Most little girls dream of being a princess when they grow up, but Alexandra Jenkins never imagined her childhood fantasy would become a reality.
Yet the shop assistant has transformed herself into a real-life princess after constantly being compared to Princess Elsa from the hit Disney movie Frozen.
With long blonde hair, big blue eyes and a dazzling smile, Alexandra is the spitting image of the heroine and star of the film.
The 20-year-old has been regularly ‘recognised’ and pestered by children and their parents who notice her similarity to Elsa.
Many come up to her while she is at work in the children’s section of department store John Lewis.
The attention has become so distracting that Alexandra has realised the only way to disguise herself on the shop floor is to wear thick spectacles – much like Clark Kent in Superman.
Alexandra’s resemblance to Elsa is so uncanny that she decided to launch a second career as an Elsa lookalike, appearing at children’s parties and corporate events.
Alexandra, from Portbury, near Bristol, said: ‘It all took of in January last year.
‘I was told by a lot of people I looked similar to Princess Elsa from Frozen and then it just escalated from there.
‘By the start of December I was getting told I looked like Elsa all of the time.
‘At work, parents come up to me most days telling me I looked just like Elsa, as well as the children. It probably doesn’t help that I’m often in the children’s department.
‘During my shifts the only thing which is able to disguise me is the fact I have glasses, or sometimes wearing my hear down works.
‘If I don’t wear my glasses, or sometimes even when I do, the likelihood is I get a lot of people coming up to me telling me I look like Elsa.
‘Over the summer lots of kids came in to the store to get their back to school stuff and they all told me I look like Elsa, or their parents started pointing me out.’
Alexandra has worked in the children’s clothes section in John Lewis at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol, for almost three years.
But her blonde plait and poignant face shape means it only takes her half an hour to transform herself into the famous Princess after work or at weekends.
And Alexandra is now in popular demand.
She added: ‘I’ve had a great reaction. People are always asking me if I do events or parties. It helps that I genuinely look like Elsa. People stop me in the street quite a lot, but I don’t mind.
‘My hair is real so I don’t have to wear a wig which makes it a lot more believable for the kids.
‘It takes me no longer than half an hour to transformed into Elsa, I just put on my dress, put my hair in plait and then put some purple eye shadow and the rest of my make-up on.
‘The make up takes the longest amount of time but it really isn’t a big job.’
Single Alexandra – who was offered the role of Elsa at Disneyland Paris, but turned it down – is now booked for around four appearances a week.
She has even taken up singing lessons to perfect the powerful voice of the popular film character.
She confessed: ‘I’m having singing lessons at the moment so that I can perfect ‘Let it Go’.
‘With the role you get quite a lot of kids requesting that you to sing it, I don’t want to let myself down. It also really helps you to get into character, blasting it out.
‘It can be frustrating sometimes. However much I look like Elsa obviously I am still Alexandra as well and sometimes people forget that.
‘However it’s lovely to be compared to such a popular character. It’s flattering. People can obviously see the similarities as it draws attention to me all the time.
‘I’m so surprised by how much it has taken off. There are so many other lookalikes around so I was amazed at how many people started booking me.’
