Last year, Alex and Stephanie Petrovich moved into their Wheatley home, along with their two daughters and Alex’s parents, fully prepared to pour themselves into renovations and take in the small-town life that Wheatley offers.
Gradually, they are making their way through the renovations of their century-old Victorian home on Erie Street South, making some friends along the way as they settle into their new surroundings.
Stephanie teaches school locally, but not many people are aware that Alex has a more unique job — he is a professional full-time actor.
Born and raised in Windsor, Alex — an only child — always found himself performing, whether it be acting silly in public or putting on some sort of production for his parents.
This transitioned into forming a rock band with some friends, which turned into Alex being a touring musician for some 25 years. From that, he also published a book called ‘Mistakes I’ve Made’ — all about the ups and downs of the music industry.
Through his musical adventures, Alex was able to get into some voice-over acting, and eventually his agent asked him about considering a career in front of the camera.
“Touring in music gave me a lot of the transferrable skills for acting,” he said. “So it was a natural transition.”
His first on-camera part was in an American Express commercial and things seemed to fall in place from there.
Soon, he was performing as Sasquatch in the Jack Link’s Beef Jerky commercials and has had some parts in feature films along the way as well.
Recently, a leading role in Elegy — a six-part mini-series on Amazon Prime and Tubi — got him some top billing, and the more he works, the more parts come his way.
Right now, he can be seen in the Arnold Schwarzenegger series for Netflix, a spy caper called Fubar, which just released its second season.
His character, Vlad, appears in the eighth episode of season two and Alex is optimistic that Vlad will be brought back for a recurring role if Fubar gets the green light for a third season.
His chance to act with Schwarzenegger was thwarted by rules that limit Arnold’s time on set, so he had to settle for acting alongside some of the other main characters in the series.
With all of this on the go — and a lead role in an upcoming horror flick called Jesus Cop — you’d be happy to know that Alex and his family are thrilled to be in Wheatley.
“Such a small-town feel for raising the kids,” he said. “We’ve got an overwhelming feeling that we’ve found home.”
He says that everyone has been very welcoming and they love being in the village — something they’ve wanted to do for some time. Packing up and moving from the city last year was the perfect solution.
“We took a leap of faith,” he said, “and never looked back.”
Alex says keeping a positive outlook and meditation have kept he and his family on the right path forward. He gave up his previous sales job and has dedicated himself to staying in shape and being ready for audition calls.
And those come more frequently as he gains more experience and exposure in the business. He estimates that he goes to several auditions a month — usually in Toronto — and he has to be ready to drop everything and go when the call comes.
Meanwhile, renovations continue and the Petrovich family are immersing themselves into life in Wheatley, and it just doesn’t get any better than that.
Alex Petrovich, left as Vlad, alongside American actor Adam Pally in a screen shot from the Netflix series Fubar.
