Born in Newport Beach, California to Joe and Michele Thorpe, Alexis is the oldest of four children. At the age of eight, Alexis was bitten by the acting bug when a childhood friend dragged her along for moral support during her audition for a local production of Annie. After watching her friend audition, Alexis gained the confidence to get up on stage and try it herself. A star was born and she ended up wining the title role, which, needless to say, didn't sit very well with her young friend.

While attending high school in Esperanza, Thorpe juggled her academic curriculum with cheerleading, golf, basketball and lead roles in several high school productions. Her first professional role was portraying Wendy in the musical Peter Pan at the Canyon Lake Theatre.

After high school graduation, Alexis was ready to move to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career, but at the strong urging of her father, she enrolled in community college at Fullerton, in California. Her appearance in a workshop production of the musical Assassins caught the eye of an agent, who immediately signed the budding actress. Two weeks later, Thorpe received her SAG card playing a model in the movie The Adventure of Rocky and Bullwinkel, directed by Des McAnuff. Thorpe also starred in the Sony Pictures release The Forsaken, portraying a Vampiress named Teddy.