Alexandra Breckenridge’s best movies and TV shows reveal an actress who has made her name with some major TV roles but also has picked out some great movies to show her versatility on the big screen. Breckenridge moved to California when she was 10 and started acting in community productions and took some acting classes. This led to her first major role in 2020 when she turned 18, followed by a series of guest roles on TV shows likeFreaks and GeeksandBuffy the Vampire Slayer.
In 2002, she had a chance to star inher first movie, the Frankie Muniz comedyBig Fat Liar,which helped her get a foot in the door in Hollywood for both movies and TV roles. Since that time, she has made a big name for herself on television, withroles in everything fromAmerican Horror StoryandThe Walking DeadtoThis is UsandVirgin River. Her movie roles are smaller, but she has been building up a solid resume of acting credits, and it seems that the future remains bright for Breckenridge.
Big Fat Liar
Cast
Big Fat Liar is a family comedy directed by Shawn Levy. The film follows Jason Shepherd, a 14-year-old student whose school essay is stolen by a sleazy Hollywood producer, Marty Wolf, and turned into a blockbuster movie. Starring Frankie Muniz, Amanda Bynes, and Paul Giamatti, the story unfolds as Jason and his friend Kaylee travel to Los Angeles to prove his authorship and expose Wolf’s fraudulent behavior.
In 2002, Alexandra Breckenridge, 20, appeared in the teen comedyBig Fat Liar. Directed by Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine), the film stars Frankie Muniz as a 14-year-old compulsive liar named Jason Shepherd. Muniz had made his name on the TV showMalcolm in the Middle,and this was his chance to see if he could make the move to the big screen. With Amanda Bynes as his best friend, Kaylee, he gets into trouble when his lies play into the fable,The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
In her first movie role,Breckenridge plays Janie Shepherd, Jason’s older sister, who dates a guy named Rudy (Ned Brower) and won’t look after her little brother when she is asked to. The film was not a great success, but it did receive mixed reviews, with a 46% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Bynes did win Favorite Movie Actress at the Kids' Choice Awards for her performance. This was one of four movies Breckenridge appeared in during 2022, and it was the best of the bunch.
Save Me
Save Me centers on Sang-mi, whose family moves to a rural village and becomes ensnared by a cult masquerading as a religious group. As her parents fall under the cult’s sway, Sang-mi struggles to escape their control. She enlists the help of four local young men, and together they embark on a perilous mission to uncover the cult’s true nature and save her family from its clutches.
In 2013, Alexandra Breckenridge took on a main role in the sitcomSave Me. The series stars Anne Heche as Beth Harper, a woman who almost dies when she chokes on a sandwich. She lives, though, and ends up with a direct line to God. Airing on NBC,Save Melasted for one season and 13 episodes, although six of them ended up not being aired on the network.
Breckenridge plays Carly, who starts out the series as a comatose womanbut eventually becomes a major part of the story. The television series faced an uphill battle from the start.One Million Moms, a censorship group, demanded that NBC cancel the show and asked people to boycott because they considered it “anti-Christian.” While the show ended up canceled early, it seems that the audience still found a lot to like about the series, with a 93% fresh Popcornmeter rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
8Life Unexpected (2010)
Alexandra Breckenridge Plays Abby Cassidy
In 2010, Alexandra Breckenridge took on a recurring role in the teen drama series,Life Unexpected. The series stars Britt Robertson as Lux, a young woman who has been in the foster care system almost her entire life. She wants to become emancipated when she turns 16, but the courts say she has to get signatures from her birth parents, although she has no idea who they are. This leads to Lux finding out their identities and getting their signatures. However, the judge then grants the parents co-custody instead.
Alexandra Breckenridge has a recurring role as Abby Cassidy for five episodes. Abby is Lux’s aunt (her mother’s younger sister), who is a neurotic therapist and yoga practitioner. The series lasted for two seasons and 26 episodes, airing on The CW. Compared favorably toThe Gilmore Girls, it received positive reviews with a 71% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but was still canceled after two seasons for low ratings.
She’s the Man
She’s the Man is a teen comedy directed by Andy Fickman. The film stars Amanda Bynes as Viola Hastings, who disguises herself as her twin brother Sebastian to join a boys' soccer team, navigating teenage romance and identity. Co-starring Channing Tatum, the storyline is loosely inspired by William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, blending humor and sports in a high school setting.
In 2006, Alexandra Breckenridge took a supporting role in the teen comedyShe’s The Man. This was an Amanda Bynes vehicle, with the star playing Viola, a soccer star whose high school eliminates the girl’s soccer program. When she learns she can’t try out for the men’s team, she decides to impersonate her brother at his school when he decides to leave after getting accepted into an elite boarding school. Pretending to be her brother, she makes the boy’s soccer team but soon falls for the team’s main star.
What Happened To Amanda Bynes?
Amanda Bynes was in several big teen comedies in the 2000s, but since Easy A in 2010, she has disappeared from Hollywood. What is she doing now?
Alexandra Breckenridge stars in the movie as Monique Valentine, Viola’s brother’s superficial, shallow girlfriend. It was a rare villainous role for Breckenridge, but she ended up hooking up with Viola’s ex-boyfriend, an equally shallow Justin. The movie was a small box office success, making $57.2 million on a $20 million budget while getting mixed reviews, sitting at 44% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the audience mostly enjoyed the movie, with a 79% Popcornmeter score.
6Dirt (2007-2008)
Alexandra Breckenridge Plays Willa McPherson
After her breakout success onFriends, Courteney Cox took on the starring role in the FX comedy seriesDirt. The comedy saw Cox star as Lucy Spiller, the editor-in-chief of the magazineDirtNow. Along with freelance photographer Don Konkey (Ian Hart), the two set out to make the tabloid magazine a success, no matter how many lives she ruins. However, she does have her good points, mostly in caring for Don and her brother Leo following the death of her father by suicide.
Alexandra Breckenridge is Willa McPherson, a reporter who works for Lucy, who is always getting into trouble with her boss but remains the most important supporting character in the series. She remained on as a main character for both seasons of the show before it finally ended after 20 episodes over the two seasons. The 2007 WGA strike helped end the series, as it shortened the second season, and FX ended the show after that.
Family Guy
Family Guy is an animated series following the eccentric Griffin family. Led by bumbling patriarch Peter and long-suffering Lois, the family includes the sadistic baby Stewie, unpopular teenager Meg, dim-witted Chris, and Brian, their talking dog. The show explores their outlandish adventures in the fictional town of Quahog.
While Alexandra Breckenridge doesn’t have a single consistent role in theadult animated seriesFamily Guy, she worked on the series for a very long time. She began voicing various characters in 2005 until finally leaving the series in 2018. Over that time,Breckenridge voiced characters in 64 episodes of the show’s run.The series follows Peter Griffin, his wife Lois, son Chris, daughter Meg, dog Brian, and all their friends around Quahog. The pop culture comedy series has been on for 22 seasons as of 2024.
Breckenridge worked on the show from the fourth season until the 16th, voicing several characters, including those of real-life people, including Christina Aguilera, Cybill Shepherd, and Valerie Bertinelli. She has also voiced appearances by Helen Hunt, Hilary Swank, Katie Holmes, Molly Ringwald, Renee Zellweger, Sarah Jessica Parker, Spider-Man’s girlfriend, Valerie Bertinelli, and countless unnamed side characters.
Virgin River
Virgin River is a romantic drama series released in 2019, centering on a recently divorced nurse who relocates from a big city to the redwood forests of California. There, she starts a new life and encounters an intriguing local man, setting the stage for a complex narrative of personal and community relationships.
Alexandra Breckenridge is best known today for her role as Mel Monroe onVirgin River. That is because this is a series in which she took on the main role and one that remains a fan favorite. Based on the best-selling novels by Robyn Carr, the Netflix series follows nurse practitioner and midwife Mel as she moves from Los Angeles to the small California town of Virgin River after her husband dies. She then meets Jack, a local bar owner, and the two fall in love.
The series has lasted for five seasons and 54 episodes as of 2024, with a sixth season on the way. The critical response has been mostly positive, with an 81% fresh rating for the series, with the fourth season hitting 100% fresh and the fifth season at 80%. It was also an award winner, taking home honors at the 2020, 2021, and 2022 Leo Awards and the 2021, 2022, and 2013 ReFrame Stamp Awards.There is also a prequel series coming surroundingVirgin Riversupporting characters.
The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead is a television series that premiered on June 21, 2025. It follows Sheriff’s deputy Rick Grimes, who awakens from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies. He embarks on a journey to locate his family, encountering various survivors amidst the chaos.
In 2015, Alexandra Breckenridge took on a supporting role in one of television’s most popular genre series,The Walking Dead. She showed up in the fifth season of the series, which was when Rick Grimes and his group of survivors during the zombie apocalypse discovered a gated community protected from zombies called Alexandria.Playing Jessie, she ends up as a romantic interest for Rick, although when he arrives, she is married to an abusive husband with a young son.
Her husband ends up dying after he tries to kill Rick, and she reluctantly begins a relationship with him after that. However, things are not meant to be, as the zombies break through the gates, and not everyone makes it out alive.The Walking Deadlasted 11 seasons and 177 episodesand spawned several spin-off shows. Through it all, Jessie remains a memorable character who seemed to finally make Rick happy, if only for a short time.
American Horror Story
American Horror Story is a Horror Anthology series created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The franchise has seen stars like Connie Britton, Jessica Lange, Denis O’Hare, Zachary Quinto, Evan Peters, and Dylan McDermott. Each season follows a new premise and spans an array of horror genres like witches, ghosts, serial killers, and more.
Alexandra Breckenridge is one of the many actors who played different roles in more than one season ofAmerican Horror Story. She was also one of the originalAHSactors, asshe debuted in the first season of the horror anthology seriesMurder House. She had a recurring role in that season as Young Moria O’Hara. She then returned a few years later for a two-episode run as Kaylee Rowe in the season calledAmerican Horror Story: Coven.
Alexandra Breckenridge appeared inMurder HouseandCoven.
In the first season,Murder Houseis a haunted house horror story with Dylan McDermott, Evan Peters, Connie Britton, Jessica Lange, and Taissa Farmiga in the lead roles. Breckenridge plays Moira, a young version of the character played by Frances Conroy (she changes into the younger version to seduce people in the house).Covenis based around a coven of witches. She plays Kaylee, the girlfriend of Hank (Josh Hamilton), who is cheating on her with one of the witches. Both seasons received critical acclaim.
This Is Us
This Is Us chronicles the Pearson family across the decades: from Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) and Rebecca (Mandy Moore) as young parents in the 1980s to their 37-year-old kids, Kevin (Justin Hartley), Kate (Chrissy Metz) and Randall (Sterling K. Brown) searching for love and fulfillment in the present day. This grounded, life-affirming dramedy reveals how the tiniest events in our lives impact who people become and how the connections people share with each other can transcend time, distance, and even death.
The best show that Alexandra Breckenridge appeared in over her career is the drama seriesThis is Us. The series is an NBC drama that plays out over a period of decades, starting with the main characters as three children (one adopted) living with their beloved parents (Jack and Rebecca). The series goes back and forth from the past to the present, where Jack has died and the three children are now adults, all with serious problems, dealing with trauma and confusion as to their place in the world.
Alexandra Breckenridgestars as Sophie Inman: Kate’s (Chrissy Metz) childhood best friend. She is also Kevin’s (Justin Hartley) childhood love and his wife. She served as a recurring character in the first and sixth seasons, a main character in season 2, and a guest in seasons three to five.This is Uswas a massive hit, with a 94% Rotten Tomatoes score for the series and a perfect 100% for its fifth and sixth seasons. It also won several awards at the Golden Globes and Emmys.
