Alexander David (1986)

Born in Canada to a Portuguese father and an English mother, he emigrated at the age of one to a small village near Coimbra, where he lived until adulthood. He studied Theatre Studies in Évora, followed by Acting at the Lisbon Theatre and Film School, and later at the New York Film Academy, where he was awarded a scholarship for “outstanding performance.”

His relationship with cinema began as an actor, making his debut in To Die Like a Man by João Pedro Rodrigues, which premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival in 2009. Since then, he has worked as an actor with directors such as Gabriel Abrantes, João Botelho, Márcio Laranjeira, João Pedro Vale & Nuno Alexandre Ferreira, Rita Nunes, and Pedro Varela.

Alexander also works as a casting director, having collaborated with Catarina Vasconcelos, Marie Fages, and Aurélie Pernet Oliveira. Additionally, he serves as an assistant director for projects by Tiago Siopa, Kate Saragaço-Gomes, and Ágata de Pinho.

He premiered two films at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. In January 2024, he presented the short fiction film Water Hazard. The previous year, in January 2023, his feature film First Age premiered in the festival’s Bright Future section. His films explore the world of childhood, crafting allegories that reflect growth and transformation, where imaginary worlds become inner revolutions.

He is currently developing his second feature film, Hand, which was selected for the CineCerca writing residency (France–Portugal), mentored by Pedro Pinho and FabiannyDeschamps. The project also took part in the Francophone Co-Production Meetings at Moulin d’Andé and, in 2024, was selected for the WEMW (When East Meets West) co-production forum in Trieste, as well as the Ventura Forum at the Play-Doc festival in Tui, where it received the main development award, the Ventura Prize. In 2025, the film was also selected for IndieLab (IndieLisboa) and for SolLab (Brazil), with mentorship from Iana Paro, Aleksei Abib and George Walker Torres.

Since November 2023, he has been leading a performative creation lab with Ada Costa and Vicente Gil Moreira at Casa do Comum in Lisbon, focused on the short film Prodigal Son. In June 2024, they presented the performance Open Rehearsal.

Contact:
Personal: alexanderjdavid@gmail.com