If Kim Alexis hadn’t needed some cash while a senior at Lockport High School, she might have spent the past three decades behind the pharmacy counter at Rite Aid on Lincoln Avenue instead of the covers of hundreds of magazines.
As it is, she turned a twist of fate into a modeling/acting career that’s spanned more than 30 years and made her one of the pioneering supermodels.
During her senior year at LHS, Alexis enrolled in a modeling class in Buffalo to earn extra money while waiting to enter college to study pharmacology. She was discovered by the Elite Talent Agency during these classes, and by March of her senior year she decided to put off college to begin modeling in New York City.
More than 500 magazine covers later, Alexis doesn’t regret a thing — nor does she consider her success to merely be luck.
“I don’t think luck has anything to do with it,” Alexis said during a recent phone interview. “We’re destined to do certain things. The opportunity came to me to model, and I could have easily messed up.”
Instead, she parlayed her modeling career to gain roles in front of the camera. She’s appeared in several films, including the Eddie Murphy vehicle “Holy Man,” has hosted several health TV shows and took part in the reality contest “But Can They Sing?” Alexis also just wrapped up hosting duties for the first season of TV Land’s “She’s Got the Look,” a modeling discovery show for women ages 35 and older that has been renewed for a second season.
Also a born-again Christian who preaches the benefits of her faith, Alexis credits several traits she gained growing up in Western New York with her success.
“Moral values — I grew up confident and strong with myself, and I needed that once I went to New York City,” she said. “My mindset is something I developed in upstate New York where I always felt confident in myself. I had good work ethic.”
Those traits helped her endure the harsh culture of modeling, where a person is measured only what’s seen on the outside. Although she enjoyed a great deal of success with pictorials in high-profile magazines such as Vogue and Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, she said getting there wasn’t easy.
“Thinking of how harsh the business was, it really could have messed up my mind,” she said. “I kept going, I guess, because I’m not a quitter.”
Alexis and her husband, former hockey player Ron Duguay, live with their five children in Florida. She manages to visit her parents in the Lock City at least once a year, though.
“I go on our family boat on Lake Ontario” when she’s home, Alexis said. “And have some chicken wings.”
• Visit the Life in the Slow Lane blog to read an extended interview with Kim Alexis and about even more local celebrities Life in the Slow Lane
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