Written By : Jayme Face
You first saw Alexander Eling on the popular Netflix series Another Life and now you can see him in Netflix’s newest series Tiny Pretty Things out today, December 14th!
Photo Credit: Lane Dorsey
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about Tiny Pretty Things and your character, Matteo?
Alexander Eling: It’s based on the book series of the same name Tiny Pretty Things. It’s set at Chicago’s only ballet academy called The Archer School of Ballet. It’s about what the students would do to achieve their dreams, the highs and lows that they will go to and the dark, mysterious, and downright terrible things that go with the dark world of elite ballet. My character’s name is Matteo. For one, I’ll say he’s not a dancer, I don’t do any dancing in the show. I say this in every interview, the newfound respect and admiration I have for ballet dancers is crazy because the mental and physical discipline they have to have is crazy. I could have never done that. I digress though, my character is Matteo and he’s a working-class dude that plays the guitar. He gets involved with a girl and that girl is Bette. She is one of the dancers at the school and we form a relationship that is quite dysfunctional, but ends up working out, I think. We will have to see how the viewers react to it.
upfrontNY: Like you said it is based on a best-selling book, were you familiar with the book before filming or were you able to use it to prepare for your role?
Alexander Eling: I got the audition and then I saw that it was based on a book series and I was kind of excited because usually it means it’s pretty good because it has legs and it has a following already. So, prior to the audition no I didn’t, once I did get it I did search it up. My character is not in the books so I didn’t really have something to draw from there. Once we were all on board with the project we got familiar with it as much as we could.
upfrontNY: Since your character was not in the book did you feel it gave you more creative freedom?
Alexander Eling: Absolutely, yeah. It’s cool because I got to talk to Michael MacLennan who’s the show runner about making this guy and working on everything that makes him who he is. I’ll say to the audience; he has a bit of a rough landing at first, but I promise he comes around. It was just fun to dive into this guy, he’s so imperfect, everyone is. We looked at him as sort of the audience to the dance world and like the departure from it. The audience views almost through his eyes [and the other characters who aren’t dancers] the dance world. So, yeah, I did have a lot of freedom. It was fun.
upfrontNY: Growing up you attended performing arts schools. Since the show explores the inside world of an elite ballet academy, are there any parallels?
Alexander Eling: Yeah, absolutely. Funny you say that; we would have a Christmas show every year. They would do a Christmas ballet number every year for the Christmas show, but they would make it comedic. They would have actual dance numbers with actual good dancers. Then they would always do the Nutcracker or something like that with all the boys who weren’t necessarily ballet dancers. They would put us in tutus and tights and do the whole thing. There’s so many parallels. Performing arts schools of any kind are unlike any other school. It’s like a completely different high school experience. From what I’ve seen from people I’ve met after high school we compare stories and it’s so different. I for one don’t regret it. I am so grateful for performing arts school. I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing without it. It gives the people that go there a sense of purpose. You see that on the show, people who live and breathe what they do. That’s their goal even at a young age at a performing arts school; it’s the same thing. So many parallels!
upfrontNY: Can you tell us about Another Life and your character, Javier?
Alexander Eling: We just finished filming season 2 so I don’t know for sure when that will be coming out just yet, but stay tuned for that. Those who haven’t seen season one it’s with Katee Sackhoff from Battlestar Galactica, she’s great. She’s a commander of a ship called the Salvare and she leads a crew to track a signal that was left by an unknown alien artifact on earth. I’m part of the crew, Javier is part of the crew. We’re trying to track where it came from and if it’s friend or foe so to speak. Season 2 is a continuation of everything that you expected from season 1. We ended the season on a bit of a cliffhanger so it kind of seems it will get resolved. It’s just out of this world, no pun intended, craziness.
upfrontNY: What is the most fun thing about filming a sci-fi, space thriller?
Alexander Eling: Just like the absurdity of it all. I remember my first day on set for that was episode 2, me and AJ were in a big dirt crater in the middle of nowhere outside of Vancouver. We were in spacesuits, running around. We were doing a night shoot in this crater and it was intended to be a moon fight. Yeah, that stuff was my favorite part, going to these crazy locations and sets. Jumping in head first, it’s so crazy. It felt like something 14-year-old me dreamt of doing and I was doing it so it was crazy. It was fun.
upfrontNY: Being from Toronto do you notice any difference in the acting scenes there vs the US?
Alexander Eling: We have a lot to offer. A lot of people that are coming out of here are doing really well. Toronto can be looked at as sort of a smaller pond in terms of the acting scene compared to wherever else, Los Angeles, New York wherever. It feels like a goliath, but then you see the same people all the time in audition rooms and whatever. It’s a lot smaller and a lot more competitive because the roles are slimmer. I think it is on the upswing and its only been getting better since I started. Things have only been growing in terms of opportunities and what’s filming in Canada. I hope it continues that way because Toronto, Vancouver, Montréal, they’ve got lots of talented performers.
upfrontNY: Both of your latest projects are Netflix shows, what are your favorite shows to binge on Netflix?
Alexander Eling: Recently, I just watched The Queen’s Gambit a little too quickly. I know everyone in the world has, but I’m not one to binge. To be honest I like to pace myself, but yeah I finished The Queens Gambit very, embarrassingly fast. I thought that was really good. I love watching Archer also on Netflix. It’s this cartoon, it’s so good. I watch that like all day, like I’ll have it on all day even in the background while I do stuff. I love that show.
upfrontNY: Is there anything you’d like to let our readers know?
Alexander Eling: Tiny Pretty Things comes out December 14th! I can’t believe how quickly it came! So, check it out!
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