Ian Alexander

Ian Alexander (born April 20, 2001) is an American actor, known for their roles as Buck Vu on The OA, Lev in The Last of Us Part II, and Gray Tal on Star Trek: Discovery. Early and personal life Alexander was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to an American father and a Vietnamese mother. 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. During elementary school, they participated in community theater and chorus. Though they were raised in a Mormon family, they are not a participating member, and consider themself to be agnostic. 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. As of late 2020 Alexander adopted the use of they/them, shortly thereafter identifying as non-binary and preferring the use of they/them while accepting the alternative use of he/him. They are pansexual. They received viral attention online through their photo response to a transphobic incident perpetrated by four UCLA college students. Career 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. They were cast from an open casting call online that spread through Tumblr. 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. 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. They played Lev, a transgender character in the game.