AGE: 24. PROVENANCE: Phoenix, Arizona. COURTSIDE: "Growing up in a family of athletes, they were like, 'Alex, choose a sport.' I tried every single one and it was all bad.... I wanted to act. I loved everything about the theater." JACK-OF-ALL-TRADES: At just 17, her first big screen role was in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel. "I was like, 'Ma, I've got to stay in L.A.,' and then I didn't work for five years. I was a mobile pet groomer, a live-in nanny— whatever I could do to pay my rent." THE NEXT EPISODE: After wowing audiences as Aaliyah in the TV biopic about the late R&B superstar, she further proved her chops with her portrayal of Ice Cube's wife, Kim Woodruff, in Straight Outta Compton. "It was such a fun work environment. Kim and Cube were there, and we would be listening to N.W.A. in between takes. One day, Dr. Dre came to the set, and I lost it. He's a very handsome man, a tall bar of milk chocolate." TAKING FLIGHT: She stars as the superhuman Storm in X-Men: Apocalypse. "People aren't going to see Alex. They're going to see something completely new and different." CLOSE SHAVE: Shipp needed to shed her gorgeous locks for the role. "I texted all of my friends, 'Be at my house Saturday night, stroke of midnight.' I bought a bunch of vodka, set up a camera, and filmed them all shaving my head." MY SHOT: "I love to sing. I would love to be part of a film adaptation of [Broadway's] Hamilton. I was blown away by how it broke down so many barriers."