Alexia Barlier

Alexia Barlier (born 21 December 1982) is a French actress renowned for her versatility across cinema and television. Raised in Neuilly‑sur‑Seine to a New Zealand mother who was a classical dancer and yoga teacher and a father who managed art galleries, she grew up bilingual in French and English, a skill that later enhanced her international appeal. While completing her formal education she attended the prestigious Cours Simon in Paris, where she honed her craft and began to model a disciplined approach to performance. Barlier made her film debut in 2002 as Kate in 24 Hours in the Life of a Woman, and quickly followed with stage work at Théâtre Montparnasse in the 2006‑07 production of La Danse de l’Albatros by Gérald Sibleyras. Her breakthrough came in 2007 when she portrayed the youthful muse Magda in the acclaimed adaptation of Conversations with My Gardener, a role that showcased her ability to convey delicate emotional nuance. From 2010 to 2014 she anchored the crime series La Loi selon Bartoli as Nadia Martinez, and from 2013 to 2016 she added depth to the series Falco playing Éva Blum. In 2016 she entered the Hollywood arena as Sona Jillani, an undercover CIA officer in Michael Bay’s 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi, demonstrating her capacity for high‑stakes action. Subsequent television highlights include the teacher Eve Mendel in The Forest (2017), Juliette Dubrovsky in La Dernière Vague (2019), and the title role of former defense attorney Sophie Cross in the three‑part series Crossroads (2021). Off screen, Barlier married Australian‑American actor Paul Leyden in 2018, and the couple share a daughter while residing in Los Angeles, where she continues to balance French‑language projects with international engagements.