Move over, Harvard Law! Elle Woods is headed back to high school, and the iconic pink heels are now in the hands of rising star Lexi Minetree.
If her name isn’t on your radar yet, it’s about to be.
At just 23, this Georgia native has been tapped to play young Elle Woods in Elle, the Legally Blonde prequel series executive-produced by Reese Witherspoon. The series will look into the formative years of everyone’s favorite legal blonde, and Lexi Minetree is the one making it pop.
Lexi’s casting wasn’t just a studio pick…it was fate. “What makes you think I like pink?” she captioned a pink-themed photo on Instagram in September 2024.
Not long after, she landed the role of a lifetime.
In Elle, created by High School‘s Laura Kittrell, we meet teen Elle before the courtroom and college: bubbly, ambitious, and already turning heads with that signature sparkle.
With Reese saying on The Tonight Show, “I wanted to see who Elle was before law school,” the young Elle had to be perfect. And Lexi was the answer.
Who is Lexi Minetree?
Born on April 20, 2001, Lexi Minetree hails from Georgia and carries that Southern charm with effortless grace.
Before Elle, her résumé was already blooming. She earned early screen credits in Law & Order: SVU (2024), Crowdsource Murder, The Murdaugh Murders, and My Amish Double Life. In 2025, she also stars in the upcoming miniseries Broken and the TV movie Miss Mary Mack.
But Lexi’s range extends beyond TV drama. A double major in Theatre and Public Relations from the University of Southern California, Lexi also studied at London’s prestigious British American Drama Academy (BADA). A standout on stage, she has performed in Noises Off, No Exit, and The Cover of Life, for which she took home Georgia’s Fall One-Act Competition Best Actress award.
Lexi Minetree is not only a performer, she’s a leader. At USC, she helped produce and direct the first-ever B.A. Senior Showcase, giving other grads room to shine.
Her creative vision and hustle? Totally Elle.
Is she the Gen Z Elle we’ve been waiting for?
It takes a special kind of actor to channel Elle’s fierce femininity, grit, and heart, and Lexi’s already got the receipts.
Elle will feature a full cast of teenage power players: Gabrielle Policano as Elle’s nemesis Liz, Disney’s Chandler Kinney as Kimberly, and Parenthood’s Tom Everett Scott and June Diane Raphael as Elle’s parents.
But it’s Lexi Minetree (fresh-faced, razor-sharp, and pink-powered) who brings Elle’s legacy into the TikTok era. Whether she’s commanding courtroom monologues or navigating high school drama, fans are already buzzing. Elle is her breakout, but not her first moment—and definitely not her last!
The Elle series is set to premiere in fall 2025. We have a feeling Lexi’s about to own our screens (and hearts).
