Lexie Stevenson Talks ‘The Young & The Restless’ And Shares How She Became An Actress

We all know it is a miracle to decide what you want for breakfast at age five, much less know what you want to be when you grow up, but for Lexie Stevenson, this was an obvious choice early on. Lexie knew she wanted to be an actress and a singer. Little did her family know, Lexie would achieve her dreams and then some. Hailing from a small town in Southeastern Maine, Lexie did not let that fact hinder her drive to pursue her dreams. Lexie told her parents she wanted to become an actress and a singer. With that request under their belt, they enrolled her in classes at Studio 48 Performing Arts Center. It was there she was taught by Rebecca Beck. Lexie made her career start performing in musical theater productions.

A few years into Lexie Stevenson’s climb to the top, she discovered a class taught in New York City by world-renowned vocal coach and performer Mary Setrakian. Lexie’s parents decided to drive her to and from the class, even though it was several hours from their home. Shortly into Lexie’s attendance of the classes, Mary noticed her exceptional, untapped singing talent. Mary, seeing all the potential in Lexie, offered her a one-on-one class. Lexie accepted, and the rest is history.

For the next three years, Lexie trained diligently under Mary. When Lexie reached High School, she remained just as determined and diligent with her talents. She performed as Pepper in “Annie” at the Maine State Music Theatre. The same theater where she earned her invitation to become a member of Actors’ Equity. Lexie also appeared in several productions at the New England Youth Theatre. She was a member of the Brunswick High School Treble Choir. She also joined the honors level performance course for female vocalists. After deep thought and discussion, Lexie decided to submit her portfolio to casting companies, which lead to her being cast on small background roles. These productions included “The Vampire Diaries,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks 4: Road Chip,” and Martin Scorseses’ HBO production, “Vinyl.”

After seven months in Los Angeles, Lexie booked her first major role as “Mattie” on the CBS daytime drama “The Young and the Restless.” It seems as though you will be hearing the name Lexie Stevenson for years to come.

Congratulations, Lexie, on your success as a model and actress. Can you tell us how you started your career? Thank you! And yes. When I was younger, I was constantly singing around the house, and my parents wanted to let me explore that, so they put me into musical theater. Once I began getting involved in some plays, I realized how much I loved acting and decided that was what I wanted to do for a career. After I graduated high school, my original plan was to go to SUNY-Purchase in New York and study theater, but my uncle suggested I go to LA for a week and meet with some of his friends that were agents and managers so I could see what life might look like after college.

To my surprise, everyone wanted to sign me, but the catch was that I had to move to LA, so after I decided exactly who I wanted to sign with, moved to Los Angeles, signed with my manager, agent, and eventually a modeling agency. After about seven months of being in Los Angeles, I booked my role on The Young and the Restless!

How has the pandemic impacted your career? Oh boy. I feel like everyone, including me, missed out on a year that could have had a lot of opportunities to book something or grow more. Mentally it was really challenging, and getting back into the swing of things has been anything but easy. I’m someone who has to constantly be busy, or I feel like I’m not doing enough to reach my goals, and there was nothing to do in 2020 except try and get in on auditions knowing that they probably wouldn’t lead anywhere as no one was filming. Because of COVID, I feel like I’m a year behind. I know everyone else is in the same boat, but that’s just how my brain works. The bright side is that I got to focus on some of my Instagram and get into Tiktok, which was great because it’s been another way to do acting challenges and meet new people within the same industry.

Share with us your journey with Endometriosis and how the disease has impacted your life. Throughout middle school and high school, I experienced period cramps much worse than what was considered normal. Sometimes the cramps would even appear without my period and occasionally would put me in the hospital. After years of being told that it was in my head or being told that I probably just wasn’t getting enough attention at home, I landed in an ER room with a young female doctor who really wanted to get to the bottom of what was going on.

After a series of tests, she saw a growth on my ovaries and recommended that my parents take me to the Boston Women’s hospital, where they told me that they wanted to remove the growth to ensure it didn’t become cancerous. While my doctor was performing the surgery, he also found that a golf ball size of my intestine had been pinched off by none other than endometrial tissue. After I was diagnosed, I wrote a blog about it and was invited to the Endometriosis Foundation of America’s Blossom Ball in 2019.

While I was there, I had the privilege of speaking to multiple inspiring women and hearing their stories. After that night, I knew I wanted to be a part of it, and that is when I was offered a position on the Advisory Board. Since then, I would work with other women who have similar struggles to bring awareness to the disease so that hopefully, other women get diagnosed much sooner than some of us were and more research can be done. 

Being an endometriosis warrior, what advice would you give other families to help them cope with a person going through the disease. My best advice is to put together an EAP (Endometriosis Attack Plan) for the person dealing with the disease. For example, the first step of my plan is to get somewhere comfortable, grab a heating pad, ask whoever is with me to make a cup of tea (or any hot drink), and then wait for 15 minutes. If the pain still isn’t gone, I take my pain medication and wait 30 minutes. Then if that doesn’t work off to the ER we go if the pain is unbearable. I also take preventative measures like cutting out gluten, dairy, and alcohol because those all seem to trigger an episode as well. 

My advice to the family/ loved ones of someone with Endometriosis is to understand the utmost. I know that seems simple and easy, but that isn’t always the case. We can’t control endometriosis attacks, so they can happen at any time, including parties, events, dinners, you name it. When a loved one you know tells you that they are having an attack, it’s important not to procrastinate leaving if you are at an event because chances are they are in a lot of pain and in no condition to drive themselves home. It’s also important to understand that Endometriosis can have a huge effect on someone’s mental as well. It caused a lot of social anxiety when I was in high school and resulted in my driving alone to events most of the time because I needed to make sure I could leave if an attack occurred. I still do it now, even at 22. 

How have you managed your mental health during the pandemic? I set up a routine. I worked out, ate healthy, journaled, spent time each day creating content for social media, read acting books, and doing mock auditions to practice. I also started going to therapy which has been way more positive than I thought it would be. Through all of that, it helped me feel more connected to what was going on. It was very easy to feel disconnected during copied because nothing was going on, and it felt like everyone was just sitting ducks waiting for something to happen, but once I gave myself the narrative that I was just getting extra prepared for when things start opening up it helped a lot.

What are your passions outside of acting and modeling? Oh, I love this question! Blogging and traveling are two of my favorite things to do. I talk a lot, so blogging is a great way for me to get everything out and have a space to write my own opinion on things without being monitored. Blogging also keeps me grounded and connected to who I am because I can always go back and reread posts I’ve done in the past. Traveling kind of goes in hand with this because I love being able to write about my adventures.

What has been the funniest experience in your career? This might be TMI, but oh well. When I was on The Young and the Restless, I had a very embarrassing but very funny moment. One morning when I got to set, I had a bagel with cream cheese. I’m gluten-free and lactose intolerant, so this wasn’t smart, but I really wanted it. Once we started filming, I really had to go to the bathroom, so I asked the stage manager if I could run to the restroom real quick. Once I was done, I realized that I had never turned my mic off. *palm to face* To this day, I have no idea if anyone heard anything, but I never asked, and no one ever said anything to me, but again my mic was not turned off, so someone on the crew definitely knows this story lol.

What can we expect from you in 2021/2022? Patience is key! I have a lot of great auditions I’m going in on, which is great, and it’s only a matter of time before I book one. I have had a few meetings with some modeling agencies and have brought more people onto my team who are already making magic happen, so I’m excited to see what the rest of this year holds.

Where can your followers find you on social media? Instagram: lexiestevenson and Tiktok: lexiestevenson