Ian Alexander (actor)

Alexander was born on April 20, 2001,^[7] in Salt Lake City, Utah,^[8] to an American father and a Vietnamese mother.^[9] 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.^[10] During elementary school, they participated in community theater and chorus.^[10]

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.^[11] They were cast from an open casting call online that spread through Tumblr.^[12][13][14] 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.^[15] 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.^[16] They played Lev, a transgender character in the game.^[17]

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".^[18] 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".^[19] In March 2020, it was announced Alexander would star in the independent film Daughter.^[20]

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.^[2][1] 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, as well as Tai admitting they are non-binary in the unaired episode "The Gatekeeper".^[21]

Alexander was raised in a Mormon family, but they are not a participating member^[22] and consider themself to be agnostic.^[23] 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.^{[11][12][24][25]} As of September 2020^[update], Alexander adopted the use of they/them,^[26] shortly thereafter identifying as non-binary and preferring the use of they/them while accepting the alternative use of he/him.^{[2][27][28][29][30]}

They received viral attention online through their photo response to a transphobic incident perpetrated by four UCLA college students.^[31]