Personal details
Born:
- Birthday: 1987-08-20
- Born Place: Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK
Also Known As:
الکساندرا روچ
Alexandra Roach
Alexandra Roach is a highly versatile Welsh actress born on August 20, 1987, in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire. Growing up in a family with deep ties to the police force, she initially pursued a career in acting as a teenager, starring as Elin Owen in the long-running Welsh-language soap opera Pobol y Cwm from 2001 to 2005. She later moved to London to train at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), graduating in 2010. Roach’s career is marked by her ability to move seamlessly between heavy drama, dark comedy, and high-stakes thrillers, often while proudly maintaining her native Welsh accent in an industry that initially pressured her to change it.Roach’s major breakthrough came in 2011 when she was cast as the young Margaret Thatcher in the biopic The Iron Lady, sharing the role with Meryl Streep. This performance earned her widespread acclaim and led to a string of prominent film roles, including Countess Nordston in Anna Karenina (2012), Winifred Holtby in Testament of Youth (2014), and the female lead Julie-Ann in the Paul Potts biopic One Chance (2013). She also became a staple of British television, starring as the volatile Becky in the cult conspiracy thriller Utopia (2013–2014) and the empathetic DS Joy Freers in the police procedural No Offence (2015–2018).As of late 2025, Roach has established herself as a "thriller heroine" through several high-profile leading roles. In 2024, she starred as cyber-security expert Abby Aysgarth in the real-time BBC thriller Nightsleeper, which followed a hijacked train from Glasgow to London. In October 2025, she took on the role of Jenna in the Prime Video original series Lazarus, a psychological mystery created by Harlan Coben. Her portrayal of Jenna—a spiritual, intuitive woman grappling with her family’s dark history—was praised for its emotional depth. Additionally, she recently wrapped filming for the 2026 Channel 4 psychological thriller Hunting Alice Bell, where she plays the title character.Roach married club promoter Jack Scales in 2018; the couple famously met via Facebook in 2015 and currently resides in Bristol. They welcomed their first daughter in 2021. Beyond acting, Roach is a fluent Welsh speaker and has recently begun developing her own writing projects. In late 2025, she made headlines for her interest in wellness and spiritualism, revealing that she spent time in Glastonbury to authentically prepare for her "hippy-leaning" character in Lazarus.
