Welsh actor Alexander Vlahos has announced that he has been diagnosed with ADHD. The 34-year-old actor, who was born in Carmarthenshire, told the WalesOnline podcast In the Spotlight that he found out the news two months ago.
“When I told all of my friends about it they said, ‘Only?’, as if they’ve always known,” said Alexander, who has been on our screens since the late Noughties. “I genuinely think that my ADHD has been masked by finding a career very early on.”
According to the NHS website, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a condition that affects people's behaviour. People with ADHD can seem restless, may have trouble concentrating and may act on impulse. Listen to In the Spotlight with Alexander Vlahos below.
Read more: Six things we learned from the BBC Panorama documentary on ADHD
Discussing his newly-diagnosed condition Alexander explained: “I was the class clown and I was dying for people’s attention, trying to make people laugh. I found that if I wanted to get girls’ attention then I’d go and do drama and be on stage.
“I don’t think it’s a deficit at all. I actually think it’s something that I’ve really benefited from. It has nurtured and masked my career and its potential. I look back on how long I’ve had it for and think, ‘Thank God I stumbled upon a career path that meant my ADHD was catered for’. I can’t imagine ever working in an office. On a set it’s encouraged - the energy, the opinions and the hyperactivity affording to produce stuff.
Opening up about his career beginnings Alexander shared how he originally wanted to be an editor. It was an idea that came to him whilst he was at school in Llantrisant. “I knew I loved the industry because when I was 13 or 14 I had a video camera and around the height of the Jackass TV show, me and my friends would do pranks on each other and mess around. When I came home I’d edit them together - I titled the videos, RANK. I’d burn the DVDs, go into school and then sell them.
“I did work experience when I was 16 years old at a post production company called Pyramid TV, which is no longer around. No disrespect to any editors out there but I realised that it’s quite a lonely career and you sort of sit in a dark room on your own. It was there that I discovered that it wasn’t for me because it wasn’t as interesting as I thought it was going to be.
“There was a woman in my comprehensive school in Llanhari called Lowri Cunnan, who was my drama teacher. She hovered above me while I was typing out my UCAS form looking at media roles. This hand came over me and she sat in my seat and applied for all the drama schools for me. At the time I thought, how cheeky, but looking back I am so grateful to her because she basically dictated a path for me.”
Alexander began training to be an actor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2006. The college is renowned for launching the careers of several famous Welsh actors including Anthony Hopkins, Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones, all of whom have gone on to great success.
“I was naive,” Alexander said of his time in college. “I walked into that drama school having no idea how many people applied. I genuinely thought when I auditioned and got in, ‘What an easy process, everyone should do it!’ Then I realised that 2500 people apply every year to every drama school individually. I was just 18 and I guess they sort of dubbed me the ‘Romeo’ of the year so I was very lucky that I was given all those opportunities in Royal Welsh and I graduated in 2009.”
After graduating from college Alexander would secure several big roles. He is perhaps best known for his leading roles in Versailles, Outlander and Sanditon.
In 2012 he landed one of his first major roles, the villainous Mordred in the BBC fantasy drama Merlin. His character, who had previously been played by Sex Education’s Asa Butterfield, was integral to the plot in that he was ultimately responsible for killing King Arthur (Bradley James).
“I have been so blessed in that, most of the shows I’ve been in - Merlin, Versailles, Sanditon and Outlander - have very strong and very vocal fan bases. Some actors go through their entire life and are never able to do a Comic Con or a convention and I do them all the time. I’m so lucky to have four fan bases follow me around.
“I enjoy it but when I did Merlin it was the biggest shock of my life. I was 22 and I came onto series five and knew that Mordred was such an important character in the mythology of Merlin so I knew that I was stepping into really big shoes. and I wasn’t prepared. That wasn’t a detriment to the BBC or Shine Media, who created it, to help me navigate that and they told me. Colin Morgan (Merlin) said at the time, ‘Things are going to change’. But nothing could prepare me for that.
“I still get people talking to me about Mordred and that was 13 or 14 years ago. It’s insane that a show like that, as wonderful as it was, still lives on in the hearts and minds of people. 8-12 year old girls and boys come up to me to talk about it and I tell them, ‘You weren’t even born when the last episode came out!’ That’s wonderful.
“All the fan bases have been and are still so supportive of everything else that I do. That’s when the word, ‘fandom’, becomes so important - they come with you onto other projects and are interested in your work because they like you.”
Alexander has also been involved in several independent short films, which is something he said he has enjoyed because of the camaraderie with other people on smaller sets. “With indie shows and low-budget stuff, there’s a sense that we’re all in it together. That’s really fun and you feel much more connected to every single member of the crew. I’d go through eight months on Merlin and six months on Outlander where I struggled to remember people’s names because it’s such a big machine. There’s not a closeness or familiarity on [bigger projects], which can sometimes hinder the work.”
In recent years he has turned his attention to the other side of the camera. In 2020 he partnered with German executive producer Nicole Oebel to launch production company CowHouse Films. They have, so far, produced three films - So It Goes, To The Sea and Watchtower - and have numerous other projects in the pipeline.
Speaking about his decision to try other areas of the industry, Alexander said: “I’ve been acting since I was 14 and I’m now 34. It's been a long time in the industry and my passion has never waned but now it's about finding out, mental health-wise, what drives me in the morning. I’m less career-oriented in terms of acting and I just want to be successful rather than it being all about the acting.
“I’ve been very lucky in that I’ve started directing now and the connections I’ve made through that have made me a much more content and calm person. I’m not putting my eggs in one basket and I’m continuously creating my own work so that when acting auditions come along, I’m not desperate or craving the actual job. Doing acting, directing, writing and running my own production company, CowHouse Films, in parallel with acting allows me to have a really fulfilling and happy life.
“I genuinely love this industry and have worked solidly in it since 2009. I think that the longest period out of work that I’ve had was during the pandemic and that’s not because of me. I hope people think Alexander Vlahos is a successful actor but I know that I’m successful. This is because I’m continuously working and continuously getting paid for the things I want to do."
Alexander described how, sometimes, he finds it “hard to filter” when doing interviews. “I’ve got a nickname online as ‘Mr Leakey’. I’m kind of like the Tom Holland of the Welsh world because I find it very hard to filter - especially if I’m passionate about [a project]. I won’t necessarily give away spoilers but I have in the past had conversations with many publicists and media departments saying, ‘Alex you can’t say that!’ I get too excited.”
Aside from screen acting Alexander has also done a lot of audio work - in particular with Big Finish Productions, who are known for their Doctor Who audio dramas. Since 2012 he has played the character of Dorian Gray in their series The Confessions of Dorian Gray.
“Around the same time as Merlin, a wonderful producer/creator/director called Scott Handcock, who was going through the ranks at the time as an assistant director, had this wonderful idea to do Dorian Gray. I was the face of it, thinking we’d only get one season and last year we celebrated 10 years of Dorian Gray. The wonderful thing about audio is even though I don’t look 21, my voice can still sound like he has a portrait in the attic.
Alexander added that he felt “lucky” to also be involved in Doctor Who video games. He teased that he recently worked with someone whom he cites as ‘his Doctor’. Chatting about working with the mysterious actor he revealed: “I completely geeked out! It was just a two-hander that was between me and this wonderful man and I kind of just lost my s**t. It was a pinch me moment.”
A self-confessed Whovian, Alexander said he thinks the time for a ‘white cis male’ Doctor had come to an end. He praised incoming Time Lord Ncuti Gatwa, who is currently working on the series with Ruby Sunday actress Millie Gibson.
“I keep getting told off by my agent because I keep manifesting that I want to be the Doctor. Right now, in the grand scheme of things, we are at a point where a white cis male shouldn’t be the lead. Ncuti and Jodie [Whittaker, the 13th Doctor] are perfect for what’s happening right now. It’s not pushing boundaries because they are wonderful, talented actors in their own right.”
“They’ve never had a Welsh Master!” Alexander added, turning his attention to another role in the series. “I tend to play a lot of evil characters so I would love that opportunity. Sacha [Dhawan, who played the role during Jodie Whittaker’s tenure] was wonderful.” Would you like to see him in Doctor Who? Let us know in the comments.
When asked what advice he'd give his younger self Alexander said: “Don’t be so quick to think that everything has to happen now. I was very determined, sometimes to my own detriment when I left drama school, to be the person that I am now. I didn’t have a long-term plan and I made decisions on things that were bigger than me and felt sad about what happened with them - decisions I look back on and think that I could’ve done better. I am where I am now because of the other choices that I’ve made.”
He confirmed that he was “never” going to retire from acting. “I have found a new lease of life, though, with my directing work. I’m currently in development with directing my first feature film and it looks like it’s going to happen. I want my production company to be equivalent to A24 in the UK - that’s the goal and it’s not unachievable.”
Listen to more episodes of In the Spotlight:
