47 Fun Facts About Alexa and Katie

What illness is Alexa Mendoza being treated for in Alexa & Katie?

Leukemia: Alexa plans to keep the diagnosis from her new classmates and start high school like anyone else, until the side effects of chemotherapy threaten to give her away.

What does Katie do to support Alexa before they start high school?

Shaves her head: Katie works out why Alexa has been acting up, climbs in through her bedroom window and joins her, promising that Alexa will never go through anything alone.

Who plays Alexa Mendoza?

Paris Berelc began as a child model, discovered by Ford Models at nine and seen in hundreds of store ads, and did not take an acting class until she was twelve.

Isabel May, who plays Katie, went on to play which member of the Dutton family in the Yellowstone prequel 1883?

Elsa Dutton came to her after a failed audition: she had read for another Taylor Sheridan drama, Mayor of Kingstown, and two weeks later he rang to offer her the lead of his new western.

Which 1990s teen icon plays Alexa's mother, Lori Mendoza?

Tiffani Thiessen spent the 1990s as a TV teenager, Kelly Kapowski on Saved by the Bell and Valerie Malone on Beverly Hills, 90210, and here she is the parent laying down the rules.

What is Dave Mendoza's job, which he loves to mention?

Airline pilot: young Jack asks Dave, not his own mother, to come to his school's career day, leaving Jennifer working overtime to convince her son that her job is cool too.

What does Alexa's older brother Lucas want to become?

A doctor: Lucas wants to help people the way Alexa's medical team helped her, and in season three he throws himself into pre-med until a report card of Bs shakes his confidence.

Emery Kelly, who plays Lucas, was a member of which boy band formed on The X Factor USA?

Forever in Your Mind began with a rejection: Emery Kelly was cut at boot camp as a solo singer, then Simon Cowell kept him on the show as one third of a new trio.

Which job does Katie's mother, Jennifer, take at the girls' own high school in their senior year?

School counsellor: Jennifer is so nervous on her first day that she struggles to make friends with the other staff and ends up hiding in the bathroom.

What name does Katie's little brother Jack give the rescue dog the Coopers adopt?

Potato arrives after Jack's first try at a pet, a 'stray' cat that sets off Dave's allergies; his mother gives in to the begging and brings home a rescue puppy.

Which Thundermans star plays Dylan, Lucas's brainy best friend who tutors and then dates Alexa?

Jack Griffo had just spent four seasons as Max Thunderman, a teenager set on becoming a supervillain, before turning up here as the straight-A student who tutors Alexa in maths.

To which school dance does Dylan invite Alexa, after which they start dating?

The Winter Formal almost happens without her: a flu outbreak means Alexa cannot risk the crowd, until Katie gets everyone to come in medical masks, and the pair share a first kiss through them.

At which party does a quarrel between Alexa and Dylan end in their break-up in season two?

A Halloween party: Katie is sure she can patch up the couple's quarrel there and only makes it worse, and the two do not make peace until months later.

Who is Alexa's self-absorbed rival on the girls' basketball team?

Gwenny turns sugary-sweet once she learns Alexa is ill, which Alexa cannot stand, so she plays prank after prank until her rival goes back to being mean.

Which of Alexa and Katie's two closest school friends is the bubbly, naive one who rarely gets the joke?

Hannah comes through when it counts: in season three she takes over a part in Katie's self-written competition play at the last minute, script in hand.

In season two, Katie takes on odd jobs to pay for an acting programme in which city?

London: when a broken espresso machine swallows Katie's savings, Alexa moves her own sweet sixteen home so that the venue refund can cover the $2,000 tuition.

Who gives Katie her first kiss?

Ryan is cast opposite her in the school play, so Katie's first kiss is a scripted one, written into her part.

What is the name of the coffee shop where Katie works as a barista?

Wired takes Katie on in season two after she applies behind her mother's back, and by the following year she has worked her way up to assistant manager.

In what town is Alexa & Katie set?

Wired coffee shop is described as a local business there. The show was shot as a multi-camera sitcom in front of a studio audience style.

Why does Alexa enjoy befriending new student Cody?

He doesn't know she has cancer: Cody is the new boy at the locker between theirs, and with him Alexa finally gets to be treated like any other student.

Which George Lopez star plays Dr. Corts, Alexa's therapist in season three?

Constance Marie spent six seasons as Angie, George's wife, and her Dr. Corts ends up with two patients: Katie starts seeing her about her anxiety as well.

Where does Alexa meet Spencer, the boy she eventually dates in season three?

At the hospital: the two swap numbers in the gift shop on the day Alexa expects her final appointment, and for a long while she insists he is only a friend.

Where is Aiden, Katie's season-three love interest, working before he becomes her fellow barista?

A Putt Putt golf course: Aiden's cure for stress is to let Katie take it out on the course itself, windmill included.

What is the job of Joe Perry, the man Jennifer starts dating in season three?

Handyman: Jennifer finds Joe Perry on Yelp when her sliding door sticks, and by the time the job is done he has asked her on a date.

Which action star plays Robbie, Katie and Jack's father, in season one?

Alan Ritchson, years before he became TV's Jack Reacher, appears as Jennifer's ex-husband, a dad who upsets Katie by still treating her like a little girl.

Which friend from Alexa's time in hospital turns up at her sweet sixteen?

Megan is the fellow patient who shares Alexa's chemo session, and Katie's donuts, in the show's very first scene, so her arrival at the party suggests she is on the mend too.

Cleared to play basketball again in season two, which squad does Alexa end up on?

Junior varsity: a year away has dulled her game, and it takes a heart-to-heart with a young cancer patient to remind her how far she has already come.

What do Alexa and Katie both miss in season three when Katie has a panic attack?

The SAT: Alexa had taken her out beforehand to take her mind off the exam, but the panic came anyway, and Katie works on her anxiety with the therapist Dr. Corts.

Ordered to stay home in season one, how does Alexa still get to her classes?

By video chat on an iPad: her immune system is too weak for crowded corridors, so Katie carries her from class to class on a screen.

Alexa & Katie's creator wrote for which Disney hit?

Hannah Montana and the sitcom Reba were Heather Wordham's training ground, and from the second season she took charge of her own show as its showrunner.

After a rival wrecks her wig on picture day, how does Alexa choose to pose for her school photo?

Without a wig: her mother races over with a replacement in time, but Alexa changes her mind at the last second and has the picture taken as she really is.

Netflix renewed Alexa & Katie about two weeks after its 2018 debut, days after cancelling which other high-school comedy?

Everything Sucks! had been dropped after a single season only three days earlier, so one teen comedy got a quick yes just as another got its no.

For which real cancer charity does Lori organise a carnival-themed fundraiser in Alexa & Katie's last season?

Stand Up to Cancer: Alexa agrees to speak, then cannot bear to be defined by her illness, so her mother starts the speech and Alexa joins her on stage for the end.

The final scene of Alexa & Katie shows the two friends back home from college for which holiday?

Thanksgiving: the girls graduate and start at different colleges, and the series closes on a trip home during freshman year.

For which award was Alexa & Katie nominated in 2018?

A Primetime Emmy, for Outstanding Children's Program; a year later the Television Academy also honoured the sitcom for the way it handles childhood cancer.

Which award did Alexa & Katie win in 2021, a year after it ended?

A Kids' Choice Award: at Nickelodeon's own ceremony the Netflix sitcom was voted Favorite Kids TV Show over the network's Henry Danger and Danger Force.

Which Disney XD superhero did the actress who plays Alexa portray before this show?

Skylar Storm is an alien superhero who loses all 24 of her powers to her arch-enemy and lands in Mighty Med, a secret hospital for superheroes, as an ordinary patient.

What does Katie organise at the coffee shop one Christmas to strengthen her college applications?

A canned food drive: it is also where she first meets Aiden, who helps himself to one of her reindeer cookies before he has donated a single tin.

In which play does Katie win the lead role in season one?

Romeo and Juliet: the school believes Katie is the one with cancer, so she fears the part was a sympathy vote until Alexa tells everyone the truth to give her a fair chance.

In the pilot, whose house do Alexa and Katie cover in toilet paper?

Principal Trugly's: Katie believes they have hit the wrong house by mistake, both girls are suspended for three days, and only later does it come out that Alexa knew exactly whose house it was.

What item reveals to Katie why Alexa wanted to get in trouble in the first episode?

A ski cap: Alexa had borrowed it for the prank, and what Katie finds inside when it comes back tells her that Alexa was trying to get herself kept out of school.

Why must Katie return the wig she buys in season one?

Too expensive: the wig costs $300, and Katie buys it anyway so that Alexa won't learn of her money troubles, then has to return it until her mother's paycheck arrives.

Why is Lucas kicked out of his college dorm as season three opens?

He started a fire: Lucas ends up living back at home, where his parents later decide he must learn the household chores and young Jack agrees to teach him.

What does Dave promise to build Lori for their 20th wedding anniversary?

A gazebo: Dave is still building it when Alexa accidentally wrecks it during driving practice, and it later becomes the spot for her heart-to-heart with Spencer.

Which form of cancer does Spencer, Alexa's season-three boyfriend, have?

Hodgkin lymphoma: Spencer goes on to make his college basketball team, then has to shrug off a video that celebrates him as 'Cancer Guy'.

Which college are Alexa and Katie thrilled to get into near the end of the series?

University of North Carolina: getting in together is the dream, yet the finale sends the two friends to different schools after all.

Which university does Dylan leave for after season two?

Stanford: Dylan comes home for Christmas a changed man who abbreviates everything, and Alexa cuts their catch-up short to go and be with Spencer.