Background
Alexandrou was born in Hackney, London, to a Greek Cypriot father and an English mother.
Alexandrou was born in Hackney, London, to a Greek Cypriot father and an English mother.
He was educated at Chingford Foundation School in Waltham Forest, as well as at Anna Scher Theatre School.
He is currently the presenter of Bizarre Crime on British Broadcasting Corporation Three. Other notable past pupils of Chingford Foundation School include football player David Beckham, and Sir Jonathan Ive, who is the Chief design officer (CDO) of Apple Incorporated.
Alexandrou"s acting career started in 1996, when he successfully auditioned for the role of Martin Fowler in EastEnders. The character was created shortly after the shows inception in 1985, with the role becoming vacant following the departure of actor Jon Peyton Price.
Alexandrou appeared as Grant in the short film Blessed Burden in 1999.
In July 2003, he participated in a "Soap Stars Special" edition of The Weakest Link. Over Christmas 2005, Alexandrou starred in the crime caper, "Who Stole The Snowman?"
On 14 April 2006, it was announced that Alexandrou would leave EastEnders in Autumn 2007.
He and Natalie Cassidy, who played his on-screen wife Sonia Fowler, left on 2 February 2007 (to tie in with the exits of Wendy Richard and Ray Brooks). When asked about his departure, Alexandrou said, "I"ve decided to leave the show to experience other aspects of my industry.
Having turned 21, I felt it was a good time to leave.
I owe everything to the show and would love to come back one day - that"s if EastEnders would have medical " On 12 October 2014, it was announced that actor James Bye would be taking over playing the role in the character"s return to Albert Square. Alexandrou is said to have given the re-casting his blessing. In early 2007, Alexandrou appeared in the play The Homecoming opposite Harold Pinter for British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 3.
Alexandrou toured the United Kingdom & Norway with the British Shakespeare Company from June–September 2007.
He played Pistol in Henry V, and Orlando in As You Like lieutenant According to press reports he turned down the chance to replace Daniel Radcliffe in the West End revival of Equus.
In 2008, he appeared in In My Name, a new play by Steven Hevey, at the Old Red Lion Theatre produced by Yaller Skunk Theatre Company. The play transferred to the Trafalgar Studio 2 from 1–19 July 2008.
In October 2008, Alexandrou appeared in All Quiet on the Western Front at the Nottingham Playhouse prior to a United Kingdom tour of the production and therefore was unable to attend the wedding of former EastEnders actor Wendy Richard and John Burns.
In March 2009, he played the part of Romeo in the Globe Theatre"s production of Romeo & Juliet. In October 2009, Alexandrou joined up with EastEnders cast members, Natalie Cassidy (Sonia Jackson) and Nina Wadia (Zainab Masood), to star in comedy shorts for British Broadcasting Corporation Raw Words. In 2010, Alexandrou filmed his first feature film, Semper Fidel in Cuba.
The film was released in 2014.
In 2011 Alexandrou took part in the British Broadcasting Corporation Learning project, Office By Heart Shakespeare, where he played Mercutio from Romeo and Juliet delivering the speech. ""tis not so deep as a well".
In 2012, Alexandrou toured theatres throughout the United Kingdom, with the Hull Truck Theatre starring as Philosophy, in the play deoxyribonucleic acid. In April 2014, as part of the Shakespeare 450 celebrations, he played the classic villain Iago in Grassroots Shakespeare London"s production of Othello at Leicester Square Theatre in London"s West End and also performed sonnets at the Guildhall with Damian Lewis. Rehearsals were recorded by British Broadcasting Corporation World Service and James Alexandrou"s performance as Iago featured in their programme The Why Factor.
In February 2015 Alexandrou appeared in Silent Witness as Carl Parry.
Alexandrou was in a relationship with Kara Tointon which began in April 2006. They split on 4 November 2007.