Alexandra Huntingdon Tydings is an American actress, director, writer, producer, and activist, best known for her role as Greek Goddess Aphrodite on the television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and its spin-off, Xena: Warrior Princess.
Personal life
Alexandra Tydings was born in Washington, D.C. She has four half-sisters and one half-brother, and is the daughter of former Maryland U.S. Senator Joseph Tydings and his second wife, Terry Lynn Huntingdon Tydings; she is the granddaughter of former Maryland U.S. Senator Millard Tydings. She is a graduate of Sidwell Friends School and Brown University, with a degree in film and critical theory. She speaks English, French and Spanish.
Tydings counts Katharine Hepburn and Kevin Spacey among her favorite actors. She told Whoosh, a Xena fansite, that she most enjoys the research and collaborating process of acting and that auditioning is her least favorite part of theater arts. She competed in Irish dancing as a child,
Career
After graduating from Brown University, Tydings moved to Hollywood to pursue an acting career. In her first major feature film, she played opposite Woody Harrelson in Oscar winner Michael Cimino's The Sunchaser (1996), which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. She has since performed in dozens of roles in film, television and theater, including six years as a series regular on Xena: Warrior Princess and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys where she played Aphrodite, the Greek Goddess of love.
In 2015, Tydings wrote and directed The Trial of Hanna Porn, a multi-media piece on abortion, which won the Best of Fringe award at the Charm City Fringe Festival. She then went on to write, direct and produce Rainbow Bridge, an independent film about two women advocating for abortion in the United States.
Filmography
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Film and television
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! class="unsortable" | Notes
|-
|1993
|Alice
|Alice
|
|-
|1993
|Angst
|Rebel Girl
|
|-
|1993
|Queerbait
|Arial
|
|-
|1993
|Walking on Sunshine
|
|TV pilot
|-
|1993
|Red Shoe Diaries
|Cecelia<br>Lynn
|Episode: "Love at First Sight"<br>Episode: "Burning Up"
|-
|1995
|Vanishing Son
|Tina
|Episode: "Win, Place or Dead"
|-
|1996
|The Sunchaser
|Victoria Reynolds
|
|-
|1996-1999
|Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
|Aphrodite
|9 episodes
|-
|1997
|Party of Five
|Kerry
|Episode: "Handicaps"
|-
|1997-2001
|Xena: Warrior Princess
|Aphrodite
|11 episodes
|-
|1998
|Hercules and Xena – The Animated Movie: The Battle for Mount Olympus
|Aphrodite (voice)
|Video
|-
|1998
|Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
|Katherine (voice)
|Episode: "Porkules"
|-
|1998
|Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
|Katherine
|Episode: "One Fowl Day"
|-
|1998
|Hotel del Sol
|Nina
|TV pilot
|-
|1999
|Dodge's City
|Cricket
|TV pilot
|-
|2001
|Sheena
|Elena
|Episode: "The Treasure of Sienna Mende"
|-
|2002
|Another Pretty Face
|Jill Trent
|TV movie
|-
|2008
|'
|Arts Editor
|Episode: "React Quotes"
|}