Age of The Nerd
We recently had a chance to catch up with Mexican-born actor Alexis Sides to talk about his break-out role as Pedro a.k.a. Potato in the new Paramount+ series “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies”. The “Grease” prequel series takes place in 1954, four years before the events of “Grease” and follows four fed-up and misfit students who band together to bring out the moral panic that will change Rydell High forever and become the founding mothers of the first high school clique known as the “Pink Ladies”.
Alexis takes on the iconic role of a T-Bird in the series and shares with us what it was like putting on that infamous leather jacket for the very first time and stepping into the character’s mindset. Alexis’s comedic genius is on fully display throughout the series as ‘Potato’ is a Mexican immigrant and high school student navigating the struggles of English as a second language, exploring his relationship with ‘Nancy’ (Tricia Fukuhara), and sharing his love of cars with his fellow T-Birds. Additionally, he puts on a poignant performance as a son of a man struggling with PTSD after coming home from war and helping to take care of his younger siblings. The dual side of ‘Potato’ allows Alexis to shine!
Alexis, born in Guadalajara and raised in Cabo San Lucas, began his acting journey in 2005, when he took on the role of one of the ‘Lost Boys’ in a school musical adaptation of “Peter Pan.” He continued to participate in school productions, and study with Henrry Lopez and Pepe Calderon at the highly acclaimed Cabo San Lucas acting school, Henrry Lopez Estudio. A full circle moment, he starred as ‘Peter Pan’ in the stage production at Pabellón Cultural de la República. In 2017, Alexis moved to Vancouver, Canada to attend New Image College for a two-year acting conservatory for film and tv and studied with John Emmet Tracy, Philip Granger, and Peter Hanlon. He went on to star in a variety of short films before booking his breakout role in “Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.”
When not acting, he’s a big fan of cooking shows to gather inspiration for his own kitchen adventures. He also loves spending time at the gym lifting weights. A lifelong soccer fan, Alexis roots for his hometown team of C.D. Guadalajara a.k.a. Chivas and Real Madrid CF.
‘Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies’ is streaming now on Paramount+
