Interviews

Interview: Alexandra Chando in UPtv’s The Baby Proposal

By Rueben | January 16, 2021

Actress Alexandra Chando, best known for her roles in the long-running soap opera As the World Turns and the ABC Family (aka Freeform) teen drama The Lying Game, will star in this weekend’s latest UPtv Sunday night movie The Baby Proposal.

Alexandra stars as Layla Bennett, the co-host of the morning show “Wake Up Chicago!,” who has it all figured out: her own place, a thriving career and a loving fiancé. She co-hosts with her charming, but sometimes irritating, colleague Derek Dray (Mike Merrill from The Bobby Brown Story and All American). Layla and Derek have different working styles: she likes to be spontaneous and improvise on air, while he’s more of a stick to the script kind of guy.

When they’re given the bombshell of caring for a baby together, it’s their worst nightmare. But as they juggle night feeds and nap times with their hectic lives, they can’t deny the growing chemistry. Is this unexpected arrival all they needed to realize they were meant to be?

Here is our exclusive interview with The Baby Proposal star Alexandra Chando:

Can you tell us about your new movie The Baby Proposal in your own words?

The Baby Proposal tells the classic story of a girl and a guy who don’t exactly see eye to eye, but something (or someone) forces them together, giving each a peek into each other’s world…leaving room for a budding romance.

What drew you to the character of Layla Bennett?

I loved her energy and confidence. She’s a funny, strong, relatable female character. I always loved the more classic romantic comedies and was excited to explore such a fun character.

As the old adage says, never work with children or animals. Would you say working with a baby in this movie was challenging?

The only challenge was that the babies (we work with twins for scheduling purposes) were so good and never cried. In every scene Poppy was meant to cry, the babies were smiling or laughing. I would say working with the fake baby for a lot of the shoot was more challenging than the real one! Trying to make that doll look real was when the real acting started!

The pandemic has, obviously, been forefront for everyone for a year now. How have you been handling the restrictions and mandates?

I think for me, along with probably almost everyone, this time has been months of ups and downs. Some weeks or days are great and feel productive or peaceful, other days feel much more of a challenge. I was very fortunate and was able to spend 5 weeks back east over the summer with my family. Being able to safely spend quality time with my family has definitely been a silver lining.

What was the best piece of advice you received in your early days of acting?

Being told that I really have to love it and have a passion for it helped me to keep going. This industry comes with a lot of rejection and a lot of sacrifice and if someone doesn’t love it enough, it makes it easier to walk away. You really have to want it in order to make it through the hard times.

What experiences from your days on As the World Turns (ATWT) helped you with your work on The Lying Game (TLG), and can you share any funny behind the scenes stories from your days on that show?

Hands down the fact that I had to memorize 30 pages of dialogue a day sometimes on ATWT helped me tremendously for TLG. The first season of TLG I was in almost every scene of every episode, some scenes with myself, and the pace of television is so fast you really have to be prepared and know your lines. ATWT prepared me in many ways technically, but most of all it gave me the experience of being a part of a tight knit cast. On TLG, because many of us were so close, there was a lot of joking around on set–a lot of trying to make the other actor laugh during his or her scene. That show was such a special time with special people.

NOTE: Alexandra has also appeared in episodes of Castle, Hawaii Five-0, The Vampire Diaries, The Neighborhood and the short-lived series Rockville CA.

Do you have a special skill or talent for which your fans would be surprised to learn about?

I used to be a singer, but haven’t really trained in years so I rarely sing anymore.

What made you want to get into acting; and if you hadn’t become an actor, what would you be doing?

I loved theatre when I was younger and seeing a production of “Annie” made me want to jump on the stage. I’d always been a performer and got so much joy from putting on plays. If I wasn’t in the entertainment industry at all I think I would be a floral designer. However, I’ve been directing a lot more now, so I’d say a Director!

Do you have a dream project you hope to work on one day?

I get excited about unique characters and I’d love to get back on a series one day soon. Directing has been a huge focus of mine lately and I am drawn to female driven pieces where the lead character isn’t afraid to stand unapologetically in her truth (kind of like Layla!).

Is there an organization or charity for which you support or participate in?

I’ve been an ambassador to BuildOn, which is a non profit that mobilizes U.S. students to transform their communities through service and change the world by building schools in developing countries. I went to Malawi, Africa and built a school for a small village. Additionally, the Alzheimer’s Association is a cause that is close to me: three generations in my family (great grandmother, grandmother, aunt) had/have Alzheimers.

Here is the trailer for The Baby Proposal: