A COVENTRY university graduate swapped Broadgate for Hollywood when she won an Oscar and BAFTA award for her role in creating ‘The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.’
Alexandra Sasha Balan, who is originally from Romania but studied graphic design and illustration at the university until 2012, was part of the team behind the picture which scooped the Oscar for best animated short at the glitzy awards in Los Angeles earlier this month.
Just weeks earlier, the 32-year-old’s work contributed to the picture winning the BAFTA award for best British short animation.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is based on Charlie Mackesy’s much-loved book which has sold more than 8million copies worldwide since 2019.
The short film, aired on the BBC on Christmas Day, featured the voices of Tom Hollander as The Mole and Idris Elba as The Fox.
Alexandra said: “I’m overwhelmed with emotion, I stayed up to watch the Oscars from midnight and it was at about 2am when the win was announced.
“The buzz meant I couldn’t sleep until about 4am and it was such a wonderful surprise to have Pedro Pascal present the award as I’m a massive fan.”
