Lexi Minetree Is America's Newest Sweetheart
"A fellow blonde! I love it," a bubbly Lexi Minetree exclaims as she logs on to our Zoom call. I let her in on a secret: Mine isn't natural. "Neither is mine," she tells me. Here we are, a couple of natural brunettes bonding over the high-maintenance upkeep of golden tresses. Fortunately for Minetree, though, she has a team of pros on hand to keep her buttery-blonde blowout looking fresh at all times. It's one of the many perks of playing the iconic Elle Woods in Amazon Prime Video's Legally Blonde prequel series, Elle.
Minetree looks strikingly similar to Reese Witherspoon's Elle Woods—the aforementioned blonde locks, a heart-shaped face, crystal-blue eyes, and a petite frame. But that's half the battle when bringing such a beloved and internationally recognized character to life. There's also Elle's high-pitched inflection, enthusiastic mannerisms, and unapologetic confidence, which I can confirm Minetree executes effortlessly across the show's first eight episodes. (Season 2 has already been shot.) It's easy to see why the 25-year-old actress was a standout among thousands of submissions.
In Elle, we meet our titular character in 1995, long before she defied the odds at Harvard Law School, navigating the highs and lows of a much higher-stakes institution—high school. When her family is forced to uproot from their sunny Bel Air life to gloomy, grunge-inspired Seattle, Elle finds herself (fully clad in pink) as a fish out of water. But Elle Woods never backs down from a problem. With a young Bruiser by her side, the teen will overcome any obstacle, all while trying to land her dream internship at Cosmopolitan magazine.
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What, like it's hard?
First things first, your Elle Woods blonde is perfect. What was the process of getting to this shade?
I actually went blonde before the open call was even announced. A lot of people think I went blonde after I booked it. It was more of a very random kismet thing that occurred because I'm the kind of girl who will be like, "I want to cut my bangs," and then I do it the next day because I have no willpower and then regret it immediately. I had just graduated college, and I was like, "I'm entering a new era of my life." I want a big change because I naturally have brown hair, and I'm a college student. The money that I have is questionable, so I kept going to salon schools to do my hair. You pay $30, and they'll do your hair. They do a wonderful job, but to be fair, they're students, and you have multiple people doing your hair. So my hair was a mosaic of different artists. When you looked closely, it was not a pretty sight.
When I booked the role, the hairstylist was like, "Oh dear God, what have you done to your head?!" They called in a bunch of different pros to help adjust my hair to make it look good.
