From the TV to the big screen, Alexis Ren can truly do it all. The multi-hyphenate is preparing to make her movie debut in The Enforcer, which hits theaters September 23rd. In her major moment, Alexis stars alongside Antonio Banderas, Kate Bosworth, 2 Chainz, and Zolee Griggs. “It’s like summer camp!” the Dancing With The Stars alum gushed over her first experience filming a movie. “You work over two months, and you build this huge family, and then by the end of it, it’s this sad goodbye, but you created so many amazing memories.”
In The Enforcer, Alexis stars as Lexus, a love interest to street fighter “Stray,” played by Mojean Aria. The Richard Hughes film follows Banderas as a veteran mob strong-arm who turns against his own organization in order to rescue an endangered teen. The actress recalled building off-screen chemistry with Mojean, who helped her find her footing as the “newbie” on set. “I think it’s really, really important that when you go on to a set, you set your ego-shield down. I still remember the first time I ever did a TV show, I had a small co-star scene, I walked into the makeup trailer and took a deep breath, and then went to each of the actors and I just said, ‘I’m so honored to be working with you, I’m new to this field, and just I’m so excited, thank you so much for letting me be on your show.’ I made sure to do that on the film, as well, and listen to them and learn from everyone,” Alexis explained.
“Mojean really sat with me to go through rehearsals and teach me and talk to me about all of his experiences in the industry,” she continued, revealing her homeschool background helped prepare her to trust that “the best teachers and school is life itself.” “I like to throw myself in with the sharks and see what happens. When you have trust within yourself, you might screw up the first time, but then you get over the hump and can be like, ‘Okay, I got this.'”
Alexis went on to gush over the “support system” built on The Enforcer set, and admitted she hopes going forward she “creates little families on every single set that [she’s] on.” “Every single person matters. Every person that was on that set, the makeup artists, the hair stylists, the assistants, those are the rocks of the film and you just don’t see it because all you see is the end results, but I know to never take those people for granted,” she recalled. “They were there for me when I was going through a really hard scene, they were so kind and respectful, they knew what I needed, they supported me.”
The 25-year-old revealed her foray into the TV world on Dancing With The Stars season 27 helped inspire her budding acting career. “I am from LA, I was around acting 24/7 and almost felt like I had to turn away from it because I wanted to do something different than what everyone else was doing here,” Alexis told HL. “Because of that, I wasn’t able to see my passion for storytelling and helping the narrative of the world. We really see our lives through movies and stories, and being a part of that is really important to me.”
Alexis currently has more TV and film projects to come, including a limited series thriller titled “Second Chances,” opposite Denise Richards, AnnaLynne McCord, Carolina Gaitàn, and Tiffany Hines. Stay tuned for that, and head to the theaters to see her make her movie debut in The Enforcer, out Sept. 23.