Alexandra Paul

Alexandra Paul
Alexandra Paul at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006
Born	Alexandra Elizabeth Paul (1963-07-29) July 29, 1963 (age 48) 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]

Personal life

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, a life long eco-animal activist, was released in 2011 from a federal prison after a 4 year 3 month sentence for the 1997 arson of a horse slaughterhouse.^[3]

Acting career

Alexandra has starred in over 70 films and television 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 spokesperson 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.

As athlete

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.

Political activism

Paul is a dedicated environmental and political activist. She is a vegan. In 1997, the United Nations honored 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.^{[citation needed]} 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.

In 2006, Paul donated $250 to the Ned Lamont campaign against Joe Lieberman, because Lieberman supports the war in Iraq.^[4] She supported Representative Dennis Kucinich for President and had donated $2,300 to his campaign, the maximum allowable.

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 and a supporter of many animal rights organizations. An article on her veganism appeared on the PETA wbsite in 2011.

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alexandra Paul

• Alexandra Paul at the Internet Movie Database