Alexandra Buke wants a career in Hollywood after winning rave reviews for film debut in Pretty Red Dress
(Picture: myFUJIFILM)Alexandra Burke has revealed that her “ultimate dream” would be to star in a Marvel movie.
The former X Factor winner, 34, is set to make her big screen debut next year in Pretty Red Dress, which won rave reviews after being shown at the London Film Festival in October.
Describing working on it as “the experience of a lifetime,” the London-born star, who has already forged a successful career in the West End, is hoping to take her Hollywood ambitions further.
Speaking to the Standard having partnered with myFUJIFILM on their A Million Moments campaign, Burke – who won the ITV singing competition in 2008 and took part in Strictly Come Dancing in 2017 – said: “I’ll never forget when my mum said to me when I was 15 ‘give up dancing, give up acting, that will follow once you’ve had your singing career’. And I remember being really upset at the time thinking man, she’s just killed me off with this dream of wanting to do all three things in my life and actually, she was right because Strictly followed and I was able to do that and learn all of these amazing dances that I never ever dreamed that I would be able to do and learn. Then you have film now and honestly I still have to pinch myself.
“I had people coming up to me saying ‘this is it for you, you’re gonna be in movies now’ and I literally sat there thinking ‘I don’t know what you see, but thank you!’ All I can do is try my best, enjoy the process and really give thanks for the blessings that come with it you know, another thing ticked off on my list to be able to say that I’ve been part of a film – mad!”
Naming Idris Elba and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as her “dream co-stars,” she knows exactly what kind of film she would like to do next.
“To be in a Marvel movie I think would be the ultimate dream and trust me when I say I’d work so hard to try and get that opportunity,” she shared.
In the meantime, Burke is gearing up to play the villain in panto Jack and the Beanstalk alongside Dawn French and Julian Clary at the London Palladium from next month.
“Dawn is hilarious, I can’t even talk about Julian because I can’t cope with his humour, it’s so brilliant. What they do with making stuff up on the spot, I’m blown away!
“I’m actually quite nervous to play the baddie and when I got in the room and actually started rehearsals I felt at ease with it.”
The All Night Long hit-maker is also busy making memories with her family after welcoming her first child in July with West Ham United football player boyfriend Darren Randolph, 35.
They recently jetted off on their first family holiday abroad to Dubai and are looking forward to spending their first Christmas and New Year’s together as a family of three.
Hopefully that will include getting a few pictures of them all together to add to the family photo album, which she admits is a bit lacking at the moment.
“It’s weird because I don’t have that many pictures of myself, baby and Darren together, I used to have so many,” Burke - who has chosen to keep her baby’s name and gender private - explained.
“Somebody said to me ‘oh, show me what your partner looks like’ so I had to scroll so far to the point where I just went on WhatsApp and showed his display picture because I was like why can’t I find straight away pictures of my partner? So on holiday I was literally that person going to Darren ‘listen, we’ve got to take pictures of you, me and baby at every single moment that we can’ and trust me, we did. It was brilliant.”
It’s something that’s particularly on her mind at the moment having partnered with MyFUJIFILM on its A Million Moments campaign.
The photography specialists have launched a competition encouraging people to submit their photos celebrating the every day moments.
It comes after they conducted research which found Brits take on average nine attempts to get the perfect picture for social media.
Meanwhile only 22 percent print out picture to display at home and 3 percent admit that they have previously lost photos that were stored on their phones and not shared on social media or printed out, leaving many at risk of losing some of their special memories for good.
“When I was younger my mum used to walk around with a camera taking pictures and we have so many memories and I can sit down with a cup of tea and look back in my photo albums and enjoy the pictures. My mum, like me, was very aware about living in the moment.
“I always say to myself I’ve never liked the word ‘perfect’ – and who decides what perfect is anyway? And what is the perfect image? So that’s what I love about this campaign, encouraging people to literally live the moment,” she added.
