Raised in Petersham, a middle-class suburb in west Sydney, by a single mother who worked as a nanny, Alcock idolized some of Australia’s most successful exports: Cate Blanchett, Rose Byrne, Sarah Snook, Heath Ledger. But breaking into show business with no familial connections meant she had to hustle. At the age of 13, Alcock began cold-calling talent agencies. “We struggled financially, so it really pushed me to be assertive,” she says. “My mother instilled this blind confidence within me: ‘If those idiots can do it, why can’t you?’ Her words, not mine.” Alcock laughs. “It just lit a fire under my arse.”
During her senior year of high school, Alcock nabbed a role in the Australian series Upright. Was quitting school for TV a tough sell for Alcock’s mother? “She told me to do it,” says Alcock. Her mother is dyslexic; Alcock, too, struggled academically. “I was bad at school—that was branded as naughty. We have this weird halo effect that if you’re a clever kid academically, then therefore, you are good. Acting was the only thing that I was given that halo for, and it’s intoxicating to be chosen like that.”
After a cameo appearance in last year’s Superman, Alcock gets top billing as Kara Zor-El/Supergirl. “She’s given this incredible responsibility and doesn’t know how to deal with it,” says Alcock. “So she kind of suffocates herself and goes on a journey of self-discovery.” It was only when production ended—and her tsunami nightmares abated—that Alcock realized: “That’s me, man. I’m the mess.” Or rather, she used to be: “I’m not the mess anymore.”
