Loading AI tools
American actor From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ian Alexander (born 2001 or 2002) is an American actor, known for their[lower-alpha 1] roles as Buck Vu on The OA, Lev in The Last of Us Part II, and Gray Tal on Star Trek: Discovery.
Ian Alexander | |
---|---|
Born | 2001 or 2002 (age 22–23)[1] Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
Occupation | Actor |
Years active | 2016–present |
Alexander was born in Salt Lake City, Utah,[1] to an American father and a Vietnamese mother.[8] Due to their father's work with the Department of Defense, their family often moved and has lived in places such as Hawaii, Japan and Washington, D.C.[9] During elementary school, they participated in community theater and chorus.[9] Though they were raised in a Mormon family, they are not a participating member,[10] and considers themself to be agnostic.[11] They came out as transgender in 2014 and through the course of their gender transition identified as trans masculine while using he/him pronouns exclusively.[12][13][14][15] As of September 2020[update], Alexander adopted the use of they/them,[16] shortly thereafter identifying as non-binary and preferring the use of they/them while accepting the alternative use of he/him.[3][17][18][19][20]
They received viral attention online through their photo response to a transphobic incident perpetrated by four UCLA college students.[21]
Alexander's debut acting role was on Netflix's The OA, where they played Buck Vu. Buck, like Alexander, is also a Vietnamese-American transgender youth and was partially based on Alexander's real experiences.[12] They were cast from an open casting call online that spread through Tumblr.[13][22][23] Later they were cast in the 2018 feature film Every Day, based on the book by David Levithan, playing Vic, a trans teen whom the spirit "A" inhabits for a day.[24] In October 2017, Naughty Dog announced Alexander had joined the cast for The Last of Us Part II, the sequel to their popular video game.[25] They played Lev, a transgender character in the game.[26]
In June 2019, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, sparking the start of the modern LGBTQ rights movement, Queerty named them one of their Pride50: "trailblazing individuals who actively ensure society remains moving towards equality, acceptance and dignity for all queer people".[27] Similarly, Alexander was one of the cover stars for the 2019 Pride issue of them., "spotlighting three rising queer artists whose work and lives are breaking new ground for LGBTQ+ visibility".[28] In March 2020, it was announced Alexander will star in the independent film Daughter.[29]
In September 2020, it was announced Alexander had joined the cast of Star Trek: Discovery; they play the first transgender character played by a transgender actor in the Star Trek canon.[3][2] Alexander voices Tai, one of Lunella's classmates, in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Tai is revealed to be non-binary in the episode "Check Yourself", as Lunella refers to Tai using they/them pronouns.[30]
Key | Description |
---|---|
† | Indicates works not yet released |
Year | Title | Role | Notes | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
2016–2019 | The OA | Buck Vu and Michelle Vu | TV series; main cast | [8] |
2017 | Déjà Vu | Lance | Short film; co-writer | [31] |
2018 | Every Day | Vic | Film | |
2020 | The Last of Us Part II | Lev | Video game; featured voice and motion capture role | |
2020–2024 | Star Trek: Discovery | Gray Tal | TV series; recurring role | [32] |
2022 | Daughter | Brother | Film | [29] |
2023 | Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur | Tai | Voice; animated TV series |
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.