Aricles Annex - Xena: Warrior Princess Magazine Articles
from Hercules and Xena Yearbook (Topps) 1998 pgs. 52-56 |
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from Hercules and Xena Yearbook (Topps) 1998 pgs. 52-56 |
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Alexandra Tydings shares some divine thoughts in an exclusive interview
by Joe Nazzaro
laying a TV goddess can be a challenge. After all, there just isn't that much real-life experience one can draw from when portraying an honest-to-Zeus mythological entity.
For Alexandra Tydings, who was cast as Aprodite, the bewtching, valley girl-speaking Goddes of Love in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, a lot of it was about entitlement. "That's really what all of her episodes are usually about," explains Tydings. "It's the fact that she's the Goddess of Love and she believes this is the way things are, and she is therefore entitled to her templs and worshippers and followers and figts. Just like some people believe they're entitled to breadfast when they wake up, she believes she's entitled to unadulterated adpration bu everyone."
Tydings' pre-Hellenic persona first appeared in the second season Hercules episode, "The Apple," in which Iolaus is asked to judge a beauty contest between three ultra-competitive Greek goddesses, including sexy surfer chick/deity, Aphrodite. Tydings still recalls audtitioning for the role and knowing she was on the right track by the response to her larger-than-life performance. "They laughed and said, "You didn't have too much fun with that, did you?' That afternoon, they called me and said, 'You're going to New Zealand!" which was cool.
"My manager at the time had a question about whether or not I should do the show, because I'd just done this Woody Harrelson movie that was in the can and hadn't come out yet, and we were imagining that it was going to be a really big movie at the time. But it didn't really end up doing much of anything other than going to cable. At that point, my manager was trying to sculpt this feature film career for me, and was saying, 'I don't know if you should be doing syndicated television.' But my agent had a completely different theory, which was, 'You're still really young and really new, and you should work as much as you can.' So I was confused, listening to both of them. Then my agent added, 'And by the way, it shoots in New Zealand,' and I said, 'Okay, I'm going!' How could you turn that down?"
Tydings soon found herself on a plane to Aukland, which was in the middle of its summer - in the middle of Jannary. "That was amazing, because it was raining and dark at 4:00 here, and L.A. doesn't get super-cold, but it was a little unpleasant. So I got off the plane down there, and it was so beautiful and balmy and warm, and the sun stayed out forever. We were shooting at Bethels Beach for the first week, which is one of the most stunning locations I've ever scen. After the second day, I started to get wise to the fact that the entire crew was jumping in the water as soon as we wrapped, so I started bringing my bathing suit. We'd finish the day, and I'd get my wig off and we'd jump in the water. You don't get to do that very often on the Sony lot!"
The lovely Ms. Tydings relishes her work on both Renaissance series, especially enjoying the opportunities for comedy. Here, a moment from "Fins, Femmes & Gems" (Xena). Although Tydings had already talked over the character with Kevin Sorbo who was making his directorial debut with "The Apple," there was still a momentary feeling of panic about the direction they had chosen. "Kevin pulled me aside and said, 'I'm not really sure about this character, so feel free to ad-lib and do whatever you want.' My insides turned to stone, because I'm not a writer," Tydings recalls. "But I thought, 'Okay, don't panic; it's your first day here, you just got off this ridiculous plane ride, so just go in there and do whatever you want to do.' So I did and, happily for all of us, they laughed a lot."
It wasn't long before the producers of Hercules realized that Tydings' Aphrodite was a big hit with viewers, and quickly brought her back the following season. In "Love Takes A Holiday," the Goddess of Love decides to give up the job, and it's up to Iolaus to change her mind. "Love" was quickly followed by an appearance in Xena: Warrior Princess, where she transformed Joxer from zero to hero in "For Him the Bell Tolls." "That was a totally bizarre experience," the actress remembers, "because I felt I was sort of dreaming - it was the same costume, the heads of wardrobe and props were the same and a lot of the stunt guys were the same, but everything else was different. It was like going to a new school, because everybody else knew each other and I really didn't know anybody...but they were all charming and friendly.
"That was one of the episodes where Lucy had broken her hip and she wasn't working. I think she was still in a hospital in America for most of the time I was down there, but she came to the set on the last day, and that was the first time I met her. She apologized later because she said she was all drugged up on painkillers and had no idea what she was saying, but she was totally there and she was so sweet."
Tydings also gives high marks to co-star Ted Raimi, for his acting tour de force in "For Him the Bell Tolls." "Ted's so funny. I think he's really good at playing that other character, that suave swashbuckling guy, and when we did the other episode ["Stranger in a Strange World"], I thought he was fantastic, playing that revolutionary guy. He's a really talented actor, who can do all kinds of stuff."
A Hercules regular who occasionally appears on Xena, Alexandra Tydings has played the impetous Goddess of Love nine times. Below, a scene from the fourth season Herc episode "One Fowl Day." Having worked on both Hercules and Xena, the actress concedes the Xena set is a bit more mellow to work on, but that's about the only major difference: "I've done more episodes of Hercules than Xena, so it's difficult to say, because I really didn't get to know the crew on Xena as well. But I think my playing Aphrodite might be a little different [for Xena's makers] because the vibe that encircles her is bawdy and sexual by nature, so there's a lot of teasing and joking that goes on."
Ironically, Tydings' first major scenes with Lucy Lawless were actually in an episode of Hercules. In "Stranger in a Strange World," an other dimensional version of Aphrodite gets in a major cat fight with a nastier version of Xena, and fur (as well as quite a bit of cake) begins to fly. "It was so much fun," Alexandra recalls, "although I have to say that the cake fight was completely intimidating, because Lucy is such a strong woman. The couple of punches I had to throw were hysterical because I'm not trained to do that stuff. I had to hit Lucy three times before I threw her into the cake. She has to hit somebody and she gets it in one take; I have to hit someone and it takes all day! I'm throwing my little heart into it, but I keep missing...yet you learn all kinds of stuff. Also, it was the first time l'd ever done comedy on screen, so that was a big thrill."
With Aphrodite now a regular member of the Hercules/Xena repertory company, Tydings is being introduced to the offshoots of both series, from fan mail to her first convention appearances. "I'd already had some fan mail from some other TV stuff I'd done, so I had experienced a little bit of that...but not the amount that I get now," she admits. "It usually happens when a new episode comes out, or an old episode is repeated and then there's another wave. I get [all the mail] from my agent; they bulk it up and then send it to me, so I actually don't know how it arrives at all; maybe it trickles in. I've gotten some of the funniest responses. There's this one guy who was really concerned that my costume looked like it was uncomfortable."
The actress has also recently discovered that she's become a comic book icon as well. "Some friends and I were in a comic book store and discovered that I was in the comics, which was something I didn't know," she observes with a smile. "That was pretty exciting. My friends said, 'You have to buy them and give them to your kids someday! ' "
Of course it's virtually impossible to play the sexy Goddess of Love and not get confused with the character from time to time. "I'm okay with that," claims Alexandra Tydings, "because I don't have too many illusions about what this character is about. She's not really a feminist icon in terms of anti-sexuality feminism. Sometimes I do fight against it, sometimes I just don't want to put the costume on and I have that robe up to my neck all day long until the last possible minute. But generally, it's better to make jokes and not be so serious about it because it's a lot easier that way."
JOSEPH NAZZARO, a veteran film and TV historian and interviewer, is a reqular contributor to XENA MAGAZINE.
For Alexandra Tydings, the role of Aphrodite is only the latest chapter in a diverse career that includes work in stage, television and film. Tydings, a graduate of Brown University, also trained at NYU's Tisch School of Arts, the American Ballet Theatre, the Malone School of Irish Dance (which represented the US in the World Championships) and the Washington School of Ballet. For the last five years, she's worked with LA acting coach Kate McGregor Stewart, who played a major part in helping the actress with the comedic aspects of Aphrodite.
Tydings' theater credits include Stage Door, Peter Pan, Live Spelled Backwards, Noises Off, Tongue, With A Hammer, Well-Aimed, Wild Orphan Jam, and Alice, and her television appearances include the UPN pilot Walking on Sunshine, Party of Five, Vanishing Son, the Showtime anthology series Red Shoes Diaries, and of course, her ongoing role as Aphrodite in Hercules: The Legendary journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess.
In addition other television work, Alexandra Tydings is an accomplished film and stage actress/dancer who has performed with the Royal Ballet of London. 
SERIES:Hercules (Season 2)
EPISODE:"The Apple"
COMMENTS:Our petulant wind-surfing goddess makes her debut in this wild and funny episode, courtesy of director Kevin Sorbo.
SERIES:Hercules (Season 3)
EPISODE:"Love Takes a Holiday"
COMMENTS:Things go wacko on Earth after the Goddess of Love decides to change professions...Aphrodite as a great warrior? We don't think so.
SERIES:Hercules (Season 3)
EPISODE:"The Green-Eyed Monster"
COMMENTS:Jealousy transforms Aphrodite's son, Cupid, into a literal monster (and one of Flat Earth's favorites fx creations).
SERIES:Xena (Season 2)
EPISODE:"For Him the Bell Tolls"
COMMENTS:Aphrodite makes her first Warrior Princess appearance in this playful story built around Joxer, with Ted Raimi doing the fool/hero shtick a la Danny Kaye in The Court Jester.
SERIES:Hercules (Season 3)
EPISODE:"The Reign of Terror"
COMMENTS:Aphrodite is a more three-dimensional character in this tale, taking an honest interest in the welfare of others and sharing some quality time with her half-brother, Hercules.
SERIES:Hercules (Season 4)
EPISODE:"Stranger in a Strange World"
COMMENTS:The "parallel" Aphrodite is, not surprisingly, very much unlike her audacious, fun-loving "Earth One" self. The cake fight between her and Xena 2 is a memorable bit of business.
SERIES:Xena (Season 3)
EPISODE:"The Quill is Mightier..."
COMMENTS:Aired just before some pretty intense, Gabrielle-is-pregnant episodes, this little ditty has Aphrodite casting a spell on Gabby's scrolls...with inevitable mayhem ensuing.
SERIES:Hercules (Season 4)
EPISODE:"One Foul Day"
COMMENTS:Aphrodite is many things, but a pig she is not...except in this episode. Befriended by Hercules in his porker state, a sweet pig name Katherine finds herself transformed into the fetching humanoid form of the Goddess of Love.
SERIES:Hercules (Season 3)
EPISODE:"Fins, Femmes & Gems"
COMMENTS:Our spell-casting charmer is up to her usual tricks as she tries to keep an extraordinary mystic gem from Xena, Gabrielle and Joxer.
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