Who is Alexandria Riley? Meet the Wales-based actor, singer and single mother of four

The rising star will play DI Ella Richards in upcoming true crime drama, The Pembrokeshire Murders

A passion-fuelled actor, singer and single mother of four currently killing it on TV. This is 36-year-old Alexandria Riley.

The Newport-based actress has just wrapped on filming for a new Wales-centred true crime drama, The Pembrokeshire Murders, alongside Hollywood household name, Luke Evans.

The three-part series for ITV/World Productions, directed by Marc Evans that tells the story of four cold-case murders will be coming to screens later this year.

So, here’s everything you need to know about the rising star.

She’s a homebird
She was born and raised in Newport to a white, Welsh mother and a black father from the Caribbean. Though she admits she is not fluent in the Welsh language, she says she is making a conscious effort to learn it, “We’ve got a language, I want to know it!”

She still has a strong base in Newport where she now lives with her four children. “I love Newport, it’s funny when people ask ‘when are you going to leave Newport’,” she laughs.

“All my family are here. I’m a bit of a homebird, this is where I’ll always stay. It’s my city, I’m very proud of it.”

Alexandria does a lot of work within her community working with young actors, helping them make those much-needed connections that are unfortunately few and far between in a city like Newport.

After training at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama gaining an MA Acting for Stage, Screen and Radio in 2016, she has since worked in theatre, TV and radio. Her most recent roles include Leigh in series two of the hit series showing on Netflix, End of the F***ing World and new BBC drama series In My Skin, after starring in the BAFTA Cymru winning pilot.

Perhaps one of her most prominent Welsh roles to date is Natalie Tucker in the BBC Wales comedy series, The Tuckers which follows a family of ‘loveable rogues’ living on the wrong side of law set in the Welsh valleys.

When asked about Welsh representation in TV and film she says, “I think there’s room for a lot more and it’s really important to get it right. There’s a lot of programmes coming to Wales but they just film it here and we don’t see the same representation in the cast and the crew. So, I think we can do more for that.”

“What I loved about The Tuckers was that it was a family I recognised. I grew up in a council estate, we had ‘Dodgy Dan’ selling DVDs at the door, you know all that stuff was real.”

The show sparked up a bit of debate, we had people saying you can’t represent Wales like this, she explains.

But, it represents a family that had a lot of heart that is just trying to get by day-to-day, that a lot of people recognised, she adds.

“There’s the human race, everything else is heritage, for me”

Alexandria prefers to identify as mixed-heritage. She appeared in a short film, Mixed, about her own experiences growing up as mixed-race in Wales and her struggle to identify her heritage.

Speaking in the film she says, “Because I don’t look like I should be from here, that’s where the anxiety starts. What difference does this actually make to how Welsh I am or how Caribbean I am, or where my heritage is?”

Growing up Alexandria experienced racism first-hand. Feeling the need to prove her ‘Welshness’ has been a disheartening experience for her which she finds ridiculous, “There’s the human race, everything else is heritage, for me,” she adds with frustration.

She’s a powerhouse
Alexandria always wanted to be an actress. Her mother was a singer when she was growing up so she would dream of moving to America to sing, dance and act.

“If no one answers the door when you knock it… kick it in”

Navigating her dream career was not without its struggles, however. She had children very early so initially abandoned her goals and went into teaching drama.

But, a last-minute application to the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama ended up being the best decision she ever made.

Although as this new chapter in her life was beginning her marriage was breaking down leaving her to deal with money struggles and no childcare, “It was the best moment of my life and worst moment of my life,” she admits.

After graduating she was lucky enough to go straight into a job and pretty much hasn’t stopped since. This year she was named one of Gwent’s most inspirational women and was featured in a video by ITV Wales News, of well-known faces in Wales giving advice to their younger selves for International Women’s Day.

She received some backlash for the powerful statement she made (to which she, quite rightly, shows no remorse) which was this:

“To every woman everywhere: if no one answers the door when you knock it… kick it in.”