Interview with the promising young actress Lexie Stevenson
Nominated for the 2018 Emmys as OUTSTANDING YOUNG ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES, for her 3-year role as “Mattie Ashby” on CBS’s The Young & The Restless, Lexie Stevenson is a young up and coming show business woman.
In love with the entertainment industry since childhood, Lexie has studied and worked hard, even going so far as to show up on her own and land a few supporting roles in productions such as The Vampire Diaries, Alvin and the Chipmunks 4, Vynil, etc.
She is the youngest woman on the Advisory Board for the Endometriosis Foundation of America. We talked with her about this unfortunately still semi-unknown disease, about the difficulty of women of mixed color in the entertainment industry and about her future projects. Let’s find out together!
You currently live in Los Angeles but grew up in Maine in Brunswick, where you started your very young career as a singer and actress. Do you miss that carefree part?
Yes, I definitely do. There’s something about being young that allows you to not care about what other people say or think. However, as much as I miss being 100% care free with my singing and acting, I still try to replicate that feeling as much as I can in the auditions and projects I work on now. My dad and I were just talking this morning about how important it is to keep the joy in whatever your passion is in life.
The beginning of everything. During your high school years you self-submitted and got some small roles in productions like The Vampire Diaries, Alvin and the Chipmunks 4, Vinyl, etc. Determined and fearless!
Yes! My mom saw how badly I wanted to start acting and find my way into the entertainment industry so she started researching how to submit me for roles. We went and did a photoshoot for my first headshots and then I started booking small roles here and there that helped get me ready to be on set professionally one day.
You were nominated for a 2018 Emmy Award for OUTSTANDING YOUNG ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES, for your 3-year role as “Mattie Ashby” on CBS’s The Young & The Restless. What memory do you have of this experience?
I remember seeing my name in Variety Magazine and I just about cracked up and lost my mind. I remember taking a double take and making sure there wasn’t another actress name Lexie Stevenson. It was really exciting and something I will of course never forget.
You are the youngest woman on the Advisory Board for the Endometriosis Foundation of America. For the uninitiated, this is an insidious gynecological disease that shows no signs on the outside, and is therefore difficult (and often late) to be diagnosed. I also have this disease and the diagnosis came after 7 years. I have to thank (so to speak) the heavens because I have some friends who have it, and have recognized my symptoms, otherwise maybe I would still be waiting in the hospitals with every menstrual cycle. When did you find out you were affected?
I am so sorry to hear that and thank you for sharing that with me. It’s a horrible disease but in a way it nice when you find someone you have it in common with. It definitely makes you feel less alone with the weird symptoms that come with it. As for how I deal with it, I take it day by day. Some days are easier than others but I always carry my EAEK (Endometriosis Attack Emergency Kit) and as long as I have that I can get through the day. My EAEK is a stylish bag (of course) that has a heat pad, tampons/pads, Tylenol extra strength, prescribed medication, and tea bags for hot tea. All of these items help relieve the pain in one way or another and allow me to live life as normally as possible.
We know you have a great partner who supports you, thankfully. For the experience of women I know, it’s hard to find one who really understands. How do you think we can help other people to know more about it?
Making sure that we don’t teach only women about periods, child birth, endometriosis or other women’s health problems. It’s important that men are also included in the conversation so they can know what’s going on and it doesn’t become a “taboo” or “gross” subject. I still hear way too many stories about women getting their periods and accidentally bleeding through their pants and then getting shunned for it. That’s absolutely ridiculous to me. We need to teach boys about the human body, the same way we teach girls!
Would you like to tell us about your work in Hollywood as a woman of mixed color? Have you ever noticed any incorrect treatment to yourself, compared to white women?
I am mixed so my experience is different from white women and black women all together. I am too black to be white and too white to be black. A lot of projects are looking for someone who is 100% of this or that ethnicity, and the biggest issue I face being a mixed woman in the industry is that I am both black and white, and at the same time, I’m neither of them. I am not 100% black or 100% white, I am just me. In my entire career of acting I have only ever seen 4 breakdowns asking for someone who is mixed and I’ve done about 500 auditions. I actually booked one of those jobs, which was The Young and the Restless.
How do you think things could change? Or is something already moving?
More mixed actresses are beginning to speak up about this which makes me really happy. Sierra Capri just talked about it in a podcast with Anthony Meindl and someone just the other day was telling me how Storm Reid has also talked about it. One of my friends (Camryn Herold) who is also mixed just did a magazine shoot with half her hair straightened and the other half curly as a statement as well. So I do think things are moving but as with any movement we could all be louder.
What are your future projects? Will you continue to pursue acting full time? Do you already have something in the pipeline?
I definitely plan to continue pursuing acting full time but am also starting to pursue a music career as well. There is a lot of downtime with acting. Especially in the midst of auditioning and trying to book the next role. I think it’s important for all actors to have something else that keeps their creative mind busy during that downtime and after years of keeping my music to myself I think I’m getting ready to share it.
