Alexander Campbell was born in Sydney, Australia in 1986. He was attracted to ballet at the age of five after seeing the work of his grandmother who was a ballet teacher at the time. Both his maternal grandmother and grandfather, Valma Briggs and Mario Desva, had been professional dancers with Ballet Rambert in London.

Campbell, although training under Nicholina Kuner at the Academy Ballet school on the east side of Sydney, at first viewed ballet as a hobby alongside his participation in the sport of cricket. By the age of 14, both ballet and cricket were his passions. Realizing that progress to a professional career in either discipline meant he had to concentrate on just one, he later said, ‘I struggled with the decision for a long time but my love for ballet and the opportunity to do something that seemed unusual for a kid from Sydney was enticing.