We don’t need any weather forecast to tell you that Alexandra Shipp is a total hurricane. Chances are you’ve already familiar with this cheerful Arizonian after her stints as Ice Cube’s wife Kimberly in Straight Outta Compton or as Aaliyah in Lifetime’s Aaliyah: The Princess of R’n’B. But her biggest role is coming this month when Alexandra’s going to literally steal everyone’s thunder as young Storm in X-Men: Apocalypse. If you're not yet familiar with this electric actress (and even if you are), here are 10 things you should know about Alexandra Shipp.

Her Career Was Launched by the Chipmunks

Just like lots of other aspiring performers, Alexandra Shipp had her eyes set on the Hollywood sign from an early age. And by the time she turned 17 she was ready to leave Phoenix behind and head to the City of Angels. “I got to the city and quickly booked Alvin and Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. I started working on the movie and fell in love with LA and told my mom I wanted to live here for good. She said, 'Ok, as long as that’s what you really want. I’ll help you out ‘til you’re 18 and then you have to figure it out.' Which I did, going to the auditions and working in the music studio.”

She Used to be a Pet Groomer

Obviously, the first few years in LA is a struggle for pretty much anyone, so Alexandra had to have a steady paycheck coming in. That’s how she ended up working in a pet grooming mobile truck, making sure the furry friends of the likes of Denise Richards and Kate Hudson would stay as glamorous as their owners. So she must know a pet grooming secret or two, right? “The secret of successful pet grooming is that you gotta make sure that you tailor the haircut to the dog. The dog can’t have a crazy poodle haircut if it’s 60 pounds." Noted.

Marcy Playground’s “Sex And Candy” Used to be her Myspace Jam

Considering she starred in Straight Outta Compton, we expect Alexandra to be a big rap fan which she is. “Oh, yeah, I love rap, hip-hop and r’n’b. I like all sorts of music. When I was 13 my favorite song was Marcy Playground’s “Sex and Candy”. I had it up on my Myspace for like five years, I kid you not, it was my jam.”

She Wouldn’t Mind Being Either Psylocke or An X-Men Janitor  

“I was totally freaking out when they told me I got the Storm's part. Obviously I was a fan of the franchise, but when I went to the audition I remember thinking, I’m just that goofy girl from Arizona, I don’t think I’m gonna get it. And then when I got it, I was so thankful. I’d take out the trash if they wanted me to, I was just happy to be there [laughs]”. Did she ever turn to Halle Berry for friendly advice on how to handle the weather and all the superhero drama? “I’ve sent her an e-mail. But for me when it came to Storm I really wanted to focus on a different Storm. You at 18 is completely different from you at 28. These 10 years are such a huge leap. And I wanted to show people the raw innocence of Storm. What she was like before she figured it out. That was my goal”.

What superpowers would she like to possess in real life? “I always thought I’d like to have Professor Xavier’s superpowers of reading and controlling minds. But after working on X-Men I’ve seen how complicated people’s minds can be and it doesn’t sound as appealing as it used to be. So now I'd love to have Psylocke’s powers. If I could create with my imagination and shoot out neon purple energy, that would be so dope!” What if she would end up just with Storm’s powers though, which weather would she spread around the world? “I’m such a West Coast girl and I love Los Angeles. So it would probably be LA weather for everyone.” We really don't mind.

She’s Got Her Own Emoji

Sure, playing an iconic comic book character is a huge honor. But in the social media era having your own emoji is even cooler. And that’s exactly what happened to Alexandra: if you tweet #soelectric, you’ll see a tiny Mohawk-rocking Storm appearing in your tweet. “Oh. My.God”, Alexandra exclaims, “That is so cool. It’s the funniest thing ever.”

Her Favorite Batman is Val Kilmer

Alexandra is a superhero movies enthusiast, which surely enriched her X-Men experience. And she’s got some unconventional preferences when it comes to superhero movies, too. “You’re gonna think I’m crazy, but considering I’m such a crazy Halle Berry fan, I love Catwoman. When it first came out, I thought my whole head was gonna explode with excitement. She was so good in it. That is definitely in my Top 5. But I’m gonna have to give it to Val Kilmer as Batman. I love where the Batman franchise has gone, but for me Val just killed it. It was the first time I saw Batman in live-action. He was sexy and he was Val Kilmer.” So if she would end up in any sort of trouble, she would like for Val and Halle to show up and rescue her, right? “Yes, one of those two. Or I think it would be very cool if Barbarella came out and saved me. That would be so dope to be rescued by Jane Fonda!”
 

She Had To Learn Arabic For X-Men

When you think superheroes, you imagine all the gravity-bending stunts and prison-tight costumes. But Alexandra had to deal with a different type of challenge when shooting X-Men. “The hardest thing was Storm speaking Arabic. I wanted to get it right, and I would go over her accent all the time. All these 'How do you pronounce this, how do you pronounce that?' I was really stressing about that.” Does she plan to continue improving her Arabic-speaking skills in the future? “Definitely. I love Arabic. I got into it. And I’m sold!”

She Loved Shaving Her Head

For a lot of actresses shaving your head for a role can be a bit of a bummer. But not for Alexandra, who reveals she was always waiting for the right opportunity to say goodbye to her beautiful long hair. “I really wanted to shave my head for a very long time. But I couldn’t just do it, I had to have a reason. So when I booked X-Men and they told me they wanted to have ‘a Mohawk Storm,’ my eyes lit up—I was so excited. And yet I was scared to death; I did have long hair my entire life. I’m an African-American woman and my hair is one of my staples when it comes to my looks. But now that I’ve shaved it, I can get ready in less than 30 minutes, which is unheard of. And I also had to re-figure out how to really do make-up.  Because you really have to have good make-up on when you have no hair—your face is just there.”

But it wasn’t all hairless fun for Alexandra: the wig part was an itchy task to pull off. “My head was shaved all the way down to skin. So to have the wig glued to your bare scalp was so itchy. It’s just the itchiest thing, there’s no other way around it. But I’ve gotten very good at the art of wig-wearing—although figuring out how to scratch my scalp without ripping the wig off was very interesting.”

She Learned Confidence From Aaliyah

Considering her film roles are often related to the music industry, it’s a no-brainer that Alexandra would spend some time in the recording studio herself. You can already hear her debut track “Surrender,” a sensual r’n’b bop, up at her Soundcloud page. Whether it’s gonna be a single or not is yet to be determined, but there’s definitely more to be expected from Alexandra music-wise. “I’ve been working on so much music right now, so I’m really focused on getting that out for people to hear it.” No deadlines though: “It’s hard to have a release date when you’re promoting a big movie. But once X-Men premieres, I’m gonna be releasing music.”  

Taking on the role of Aaliyah for the Lifetime movie surely meant a lot of homework for Alexandra, so she must have gotten inspired by the iconic artist in one way or another. Is there anything she’s learned that she’s now using in her own music? “Aaliyah’s confidence in herself and her own music. She was so young when she first came out and it’s so incredible that she had so much confidence. I wasn’t like that, while Aaliyah just didn’t care. Like, this is her and this is what she’s doing. Now I’m trying to do that a little bit with my music. I have no excuses now”.

Her Next Movie Is “a Female 'Superbad'

It’s not all superheroes with Alexandra, as she’s already wrapped her next feature—a teen movie, Dude, that also stars Lucy Hale and Austin Butler. “It’s a really funny coming-of-age comedy movie about four girls who are trying to figure out what type of women that they want to be. It’s like a female Superbad. Even though we’re talking about real stuff, we’re able to be funny about it. The kids will be able to relate to all of that”.