Virgin River's Alexandra Breckenridge Unrecognizable in Early Role

Summary

• Alexandra Breckenridge is best known for her role as Mel Monroe in Virgin River, but her resume is much longer than that.
• The actress is unrecognizable in the role of Monique Valentine in She's the Man.
• Breckenridge is a versatile actress and her past roles prove it.

It is always amusing and slightly eerie to see an actor playing your favorite character in a completely different role.

For Virgin River fans, Alexandra Breckenridge is first and foremost Mel Monroe, the smart and caring nurse with a tragic past who comes to the idyllic Northern California town to start her life over. But in fact, the actress has many credits to her name, some of which fans never even recognized as hers.

Remember Sebastian's superficial girlfriend from She's the Man?

Yes, that was Breckenridge. You probably remember the 2006 teen flick based on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, and even quote it from time to time. But if you don't, let us remind you.

She's the Man follows high school student Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes), a soccer fanatic who dreams of playing for the boys' team. She gets her chance when her twin brother Sebastian (James Kirk) enrolls in a new boarding school that he has no intention of actually attending.

Viola goes instead, hoping to make the boys' soccer team. There she meets her handsome roommate, Duke Orsino (Channing Tatum), and a story full of twists and turns begins.

Alexandra Breckenridge, who was 24 at the time, played Monique Valentine, a girlfriend of the real Sebastian, a shallow and bitchy character who tosses off lines like, 'Girls with asses like mine don't talk to boys with faces like yours.'

This is a huge departure from Virgin River's wholesome character. Furthermore, she was blonde and completely unrecognizable on screen.

Breckenridge's filmography proves that she is a truly versatile actress

Roles like Monique come as no surprise to those who have followed Breckenridge's career from the beginning. The actress has played many different roles since the start of her career in 1998 at the age of 16.

Alexandra has 15 films and over 35 television shows on her resume, the most notable being two roles on FX's American Horror Story, Jessie Anderson on AMC's The Walking Dead and of course Sophie on NBC's This Is Us.

These three projects alone show how versatile an actress Breckenridge is. We are lucky to have her as our favorite Virgin River protagonist.