active with Population Media Center anda supporter of many animal rights organizations. An article on her veganism appeared on the PETA wbsite in 2011.