Alexandra Breckenridge never imagined she’d be anyone’s first pick to play Santa Claus — but Netflix clearly thought otherwise.
The Virgin River actress, 43, leads Netflix’s newest Christmas movie, My Secret Santa (premiering Dec. 3). She stars as Taylor, a single mom barely making ends meet after her daughter Zoey (Madison MacIsaac) gets accepted into a prestigious ski-boarding academy. When she learns employees at the resort get major tuition discounts, Taylor disguises herself as an elderly man named Hugh and takes the only available position: Santa.
For Breckenridge, the opportunity to step into such an unexpected comedic role was exactly the creative shake-up she’d been craving.
“I’ve wanted to do something really outside my comfort zone,” she tells PEOPLE. “I never thought I’d get the chance to play Santa Claus. Wearing prosthetics, changing my voice, shifting my posture — it was totally new for me.”
What shocked her even more was learning she was producer Howard Braunstein’s first choice. She assumed comedy directors wouldn’t think of her for a role like this — but Braunstein remembered a tiny one-episode appearance she made on Fox’s short-lived 2014 series Rake.
“He told me, ‘I saw you in Rake, and you were really funny. I knew you could do this,’” she recalls. “That blew me away. You really have to trust your actor when you put them in a Santa suit and say, ‘Come along for the ride.’”
Breckenridge admits the part wasn’t easy — playing a woman pretending to be a man playing Santa is a challenge layered on top of prosthetics and physical comedy — but she’s grateful for it. And yes, she’d absolutely return for My Secret Santa 2 if Netflix gives the green light.
“I love creating Christmas magic for my kids,” she says. “Holiday stories bring that warm, fuzzy feeling people look for, and I love being part of that — at home or on screen. So of course I’d do another one.”
The story of Taylor also resonated with Breckenridge on a personal level. Raised by a single mother, she saw echoes of her own childhood in Taylor’s sacrifices.
“My mom probably would’ve done the same thing,” she says. “She worked so hard to give me dance, art, gymnastics — she always made it happen. This role felt close to my reality as a teenager, but from my mother’s perspective.”
My Secret Santa premieres Wednesday, Dec. 3, on Netflix.
Virgin River Season 7 arrives in 2026.
