‘It’s Going to Be a Real Drama-filled Season’: Alexandra Beaton Talks ‘Finding Her Edge’ Character and Season 2 Renewal (Exclusive)
Find out what about the character drew the actress to the role and what she’s looking forward to in Season 2
If you binge-watched Finding Her Edge like the other 12 million Netflix viewers did within two weeks of its release, you probably know Alexandra Beaton. The actress portrays figure skating star and eldest sister Elise Russo, who is reeling from the death of her mother. Elise is often cold and lets her anger out on her sister, Adriana (Madelyn Keys), allowing her jealousy to get the best of her.
But Beaton is nothing like her sometimes vicious character. The actress is bright, kind, loves BookTok and she truly understands the reasons for Elise’s behavior.
“She’s in physical pain, but also emotional and mental pain,” Beaton said of Elise. “She was just in a really low place.”
Woman’s World had a chance to chat with Alexandra Beaton about what it was like to play Elise, how she feels about the Season 2 renewal and some of her favorite memories with the cast.
Woman’s World: You play Elise Russo in Finding Her Edge—can you tell our readers a little bit about your character and where she is when the show begins?
Alexandra Beaton: Elise is part of a figure skating dynasty. I’m the oldest child, and she really proves that in many ways. We find her at the start of what I would call a pretty intense crossroads. She’s feeling a lot of pressure and is reeling from the death of her mother, and she is not addressing any of that. She gets hurt at the end of the first episode and that really derails her future. She’s really forced to reckon with not only what is going on with her physically, but also mentally.
WW: Finding Her Edge was originally a book. Had you known of or read the story prior to auditioning for Elise?
AB: When I did my initial audition, the show was being cast under a different name. It was actually called Precision, so there was no connection to the book. But they did make a call out that it was loosely based on Jane Austen’s Persuasion, which is one of my favorite books—I’m a big Jane Austen fan—so I was really aware of the character dynamics in that book and that helped me find her earlier on in the process.
When we got to the callbacks and the chemistry reads, we had a better idea of Finding Her Edge the book, but our show does differ quite a bit from that because it’s a longer format. Some of the characters are a bit more built out, and Elise is one of them. It was fun to be able to explore her with our writers, show runners and directors. They really let me turn her into this full, really complicated mess of a human being.
WW: How did you first learn about the role of Elise?
AB: I learned about it the classic actor way: my agent sent me the audition, and I really loved the sides [script pages] I did. They were really different scenes, but they showcased a lot of her, and I could tell she would be a really interesting character to play. By the time we had gone to the chemistry read process, I really felt like I knew her. I’m always trying to fall in love with my characters and champion them, no matter how difficult that might be. I really wanted to play her and was so excited when I got the opportunity to.
WW: What initially drew you to this particular character?
AB: I have a younger sister named Sophie and we are 14 months apart. I would never treat Sophie the way Elise treats her sisters, but that feeling of being able to do and say anything to your sister and know it will all be okay is something I understand deeply. That really drew me to the story and, transparently, is one of my favorite things about our series. I love the relationship that our showrunner and writers and directors established between the three sisters, and then, obviously, I’m a huge BookTok girly. I love a little romance book, so I was really excited to see the love triangle play out because I’m not involved in the filming of a lot of those scenes.
WW: Did you use the written version of Elise to inform how you played the character in the show?
AB: Anytime I’m acting, it’s hard for me to not bring a little bit of myself to all of the characters I play. You have to ground them in what you know and your own experiences. Also, my acting process is to read it a million times and then just believe the situation, and then having a book is amazing material to be able to pull from.
Elise in the book is so harsh. Knowing I could be so harsh and that I had the permission to do that from our source material was empowering.
WW: What was your first reaction when you read the script for Finding Her Edge?
AB: At that point, I had gotten the first script, so I had a pretty good idea of the writing. We got up to script five before we started filming and then the others filtered in throughout the filming process. I was really excited. I really liked the sibling dynamic because it felt so real to me. I loved the relationship with their father and the exploration—especially with Elise—of delayed grief. She’s going through a lot and selfishly, as an actor, having something that’s so meaty was exciting. She’s a harsh character, but I truly loved playing her. I wanted her to have some humor and levity, and I wanted to try and humanize her a little bit.
WW: The show recently got renewed for Season 2—which was thrilling to hear, having binged the first season in a day—how were you feeling when you found out about the renewal?
AB: We were over the moon. I knew they needed to collect data and I was just trying to compartmentalize, so I did not think about it so much. The way they told us [about the renewal] was that they faked a call to talk about press opportunities and social media. So, the cast signed on and settled in for an educational call. Then, 30 seconds in, they let our amazing showrunner, Jeff Norton, in and the team at WildBrain and the Netflix team, and they told us that we had gotten to Season 2. So, it was surprising, but also so amazing to be able to hear it with the cast and see everybody else’s reaction. We’re actually very close as a cast, which is something I don’t take for granted, and I feel incredibly blessed to work with such amazing people.
WW: Finding Her Edge became an instant hit on Netflix, peaking at #3. What has it been like navigating all of its success?
AB: I split my time between Toronto and New York, and those are two places that don’t really care who you are, so for me, it’s been a really unique experience, but my life hasn’t really changed in the day-to-day. In this bigger picture, it’s obviously amazing. I think 12 million people tuned in the first week. That’s been an incredible experience and the idea that we get to go and do it all over again—I haven’t even wrapped my head around it yet.
WW: Elise is a bit of a difficult character, navigating some intense feelings but also dealing with sibling rivalry. What is your favorite and least favorite part about playing Elise?
AB: My least favorite part about playing her was anytime I had to be awful to my sister, Adriana. Madelyn is the nicest, kindest, most amazing person in the world, similar to her character. There are moments where I was very harsh to her, but luckily, Madelyn and I are very close. We’ve been very close since the beginning of filming. But still, every time I had to do that, I would turn to her after and say, ‘I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. Please hug me. Please tell me you don’t hate me.’ So, just personally, Alex-wise, being so full of vinegar for another person was not my favorite feeling.
I have a ton of favorite things about being Elise. One, our wardrobe department really slayed me down. I know I mentioned this before, but Elise goes through stuff and being able to play that was amazing as an actor. She was really interesting to play.
WW: Elise was a little bit messy throughout the show, kissing both Brayden and Freddie, plus fighting with her sister—why do you think she tends to self-sabotage, even when things are going okay?
AB: We talked a little bit about delayed grief. She’s in physical pain, but also emotional and mental pain. When I was researching the character and researching what those things do, you almost don’t believe that you deserve anything good. For a lot of people, when life starts going in a better direction, they don’t believe that they deserve it, and therefore, they self-sabotage and that’s what Elise did. She’s drinking a little bit, too, which is never a good idea, so she was just in a really low place and she was, like, “Let’s see how low I can go,” especially with the Freddie situation.
WW: If you could give your character one piece of advice, what would it be?
AB: Go to therapy and I actually mean that very seriously. I think she’s going through a lot, and she is a person who feels things very deeply and has absolutely no knowledge of how to express that or talk about it. I think she is a person who would greatly benefit from a solid relationship with a good therapist. She’s entering young adulthood, a really important time in a young woman’s life.
WW: The Russo sisters are all competitive figure skaters, which can certainly lead to some rivalry between them. What did you like the most about portraying that sister relationship?
AB: Me and the youngest sister, Maria, who’s played by Alice Malakhov, had such a great relationship. We had so much fun playing that classic oldest-sibling and youngest-sibling dynamic, because there’s no real competitive tension there. It’s just a lot of love. She holds Elise accountable, but she’s also a huge catalyst for Elise’s change as well. Then, with Maddie and I, we had so many scenes where we got to chomp up that dialogue. One of my favorite scenes is at the gala and we are circling around each other at the bar. I could do that scene every day happily.
WW: Obviously, it takes a lot of skill to be a figure skater. What was it like to prepare for that part of the role?
AB: Well, I lied on my self-tape. They were, like, “Can you just let us know if you can figure skate?” And I said, “Sure, I can figure skate.” [In reality], I am like a baby deer on ice. Luckily, we did have three weeks to prepare and we had an amazing coach named Brad, so I met up with him a couple of times and I went to the rink myself a couple of times. But we had such amazing skate doubles. My double’s name was Natasha and she’s a beautiful, phenomenal skater.
WW: By the end of Season 1, it seems Elise has found a new path as a figure skating mentor. What are you most excited about regarding that journey?
AB: I’m excited to see what our writers do—they are so talented—andI’m excited to see if anyone new joins the cast. It’s going to be a real drama-filled season and the sister dynamic is something I’m so excited to explore and see where they take us. I have full trust in our showrunner and our amazing writers.
Woman’s World: Do you have a favorite memory with the cast?
AB: I feel like I have 1,000 memories. Getting to go to Paris with the five main cast members— myself, Maddie, Alice, Olly Atkins (who played Freddie) and Cale [Ambrozic] (who played Brayden). Paris is one of my favorite cities in the world. I remember getting on the plane and sitting there and shedding a tear that I was flying to Paris to film. This is like a dream scenario.
I think sometimes, when you’re in the arts, you don’t stop and think that this is something I could have only ever imagined myself doing, and here I am doing it. When we landed, we went out and got coffee, we had breakfast and then actually filming there was amazing.
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