In the first minute of Elle—the Legally Blonde prequel coming to a laptop near you via Prime Video—fake-outs and obscured shots and twisting pans all lead to Lexi Minetree walking through an open door, face finally revealed to her inevitably awestruck audience. The implication is clear: the powers that be are introducing us to a new star.
Minetree is a veritable newcomer. Between our interview and the publication of this story, a Wikipedia page has been created for her. It mostly contains information about Elle, alongside her short list of TV movie credits and the requisite Law & Order spot. It also notes that, like Elle Woods, she attended college in California.
When we speak, Minetree is lounging with her blonde hair curled, French tips done, wearing a fuzzy blue jacket that she likens to the fur of Bibble from Barbie: Fairytopia. It’s not entirely clear whether her Elle Woods-ification extends to her personal wardrobe, or if she’s literally on set filming season two (already in production before season one’s drop). Either way, Minetree’s bubbling optimism for this new chapter and Reese Witherspoon-esque sweet-but-sharp affect blurs the line between character and actor.
It’s hard to believe that demarcation won’t be further distorted as the Witherspoon-produced show is gobbled up by viewers. Minetree was born the same year Legally Blonde hit theaters, shows all 32 teeth when she smiles ear-to-ear, and exudes the same dogged determination that made her alter ego an instant feminist icon. “I remember one year I was like, I don’t think I’m good at self-tapes. I did over 150 self-tapes that year. Not auditions—I would literally watch a show and think, I like that scene,” she tells me, with no indication that this is a jaw-dropping anecdote. “I just want to be so good at this.”
Streaming behemoths like Prime, Netflix, and HBO have become experts in minting stars like Minetree, particularly where a bit of dusty (or God forbid, totally-not-in-need-of-a-remake) IP is involved. In fact, Elle, which drops today, found life off the back of another IP-refresh. “I saw that Wednesday Addams show and… I loved it. I watched every episode. I thought it was amazing,” Witherspoon told The Hollywood Reporter of her inspirations. Much like Wednesday, this series sees Elle Woods as a fish-out-of-water in a Seattle high school she’s forced to decamp to after her father moves the family from LA for work.
The question isn’t really whether Elle will succeed—any studio worth its salt can make such a sure thing hit—but whether Minetree will find life beyond these pink, peppy roots. She’s already filmed her part in Osgood Perkins’s next horror flick, The Young People, alongside fellow teen TV breakout Lola Tung (The Summer I Turned Pretty)—a fairly stark departure if Longlegs is anything to go by. One could be accused of being just as calculating as Amazon by begging the question before Minetree even makes her big debut. But, if she’s anything like Elle Woods, and it’s pretty clear she is, we wouldn’t bet against the girl on a mission.
Take me back to the moment you landed this part.
It was very surreal, and I’m very glad they recorded it because I kind of blacked out during the moment. It was literally life-changing. Once it was announced, the floodgates opened. I had thousands of calls, and I hadn’t even told a lot of people about the audition process because I knew that if I didn’t get it, I’d have to tell everyone I didn’t get it, which would have been embarrassing.
Did Reese have any advice for navigating this moment?
She’s been incredibly supportive throughout the entire process. I can literally send her a voice memo and she’ll respond, which is crazy. She’s been a constant reminder to take care of myself because it really is a marathon. When you’re on set, you’re working sometimes 15-hour days. You go home and have to prep for the next day. I asked her one day, “How do you show up on the days that are harder, when you’re not feeling your best?” She told me she reminds herself to show up 100 percent wherever she’s at. If you’re having a 30 percent day, show up 100 percent with that 30 percent.
Normally, we end up surprising ourselves with what we’re capable of. That’s literally what Legally Blonde is all about—surprising yourself with your capacity. I try to hold myself to that same standard because it’s really important to always make sure that, no matter how you’re feeling, you treat everyone with kindness and respect.
As you’re saying, it can be a hard industry to work in, and it can be difficult to break into. Was there ever a moment when you thought about walking away, or questioned whether this was what you wanted to pursue?
I’ve been acting professionally for three or four years now. I started in college, which I know is sometimes frowned upon—it’s a boo-boo—but it was during Covid so I was taking a gap year. I remember just being like, What better time than now? I was waiting for the perfect moment to start my career. I’m like, There’s never gonna be a perfect moment. And, I’ll actually probably stink at first, so I might as well start now, get the kinks out. Auditioning is its own beast, you know?
As it goes for if I wanted to quit or not, I feel like every actor, every artist, every person, has a moment where they’re like, Maybe this isn’t for me. I don’t know if I can do this. The one that I really remember was in college. I was a theater major at USC and I auditioned for the main-stage productions. I didn’t even get a single callback. Not even I didn’t get cast—I didn’t get a callback. It was really devastating because I thought, If I can’t even make it in my school, where it’s a much smaller market, how am I going to make it as a working actor? That was my dream. I didn’t need to be famous. I just wanted to work. It’s scary to think, I might fail. I might not be good enough. I had a week of spiraling.
But I came out at the end of it thinking, Am I doing everything in my power right now to be the actor I want to be? I had a moment where I was like, No, I’m not working as hard as I could be. I had to come to that heavy realization, which is hard—maybe it’s partly my fault. But my work ethic kicked into gear then.
I remember one year I was like, I don’t think I’m good at self-tapes. I did over 150 self-tapes that year. Not auditions—I would literally watch a show and think, I like that scene. So, I’d write it down in my notes app and I’d find the transcript online and I’d type it up and I would do it with my roommates. I’m sure they hated me by the end of it because I did so many of them, but I was like, “I just want to be so good at this.”
Was there someone, either in college or that you met on this production, who was a mentor that helped point you in the right direction?
I mean, Reese has been absolutely incredible this entire experience, but June Diane Raphael [who plays Elle’s mother] has been so incredible to work with. Not only is she absolutely hilarious, but, honestly, the dynamic you see between Elle and her in the show is kind of similar to how we are in real life.
She’s taught me a lot of life lessons. She told me this thing where she doesn’t leave set without being embarrassed about one acting choice she’s made. I love that because, in this show in particular, we are paid professional clowns. You might flop on your face, but maybe it’ll be funny when you do it.
What’s the craziest thing that you did to earn money while getting set up in this industry?
I’ve done my fair share of odd jobs. One thing I did was when I was younger, I loved thrifting, and I simply didn’t have the money or closet space to continue that habit. So, I ended up creating this thrift account online, where I would thrift clothes and then I would resell them. I ended up getting like 20,000 followers, which back in the day was a lot. I feel like now everyone has 20,000 followers. I learned a lot about aesthetics doing that, how you have to brand yourself as an actor, too. Sometimes people don’t see the vision until you show it to them.
Originally I have brown hair. I went blonde before the [Elle] open call, but I didn’t have a lot of pictures of me with my new blonde hair, and I was like, “I don’t want them to even hesitate when they look me up and be like, ‘She can’t play Elle cause she has brown hair.’” I got one of my friends, Natalie, to do a photoshoot with me. I had this pink dress and I had my blonde hair. I put it up on IMDb ASAP, and those were the photos that were used when Deadline was saying, “These are the finalists for new Elle Woods.” Everyone was like, “She looks just like Elle Woods.” I’m like, Thank God I did that. That was my branding brain working at that moment.
What was your biggest misconception about working on a show like this before you got the opportunity to?
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about dreams. I’ve always been a big dreamer. As a kid I would daydream all the time. My dad would see me in the back. I would just be staring blankly. He’s like, “What are you doing?” I’m like, “Oh, I’m dreaming.”
It can be jarring sometimes to be living your dream and you’re like, I’m doing it, it’s crazy. I’ve reached this place of deep fulfillment because, when you’re living something, you get the highs and the lows. You’re human. You brush your teeth in the morning, you have the lulls, you have the exciting parts, you have the parts where you’re stressed, the parts where you’re happy, all of it. I’ve grown into this deep appreciation of having it all together, and that it’s not my dreams. It’s more than that because I get to actually live it.
Is there a piece of advice you’ve started passing onto other young actors?
Get seven hours of sleep or more if you can. That’s a good one. Drink water and not Diet Coke. Well, drink more water than Diet Coke, cause I’ve made the mistake of doing more Diet Coke and that will end badly. I would say be delusional. Every person going for their dreams has to be a little bit crazy to think that we could do it. There are moments I was like, I’m insane to think that I can be a working actor, because I’m coming from a very normal upbringing in the suburbs, not knowing anyone in the industry. It seems so far away at times, and if it can happen for me, it can happen for anyone, with hard work and audacity.
Do you have a go-to party anecdote that you’ve gotten from working on the show, a moment that you know you’re just gonna keep bringing up?
Oh my God, there’s so many. There’s a lot of shenanigans that go on. I will say there is slander going on about the cast and I that we’re lame, and we’re not really helping ourselves because our actions do align with that. We’re just very creative beings and we love theater.
One of the fun things is we started a play-reading club together. Every Sunday night, one of us would pick a play we wanted to read, [like] Much Ado About Nothing, and then we would assign characters and read it together and talk about it afterwards. It was honestly some of the most fun nights I’ve ever had.
What characters were you playing?
It would change all the time, but we read a lot of Annie Baker, Branden Jacob Jenkins, who is absolutely incredible. Sometimes we would switch ’cause people were like, “I wanna read that character now.” We didn’t make it super serious.
Last question for you: what’s a rumor you’d like to start about yourself early on in your career?
Let’s just say that I’m actually six-foot-two, and everyone else is on apple boxes. She’s actually really tall and everyone else is stacked up on a freaking ladder to keep up with her.
There’s a lot of forced perspective in the show. You and Reese are both tall, actually.
Reese is six-foot-two as well. We’ll say that exactly.
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